@JimmyS - how to set your ondemand governor at minimum 100Hz? does it work stable? has no delays? does up scaling well in frequencies from 100?
echo '100000' > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_min_freq
Do you guys see these high temperatures during normal operation? I bought a Beelink GT King a few days ago and I was fully prepared to pull it apart and sort out some cooling improvements, but so far 47C is the highest I can get it while watching a 4K video!
I pass the audio to an AV receiver though so I guess not having to convert the audio is helping keep the load off?
If you have 47max, I wouldnt be worried and bother to do anything 
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Exactly, Iām quite happy since some people seem to pushing into the 70ās! Just curious what sort of things everyone else is doing to get the temperatures so high and why Iām not seeing it on similar hardware.
Try running Netflix in 1080p resolution (it uses software decoding + decrypting) for 2 hours, and then check your temp. This is quite a load on the CPU. Hardware decoding does not stress CPU, as itās done by GPU.
It seems that the S922 chips run a lot cooler than the S905x3 chips for some reason. Maybe the S905x3 hasnāt moved up to the 12nm fabrication that the S922 uses.
Shoog
They are all made on 12nm process. One box costs <$30, the other >$70. Which would you expect to have better engineering and thermal devices?
Itās mostly just the x96 branded devices that are problematic in the temperature department. S922x and S905x3 soc in general are quite good at staying reasonably cool.
Iāve an x96air and never reach more than 55Ā°
So, here is my set-up: I drilled some holes into the bottom plate and one of the the sides, replaced the heatpad (EC360Ā® Blue 5W/mK WƤrmeleitpad (50 x 50 x 5,0 mm)), unscrewed the āheatsinkā and placed it on top of the heatpad and placed the device on a laptop fan (Trust Ziva Laptop-KĆ¼hlstƤnder (fĆ¼r Laptops bis max. 16" (330 x 250 mm)) schwarz). Heatpad is 10.99 EUR and Fan 8.12 EUR on amazon.de.
With this I get 58 deg C. Without the laptop fan I get 60-62 deg C. All good enough for me - no further work needed.
It would be better to just put the heat pad just on the processor. so you will release both sides of the steel sheet and the heat dissipation surface will be larger, the air will take more heat and remove it out.
How did you guys manage to open the case of the x96 max without destroying it?
from the bottom, insert something thin (such as a guitar wedge) between the sole and the vertical side of the case. with patience and finesse.
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This thread is about X96 Air, not Max. Probably similar though. There are two screws under the back rubber pads. Make sure you remove those, along with the obvious screws, and it should be easy to open.
BlockquoteThis thread is about X96 Air, not Max
No it is not, its about thermal mods in general.
Shoog
Hello
I have one of the first Beelink GT King revisions with aluminum heat sink that has couple of tiny ribs (In newer revisions it is just a flat plate and I donāt even know if itās aluminum or steel - so the older revision is much better here).
The device heats up to ~68Ā°C (or even 78Ā°C when in the room is warmer than usual).
I removed the thin metal shielding with a strange sponge thermopad from the CPU and RAM.
Marks of thermal grease say that the shielding cover adhered only partially, say in 70% or even less.
I replaced it with a copper plate (dimensions 25x25x1.5), which I previously polished to a high gloss.
I applied a thin layer of good thermal grease on both sides of the copper plate.
The temperatures dropped to ~51Ā°C (usually) and never exceed 57Ā°Cā¦ no matter what iām watching/doing.
So we can say that I lowered temperature by around 15-20Ā°C (sic!) 
Quite powerful Amlogic S922X never starts throttlingā¦ it should also be mentioned that the housing still has no ventilation holes. It turns out that temperatures can be lowered quite well without cutting / drilling the housing or using fans!
I am very happy with the results and I hope that it will improve reliability.
EDIT: I use āperformanceā governor. When CoreELEC idling and do nothing temps are 42-45Ā°C.
Sorry for my weak english
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What are the best type of heat sinks for Amlogic chips? Is it also worth putting heat sinks on Ram and emmc?
Youāre going to have to be more specific if you want a useful answer. Since there are just to many variables left undefined in your question, since every amlogic based device will have different requirements based on which chip is used, how the board is designed, power delivery, case design, etcā¦
Iāve recently used these QUALITY heat sinks from the UK.
Friend of mine dropped them off from AU supplier.
Over 6 hours using TVH Client Full HD Playback.
A 40mm hole over heat sink to allow fins to protrude.
Peppered some holes into base of the case as well.
With factory heat sink i was into high 69c - 72c
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