[S905X3] X96Air_P3

Well, I think almost any size heatsink will make difference, as the piece of metal is quite tiny, and most importantly its inside box, so it doesnt cool off quickly… And even with this small piece of plate it goes 48 on idle with correct governor.

Good thing is, that X96 air’s heatsink (well, more like piece of thin metal :slight_smile: ) its right below edge of box, so its easy to drill hole and attach whatever size you want ouside box (and width of box is enough to fit relativelly BIG heatsink and still not get outside the box dimensions) to an original heatsink. If someone really want to take care, the box is very narrow, I can imagine just drilling big square hole, get out of original heatsink and through thick thermal pad stick external heatsink. But as I said, considering original heatsink values I think it doesnt need to do so… Mine with original heatsink doesnt get above 60 with movie (4K) around 54-55 (1080), and 48 is almost fine with me on idle.

These are mine test heatsinks (just what I found in closet :slight_smile: which I plan to try (one of them I planning cut to two)

I think the smaller one is comparable with C2 one.

The coupling to the heatsink as stock is a massive bottleneck to extracting heat. A thick thermal pad cannot move sufficient heat. Without addressing this increasing the heatsink size will have marginal value.

I personally will max out my CPU in order to get the smoothest performance. Without the fan temps were at 71c at idle. The fan dropped that by about 30c

Shoog

Although I appreciate the minimal size of the box for this, I think the best option might be a replacement housing which allows for larger heatsink and air flow - maybe assisted by slow quiet fan internal to the new housing.
It is at times like this that I wish I had a 3D printer :slight_smile:

71 is quite a lot on idle… Ive got 53 on performance, 48 on other governors… Fan is no go (and not needed for me)… I have very good experience with thermal pads… On router (Armada 385) I had quite a small cube, transfered to the metal case, and with additional big heatsink added to case, temperature in idle drops about 8°C, in high load the temperature max dropped around 15, but also there was drastic speed up cooling process to idle temp with added heatsink after load ends…

Lets see what X96 got, but I would be more optimistic than pesimistic… If I would decrease stock temperatures (with ondemand) for about 3-5°C its just fine for me, but I believe there will be more, especially on loads…

You will apply thermal pads + heatsink?

As I wrote yes, but I am on sick leave quite a long time, so I cannot go outside buy thermal pads/square alluminium stick… :frowning:

Meanwhile, I am testing VIM3L family, which comes with interesting findings. I think I will create “Temperature related” thread, because content is a bit offtopic with VIM3L (although SOC are very simmiliar). And will get back to this one, when I will be cured and will have some more results regarding X96 Air heatsink improvements (DIY for few bucks)…

EDIT: Testing results here

Can you take a pictures inside the box?
I’m thinking to buy some small heatsink like this
what measure you advise use for gpu, cpu and other components?

I already post them in this topic. Dont bother with those Rpi “coolers”, its on the level X96 already have.

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I cut piece of aluminium and attach the first heatsink. Pics here:

Idle temperature seems to stop around 38°C after 20min idle, ondemand governor…When playing movies/browsing menu Ive got top 45°C. Thats looks much better for me and box is practically ready for deploy, considering running nightly. At least temperature-wise looks promising (hoping for values similiar to VIM3L+DYI plate@nightly)

I also cut other heatsink, so I have two more pieces for next X96 ordered.

Those temperatures are definitely more acceptable to me too.

A few more pics to show how everything is attached might be useful to others, if available.

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I posted whole album, just click?

Thanks … I did not realise.

Today I cut a hole the size of the label on the underside of the case.
Turned the device upside down.
Edited the vfd.conf file to both reverse the digits and to turn them upside down also, so the time/temp shows correctly with the device upside down.
Playing a UHD Satellite channel into a FHD monitor (as before) the temp maxes out at 65 C.

My intention is to find a heatsink soon to replace that metal plate that is fitted by default in the device with a better cooler, and I am expecting the max temp to drop to 60 C.
That is my aim … to get the temp during this test to 60 C or below.
It appears I am on the way …

Could you please share it? Could be usefull for someone :slight_smile:

Edit vfd.conf as below

To reverse the order of the digits change the line
vfd_chars=‘4,0,1,2,3’
to
vfd_chars=‘4,3,2,1,0’
Note: The first number (4) does not change - it is colon.
The other four are put in in reverse sequence.

.# 0x01 in first position to put display upside down
vfd_display_type=‘0x01,0x00,0x01,0x00’

The exact entries will likely be different for different displays/boxes.

Thanks to @TheCoolest for the information.

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I am getting mine in the mail tomorrow, how do you get temp to show? I was looking at VFD files and none of them mention temp.

You can set it in the Addon configuration in Kodi.

Do you have more pics on how you attached fan and how you are powering it? Did you drill holes?

Fix Bluetooth x96 air next NG? Thank

Not ‘fixed’ yet ---- today’s nightly.
It appears the driver for the BT is present
ls /lib/modules/4.9.113/RTL8822CS-aml/8822cs.ko
but some firmware file is absent?

Hopefully the analog audio out on the A/V socket gets fixed also.

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