S905x2 vs S905x3 temps (I don't think it is CE related)

General
1

Just a surprising observation (nothing to do with CoreELEC).

I have 2 of the X96 Max 4g/64g/1g ethernet with S905x2 Soc and 2 of the X96 Air 4g/64g/1g ethernet with S905x3 Soc. I run these boxes with the bottom casing removed and use the same heatsink and thermal pad. The boxes are almost identical in size etc.

When running 9.2.1 CE for 30 minutes (just watching a movie), the SoC temp of the S905x2 boxes are 34 degrees celsius (give or take) - which is very good. When running same CE on the S905x3 for 30 minutes, the SoC temp is around 49 degrees celsius (give or take). There’s about a 15 degrees difference (give or take).

Now I realize 49 degrees is still very good (and I’m not complaining :grinning:), but I am surprised at the difference in favour of the S905x2. Both boxes run the exact same configuration of CE and have the scaling governor set to interactive (via autostart.sh) and both run Android 9.0

I had read (maybe incorrectly) that the S905x3 cores are supposed to be more power efficient (whilst also being more powerful) than the S905x2, so I would have expected the S905x3 to run at the same or lower temp - not 15 degrees higher.

Do you think this is all down to the quality of manufacture or is it that the S905x3 is yet to be “optimized”, or could something else be causing such a large difference as this?

Just curious as to the discrepancy. TIA

2

They run different Kernels - which is probably where the difference comes from.

Shoog

1 Like
4

Maybe it’s possible to add some heatsink or silent fan?
It’s modding time :grin:

5

Thanks - that does seem the most likely reason

6

As its a S905x3, I assume that its the same nightly on both boxes? - you would expect them to be similar?

Someone did report high temp on x96 air box… but S905x3 support has only recently been added ( a new kernel for the nightly builds)