Raspberry Pi 4: The Raspberry Pi Foundation brushes off that the RPi 4 has a temperature problem

[Redaktion]

The internet celebrated the arrival of the Raspberry Pi 4 last month, with its more powerful SoC, USB Type-C port, dual 4K HDMI and up to 4 GB of RAM. However, a few issues are rearing their head, with the Pi Foundation being quick to shut one of the more concerning down.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Raspberry-Pi-4-The-Raspberry-Pi-Foundation-brushes-off-that-the-RPi-4-has-a-temperature-problem.427414.0.html

[blech]

It is concern trolling, just like this crappy, embarrassing article mindlessly echoing it.

Thermal throttling is no way new or unusual or unexpected behavior in a device packing reasonably powerful CPU cores into a passively cooled SoC.  Anyone in the market for a Raspberry Pi really ought to be aware that processors use energy and faster processors tend to use more energy.  Sorry that your $35 isn't buying you the cutting edge of power efficiency.

[Not with stupid]

What a dumb post. Nealy all SOCs and CPUs will thermal throttle. My laptop does it and so does my phone, I would be surprised if the raspberry pi4 didn't thermal throttle.

As for the usbc cable issue it is minor, get over it already.

[Will]

What a load of uneducated tosh in this article.

The USB-C charging issue was only identified after the device was released. It affects a small number of cables on the market, and the manufacturers have advised they will sort it on the next revision. If this means you've received your RPi 4 and can't power it on and aren't willing to purchase a new cable, send it back to your supplier for a refund. Then re-purchase when the revised board is released.

And regarding the throttling - this is totally normal for any high performance chip nowadays. It will affect you if you run the CPU at 100% continuously, but this is pretty rare for normal users. You can't have the massive speed boost all the time without throttling, unless you were to increase the product cost with a cooling solution. Some people are never happy though.

Which explains the real reason this article exists. To drive more people to this site, irrespective of editorial quality. The easiest way to fix this (for those of you who agree) is don't bother visiting here again.

[Alex Alderson]

I am afraid that you are all missing the point, perhaps wilfully, in defence of the RPi 4.

The Pi Foundation promises that the RPi 4 is "your new desktop computer" and that it offers the "complete desktop experience".

As CNX Software has pointed out, the RPi 4 throttles almost immediately in something like a 7-Zip or Phoronix multi-core benchmark, because of insufficient cooling. It eventually throttles by almost 30%, which is not a desktop experience.

So yes, it behaves like a laptop or smartphone, which generally throttle because of insufficient cooling.

The criticism is only valid because the Pi Foundation has over-promised with the RPi 4. Labelling someone dumb, uneducated, crappy, embarrassing and a troll for pointing out that a device does not live up to the PR is short-sighted at best and fanboyish at worst.

As for the cables, very few devices have USB 3.1 Gen 1 or newer ports. Those that come with a Type-C cable often are USB 2.0. So yes, it is an issue. Telling someone to "get over it" does not resolve that.

Please educate and embarrass my lack of understanding though if you truly believe that desktop computers thermal throttle. I am all ears.

[blech]

It's a desktop experience in that unlike previous raspberry pis, it can plausibly run modern web applications at tolerable speeds, gives you some breathing room memory-wise, and can drive dual monitors.  It's not being sold as a workstation that will go toe-to-toe with your Threadripper.  They are making no claims about performance beyond it being faster than previous models - which is amply accurate regardless of throttling.

It's utterly bizarre that this site seems to take $3000 gaming laptops that sound like jet engines with expensive CPU upgrades that are literal wastes of money due to a total lack of thermal headroom as a matter of course; but a $35 SBC commits the grave sin of running somewhat slower at full load if you don't strap a cheap heatsink on it, somebody call the federal trade commission!

[Alex Alderson]

It's a desktop experience in that unlike previous raspberry pis, it can plausibly run modern web applications at tolerable speeds, gives you some breathing room memory-wise, and can drive dual monitors.  It's not being sold as a workstation that will go toe-to-toe with your Threadripper.  They are making no claims about performance beyond it being faster than previous models - which is amply accurate regardless of throttling.

It's utterly bizarre that this site seems to take $3000 gaming laptops that sound like jet engines with expensive CPU upgrades that are literal wastes of money due to a total lack of thermal headroom as a matter of course; but a $35 SBC commits the grave sin of running somewhat slower at full load if you don't strap a cheap heatsink on it, somebody call the federal trade commission!

I suggest reading the Pi Foundation's early press releases again before making such verbose and nonsensical statements again. Threadrippers and the FTC? Oh dear.

[Neil]

With all the concern about whether this is /isn't a Desktop, just wait till someone notices it doesn't come with a case!!

[Ciaràn]

My goodness, what a passionate lot the Raspberry Pi community are! Can I say community? To give Raspberry Pi their dues, they package their own operating system which I hear is well tuned for their hardware. The VIM 2 by Khados, for instance, was apparently rather glitchy on Android when it launched. Raspberry Raspberryp.org don't show the code though, as far as I know (not that I could read it anyway). I wish I could find a comparative benchmark with other some of other O.S. possible on it, RISC OS in particular, just to see how good it is.