I got a Rock PI 4+ some days ago, and now as we have outdoors temp well above +30C and no AC in the building it’s apparently quite warm inside. From time to time my Rock PI freezes after heavier u-tube sessions. Could it be overheating or something else, and where to check it from /var/log??? I’ve the latest Armbian installed and it’s on an nvme.
Rock Pi 4B+ overheating?
Check armbianmonitor -m while you are watching u-tube
Are you using the big heatsink and case, very recommended?
RockPi 4 will overheat with heavy usage if not using a heatsink.
yes, I’ve that big heatsink al-bottom plate with a case & acryl cover. As said we’ve had quite a warm summer here rec ently, > +30C nearly every day, and no AC indoors. Just wondering what these sbcs usually do when overheated; switching off automagically, freezing, or burning to ashes with the rest of the house?
If overheating occurs, the CPU cores down-clock.
With the big heat sink I don’t get over 55C when it’s 38C in my country in summer using LE or Android.
But that is with the vendor kernel, perhaps Armbian with the mainline kernel has some driver problems or problems scaling down the CPU, RAM etc. after long usage.
Or you can use a tool to monitor your system in general.
I use Conky for this. That can also look nice 
The strangest thing for the RockPi4 is that really its presented upside down and a heatsink as the base of the cpu is not the greatest idea ever as opposed to convection rising.
You can install sudo apt install lm-sensors but even though haven’t had my 4b for a while you can do cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp as it should be somewhere in the /sys virtual folder something like the previous.
Usually what I do with all my SoC’s is just put a 30/40mm 12v Fan on the 5v as runs at approx half speed so is perfectly quiet and does an excellent job of forcing air to keep cool, really cheap and just stuck on with a sticky foam pad.
Use some long bolts instead of the screws to make extended feet and have a fan on the bottom or maybe just turn that thing upside down.
I can only confirm the suggestions made by stuartiannaylor. It’s important not just to guess if you have a heat problem. You should always keep an eye on this information, especially since it is really easy to come by.
And the proposed cooling solution is very cheap and easy to implement. If you then think of the thermal paste between the CPU and the heat sink, with no or too little difference of approx. 25 ° C, then you can stress the RockPi4 for a long time without hesitation.
