That’s not how fluid dynamics works... the velocity doesn’t go up by a factor of 10 when I stack 10 fans on top of each other when they go the same rpm they did before now does it? So why would it for 2 or 3 or 500? It doesn’t... airflow is volumetric flow rate, or area of fan times velocity, so no matter how manny hundreds of fans you stack push/pull, the velocity won’t just increase by a multiplier like that without the RPM increasing (I do have duel stage contra rotating server fans, the front is 7 blade vane and the second stage is 5 blade with aggressive pitch, they run different RPM to maximize airflow, however don’t be fooled thinking they aren’t doing this to increase RPM/velocity/airflow, just look at the math, volume per time is airflow, and that’s area times velocity (distance^3/time).
Not at “half the speed. The airflow will be the same”, that is physically not possible, and to that I’d say study physics. I have an aerospace engineering degree, but I will still say “it’s not rocket science”, the physics is very easy to understand. If you still don’t understand, draw it out, you can simplify the airstream as particles slapping an angled blade, or simply envision the particle being thrown from a blade of X diameter and Y RPM with Vtrsfr_efficiency= ~90%, and then envision that particle hitting the second blade again at the same X and Y V, meaning that it really can only gain approximately 9% faster velocity with the second fan. That would be roughly 49.5 units/time vs 90 units/time, that’s certainly not the same...
Also your dB scale is wrong, it’s logarithmic the other way, it would be 12dBA vs 15dBA (not 3 dBA, my goodness, an inaudible cricket a mile away would be on that scale!)
@@jakegarrett8109 . I actually have a physics degree and have been over two decades in the field of acoustics and extensive experience in practical research and testing. So i think i know a thing or 2 about these things. I would highly suggest googling/searching the relationship between acoustic noise levels vs RPM, because yes that is a 50 log. Fans are somewhat between a coherent and incoherent source, so therefore the 3-6 (more like 5) dB if you double them. Two fans in series have the ability to deliver double the amount of air. Especially in a push-pull configuration were there is quite some resistance (like a heatsink). But hey, do whatever you want with it, i am not here to have a nitpicky debate about things that can easily be found on your favorite search engine and has been used for the past 70 years or so.
@@jakegarrett8109 I also don't have a clue what you're talking about, but I can confirm that @Merlin Gallagher is absolutely right in this. Time to get out of your dusty books and lab and see how things work in the real world would be my advice as a technical consultant and CTO of different tech teams (so fun when people show off their so called degree)
The first Core 2 Quad system I built back in 2009 was all tricked out with LED fans & I had Heat pipes on all my coolers. I special ordered a Southbridge Cooler almost exactly like that, same fan & Grill config. Interesting, very cool (no pun intended)
While this may not boost performance compared to the small heat sink with fan, keeping the chip at a cooler temperature can effect the longevity of the processor, an important consideration if you want the board to be in a more permanent project like an arcade cabinet.
I picked up the ice tower with an acrylic case and its beautiful. Also running the Pi4 with an m.2 ssd and its faster then my wife's laptop most of the time. kind funny.
Nice testing! I'm going to get a Pi4 for my everyday computer so i can do some robotics dev. I will get the ice tower, but not bother with adding the fan for just a few degrees difference. Mainly because I like it nice and quiet and fans tend to add noise. All good wishes. I gave you a thumbs-up.
I have nice results with some very cheap cooling blocks (included in some kit) and a 60mm Noctua 5v fan (I run it on 3v). I bought some raspi cooling kit but the cheap included fans were way too loud at night
HAHAHAHahahhaah... ETA Prime ... What is this !! Is it not the point to keep the pi small / compact ? I must say the cooler is really..... cool. By the way very nice extended testing video. I give you like number 400 !!
Thanks for the video. I recommend stating up front if you purchased it yourself or how you obtained it. If you spent your own money, then it lends a high degree of credibility to your comparisons. There are channels out there that make their money by getting freebie gifts from manufacturers and making demo videos praising the product as the #1 product for users to buy. If the video has any negative comments, its trivial, such as one type of customer might prefer the product in White, while another would prefer black. Any real constructive comments that would benefit the buyer are never included.
Brought one of these for my Pi4 and it was a pleasure to see they added an extra standoff, screw and nut plus a little screwdriver in the kit, Don't know how many times I've put something together and dropped a screw or nut and couldn't find it plus I put all 3 thermal pads on because they were so thin
To the Pi Design Engineers: This makes the Pi combersome, especially, for anyone interested in using it as a music player with a hat. The Pi engineers should focus on more efficient CPU architectures that run cooler and get more efficiency and a longer die life. For adolescent geeks, this definitely, looks exciting, and I also add, beautiful, but is it really a good move? Please, designers and engineers consider to use an SOC that is more energy efficient and cooler to run. Considering the temperature at which this runs, I will not consider buying anything similar, and will stick with older models. I have a Raspberry Pi 3B+ that can run without a heatsink: that is what I really call a credit card sized computer.
The Pi 4 has only slightly higher power consumption than the Pi 3 B+ (around 1-2 W higher). The thermal load is still very low, at less than 10W for the whole board for most realistic workloads. The Ice Tower is simply overkill for this board, which the video clearly shows as well. A compact case with a 40 mm fan, ventilation holes and no heatsinks will be enough to keep the Pi 4 from throttling. The Pi 4 is still a low-power and efficient computer. The big problem is that you simply can't get away with more than a handful of watts for an SoC with no cooling at all. A single watt may not sound like much, but for a small chip with no cooling at all (and perhaps confined in a closed case) it will have a large effect on temperatures.
@@cestusfr : Thanks! I watched that. It does a good job for the Pi 3. It'll be interesting to see if it can keep the super hot 4B in check. I like the looks of the Armor case better than the Ice Tower, plus its easier to design around.
I don't usually use the word but damn that's cute. Actually reasonably priced for what it is too, there's a lot of manufacturing required. Innovative mounting mechanism too, I was wondering how it mounted. It's outrageously overkill and I don't _need_ one but now I definitely _want_ one.
I actually hope for casebuilders to compliment the block instead of hiding it, because this is the cutest "badass" you can get for the pi. i seriously want to play with a a base case and try to test airflow in a simulator. any recommendations?
If the fan off isn't making too much of a difference, could try putting a Noctua fan. Since this is pretty cheap, that fan is probably airflow optimized, and isn't able to push much. Noctua fans are good for static pressure and still quiet.
This is great! I already had the heatsinks on my pihole, and I happened to have a spare fan laying around. Temps in the pihole web interface dropped 6C instantly.
the tower just takes the appeal of the whole setup being low profile, if it were in horizontal it'd look great and also provide airflow to other components..
The giant fan is fun, but maybe the oversized fan would make more sense if integrated into a case design. Maybe even something with a cross draft that still left room for installing a pi hat of some kind.
Cool but it's bulky and cools the CPU only. On the other hand 40mm fan mounted horizontally above the board is much more compact and cools all the components too, eg usb controller.
"Like always, thanks for watching"........ Like always, thanks for sharing :) . I was waiting for this video. So good to know that the fan is not needed when using the Ice Tower heatsink only.
It may not get any performance gains, but it surely will have longevity improvements with lower temperatures. ;) Great video, it'll be really interesting to see cases made with compatibility for this beast of a cooler!
Awesome review but the stand out in the test is the 20mm heatsink with fan. You could even get a better or bigger heatsink to improve the cooling and still get inside a nice case. I'm trying to find better cooling for odroid xu4q to avoid thermal throttling.
the 40 mm Fan with a copper heat sink would be nice to see in comparison with the alu heat sink. to see if copper is worth it. Thanks for all your nice videos i just descovered your channel.
A challenging idea : I'd love to see this board in a little laptop chassis with 12" 1080p screen , huge battery taking pretty much all under the keyboard minus the space for the board and heat sink with fan besides the board instead of in top , so it stays as slim as possible, a copper pipe running over all the chips and to the heat sink , will do a great job I guess . inline ports soldered to the board instead of the 2 levels ports that are giving too much thickness for a laptop case implementation .
love your videos. however on your temp chart you should make it abit more clear if its F or C you use. i know its c but some might be confused? thanks for all of your awesome videos! :D
Thermal grizzly or gtfo 😂 Also, I *really* want to get a PWM controlled Noctua on there. Great video, and fantastic little product. Absolutely love it.
It's nice to see the temperature differences but I wanted to know the performance difference. Like, how much time was saved performing tasks when the CPU wasn't throttling vs when it was throttling. I personally don't care if my Pi runs hot or cool, but if it makes a demonstrable difference in performance then I care a lot!
wow, thanks. That was very helpful. I love the look of Ice Tower but I'm building a cluster so with many options I should choose 20 mm fan - that won't hit my wallet 😅
Dedicated heatsink attachment points on the PCB would be greatly appreciated, even if only 2 mm in diameter. Maybe the foundation can set a standard like they pretty much did with the I/O pins.
i'm interested to see what a pi4 ARMOR case will do if it has contact points on the CPU, RAM and GPU I have a pi3b+ armor case, I might try milling it to fit the pi4 .....
whaaa, no overclocking?! that thing is SO FUCKING CUTE OMG!! lol its so little! it looks like a miniature PC haha! OMG DUDE!! i wonder if i can make a mini ATX case, and make it a mini Desktop PC haha
Looks nice and all but i think i will wait for iUniker or GeekPi to make a dual fan heatsink instead since that heatsink and fan would be a little too big for the cases i have.
interesting is use cooler without fan... good temperature. have You try to put cooler 90 degree for use natural ascension of hot air? maybe temps could be lower
newer versions of raspbian seem to start throttling at 60C so this would have better perfomance than 20mm heatsink + fan (could be PI3B+ specific, not sure)
