Hello everybody,
I have a plan to in the feature buy the Rock PI 4, so I wanted to make sure what heatsink I should buy for it and if it will fit in the case that I already have (for RASPBERRY) so here are my doubts:
What is the dimensions of the chip RK3399?
What is the size of the heatsink thst comes in the Rock PI 4 kit?(the simple heatsink)
Thanks for the attention!
Chip is 20mmx20mm from memory
It should be 22x22mm.
I think its actually 21x21 but has bevelled edges shim and heatsinks 20x20mm as on ebay its a relatively common size.
Still you are prob better with the Radxa heatsink as it is machined to fit the Pi mounting holes and it does need quite a decent heatsink which it certainly is.
Prob with active cooling you could get away with much less.
The problem is that I am willing to use the Suptronics board X820, however as the cpu of the Rock PI 4 is right in the bottom of the board, I won’t have much space to put a big heatsink like the official one 
I hope that a small heatsink with a fan will be able to make it cool
I just found the specific dimension in another post here in this forum:
It was easier to find heatsinks sized 22*22 so that’s the ones which I’m going to buy.
To be honest that board sort of doesn’t compute with me as its just a usb adapter and its never great through usb.
Command line used: iozone -a -e -I -i 0 -i 1 -i 2 -s 80M -r 4k
Output is in kBytes/sec
Time Resolution = 0.000001 seconds.
Processor cache size set to 1024 kBytes.
Processor cache line size set to 32 bytes.
File stride size set to 17 * record size.
random random bkwd record stride
kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write read rewrite read fwrite frewrite fread freread
81920 4 28410 30628 25668 25728 14916 30629
Cheap Integral 120gb P5 SSD on ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1053 SATA 3Gb/s bridge and likely you will be about the same.
You can pick up a usb adapter for $5 you can even get them with a 12v barrel and use 3.5" for less than £10.
The m.2 extender and m.2 ssd though will have you much faster. The below post with a evo 970 is a big wow F
Or the will give you x4 ports that are faster, with less latency
https://shop.allnetchina.cn/collections/new-products/products/m-2-pci-e-protocol-to-4x-sata3-0-expansion.
If you already have a Suptronics board X820 then maybe but if not prob better ways.
I am not all that sure how a small inverted heatsink will cope but also check
sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq
As some of the images are just set to performance with all clocks at max, the debian desktop scales and actually it might just be the ones I have compiled 
sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils if so and pick a milder govenor
I am sort of doing similar but just use m2.5mm pillars to act as ‘case feet’ as inverted heatsinks with heat rising and convection is something that has failed to compute.
I have done something similar but gone slightly nuts on the idea of a Nas,
Got a OMV image that needs some tidying here
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AocmAh35i26QiRoVLn1ttnlorw8g
You can give it a go but not sure how well those tiny heatsinks will cope.
I just got my RBPi4 delivered today and even on that the passive heatsink supplied is 30mm x 40mm correct way up and it only clocks to 1.5ghz
Thanks for the precious informations!
I have the X820 and the X822 and it runs ok on my raspberry 3b+(obviously not in full speed due to the 2.0 usb). I thought it would goes fast on the 3.0 usb of the Rock PI 4. At least when I am sending videos from my pc to the x820 hdd it goes around 180mb/s in the 3.0 Now I am a bit worried. Sorry for the question, but did you use a 3.0 cable?
They started selling it with the 3.0 usb jumper only now btw
My project is to build a Media Center, that’s why I am looking for hdds because they are not that expensive when choosing ones with 1tb. I also didn’t want to use usb adapters to not leave something “hanging” from the Rock PI 4.
The new raspberry got my attention but even tho Rock PI 4b is still better at least for me, but now idk if I should take the risk and buy knowing my lovely x820 might not work properly.
Can you test the x820 on your raspberry pi 4 and tell me the reading and writing speed? I’m more worried with the reading one hahaha
Thanks again !
[EDIT]
I saw the board with sata conectors and its dope! I will study a way to adapt it in my X820 Metal Case.
You can read the pi4 review as it also has usb3 benches which are about the same.
Big files you will be fine as the reclen via iozone was small.
tkaiser has further benches in the comments
An m.2 ssd on the m.2 extender will just blast it away, not sure which RK3399-Q7 (NVMe) the mighty tkaiser benched but gives you an indication.
My own opinion is that the 4 port sata can make a great and very cheap but extremely powerul Nas as OMV (open media vault) runs docker as well.
So a cheap cage for $10 cage with 4x 3.5" drives makes quite a store and the Rockpi4 can sit on top mounted on pillars with heatsink up.
You prob already have a PSU but if you are going Nas then get a 12v 5.5mm barrel one as the Rockpi4 is great as the onboard buck takes a range of voltages up to 20v.
That way you garner a 12v & 5v rail and barrel connectors and adapters are many and cheap.
Also 40mm 12v fans seem to fit the slots on the Radxa heatsink perfect and this little £2 fan controller makes a great addition without stealing gpio.
That’s the best idea for a master media center I have ever seen!!
It will take me a while to build it tho.
At this time I’m using only the X820 + RASP 3B+ METAL CASE
Take a look here in my video:
How is the speed using the x820 with the raspberry pi 4?
Dunno yet as forgot to purchase a PSU. Didn’t bother with the raspberry same again got a 5.5mm 5v barrel one and use the same adapters I have for the rockpi4.
I will have a look and should have the psu tomoz.
I think it is purely Nas / application server as often using the ethernet for speed is far more important than the wifi.
The 1/2GB rockpi4A boards are terrific value for money and its just a shame that 4 port sata card in comparison for what it is, is a bit pricey.
It my Raspberry rant as if the had gone m.2 we would prob be littered with alternatives.
There are cheaper $20 2 port cards on a single pcie lane, but that 4 port is just perfect and the marvell 9235 chipset does have a version with 6, but never seen one out in the wild.
Have a look at OMV https://1drv.ms/u/s!AocmAh35i26QiRoVLn1ttnlorw8g there is my 64bit deb version there where the basics with docker are already up and running.
I forgot to install cpufrequtils and set the governor to GOVERNOR=“conservative” as pointless having all cores constantly at max performance and it will ramp up when needed.
I got a sata daisy chain to molex and then just butchered a molex plug to the 12v/5v supply.
Liking that metal case but thinking in this world of plastics and pollution all that is needed is a simple wood ‘veener’ just to make it a little more pleasing to the eye and biodegradable.
If you look at prices and what OMV offers in applications via docker then the overall combination is extremely competitive to other 4 bay Nas products on the market.
The rk3399 prob has a lot of head room I am going for Nextcloud and Libre-Online solutions so its a home google docs / onedrive office solution at home.
OMV is just great as everything from DNS to DHCP, firewall to Openhab is already there and suggest taking a look.
You can now get extremely low cost capable tv kodi set top boxes that just need a Nas to connect to then maybe a streaming server which the rockpi4 could do but being just Nas means you have a lot of headroom for whatever docker apps you wish to run and thinking its more of a hideaway home server for multiple devices that actual single use.
Seriously have a look at OMV as yes it is NAS but then with OMV extras via docker it can be so much more.
Thanks for the great support and ideas, I will have to check how OMV works and everything. At least from what I understood, I can build a server with all of my media and access it from my pc or even smartphone. I think it’s also easier to eveytime connect the x820 to the pc transfer movies and then connect back to the damn TV haha
Let me know if you got the power supply for the x820 btw
At this time I’m trying to think about a way to cool down the Rock pi 4 when attached to the x820. It’s only 6mm between them. So I might get a fan with hitsink
The official heatsink is by far the best as its fins allow a 2.5mm self tapping screw to fit either 1 or 2 40mm fans.
I like the DC 12V PWM PC CPU Fan Temperature Control Speed Controller Board as I use a 12v 60watt barrel transformer with a USB-C adapter.
As it was £7.99 for a 60watt with 4 way splitter.
You prob could go usb-c pd charger but I really struggled to find any splitters, terminals and adapters.
rock@rockpi4:~$ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 008: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
driver: cpufreq-dt
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1 2 3
maximum transition latency: 40.0 us.
hardware limits: 408 MHz - 1.42 GHz
available frequency steps: 408 MHz, 600 MHz, 816 MHz, 1.01 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.42 GHz
available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, interactive, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 408 MHz and 1.42 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 408 MHz.
cpufreq stats: 408 MHz:63.52%, 600 MHz:7.20%, 816 MHz:6.43%, 1.01 GHz:14.83%, 1.20 GHz:5.34%, 1.42 GHz:2.68% (30160)
analyzing CPU 1:
driver: cpufreq-dt
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1 2 3
maximum transition latency: 40.0 us.
hardware limits: 408 MHz - 1.42 GHz
available frequency steps: 408 MHz, 600 MHz, 816 MHz, 1.01 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.42 GHz
available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, interactive, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 408 MHz and 1.42 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 408 MHz.
cpufreq stats: 408 MHz:63.52%, 600 MHz:7.20%, 816 MHz:6.43%, 1.01 GHz:14.83%, 1.20 GHz:5.34%, 1.42 GHz:2.68% (30160)
analyzing CPU 2:
driver: cpufreq-dt
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1 2 3
maximum transition latency: 40.0 us.
hardware limits: 408 MHz - 1.42 GHz
available frequency steps: 408 MHz, 600 MHz, 816 MHz, 1.01 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.42 GHz
available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, interactive, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 408 MHz and 1.42 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 408 MHz.
cpufreq stats: 408 MHz:63.52%, 600 MHz:7.20%, 816 MHz:6.43%, 1.01 GHz:14.83%, 1.20 GHz:5.34%, 1.42 GHz:2.68% (30160)
analyzing CPU 3:
driver: cpufreq-dt
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1 2 3
maximum transition latency: 40.0 us.
hardware limits: 408 MHz - 1.42 GHz
available frequency steps: 408 MHz, 600 MHz, 816 MHz, 1.01 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.42 GHz
available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, interactive, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 408 MHz and 1.42 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 408 MHz.
cpufreq stats: 408 MHz:63.52%, 600 MHz:7.20%, 816 MHz:6.43%, 1.01 GHz:14.83%, 1.20 GHz:5.34%, 1.42 GHz:2.68% (30160)
analyzing CPU 4:
driver: cpufreq-dt
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 4 5
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 4 5
maximum transition latency: 440 us.
hardware limits: 408 MHz - 1.80 GHz
available frequency steps: 408 MHz, 600 MHz, 816 MHz, 1.01 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.42 GHz, 1.61 GHz, 1.80 GHz
available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, interactive, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 408 MHz and 1.80 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 408 MHz.
cpufreq stats: 408 MHz:57.63%, 600 MHz:12.67%, 816 MHz:7.87%, 1.01 GHz:6.18%, 1.20 GHz:6.06%, 1.42 GHz:4.29%, 1.61 GHz:2.60%, 1.80 GHz:2.70% (5468)
analyzing CPU 5:
driver: cpufreq-dt
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 4 5
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 4 5
maximum transition latency: 440 us.
hardware limits: 408 MHz - 1.80 GHz
available frequency steps: 408 MHz, 600 MHz, 816 MHz, 1.01 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.42 GHz, 1.61 GHz, 1.80 GHz
available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, interactive, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 408 MHz and 1.80 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 408 MHz.
cpufreq stats: 408 MHz:57.63%, 600 MHz:12.67%, 816 MHz:7.87%, 1.01 GHz:6.18%, 1.20 GHz:6.06%, 1.42 GHz:4.29%, 1.61 GHz:2.60%, 1.80 GHz:2.70% (5468)
You can always change the governor also
https://wiki.debian.org/HowTo/CpuFrequencyScaling
If you click on the docker repo images there is a huge selection from kodi headless to couch potato that are practically click and go.
Also install on any debian
https://openmediavault.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation/on_debian.html
PS the 4 port sata turned up worked out of the box with the m.2 extender.
Command line used: iozone -e -I -a -s 100M -r 4k -r 16k -r 512k -r 1024k -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 -i 2
Output is in kBytes/sec
Time Resolution = 0.000001 seconds.
Processor cache size set to 1024 kBytes.
Processor cache line size set to 32 bytes.
File stride size set to 17 * record size.
random random bkwd record stride
kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write read rewrite read fwrite frewrite fread freread
102400 4 40425 48005 58438 57793 23966 46915
102400 16 111826 135299 156540 153694 82364 123766
102400 512 339600 352329 363463 366823 269568 357378
102400 1024 292547 356682 363840 367742 296867 360861
102400 16384 441573 357018 422514 429050 417921 449490
That is with a single 120gb integral P5 budget SSD.
I will prob order 3 more and see how the card copes under various raid setups of 4 disks.
Here the comparison of an Samsung EVO840 with JMS567 USB adapter RBPi4 bench by tkaiser.
That will be optimised to the best you will get on the rbpi4
random random
kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write
102400 4 22302 27249 20241 20395 20237 27021
102400 16 75679 87955 83502 83747 83282 86495
102400 512 275383 284198 304086 306688 306716 282608
102400 1024 290456 297695 325241 327736 327800 296176
102400 16384 312888 307813 359110 362559 362575 312788
1024000 16384 320656 321783 363482 364006 363931 321833
The main advantage is multiple disks and that raid via usb ranges from doesn’t work to stink at best.
Looking forward to see what results I get with 4 disks.
Evo 850 on the 4 port sata
Command line used: iozone -e -I -a -s 100M -r 4k -r 16k -r 512k -r 1024k -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 -i 2
Output is in kBytes/sec
Time Resolution = 0.000001 seconds.
Processor cache size set to 1024 kBytes.
Processor cache line size set to 32 bytes.
File stride size set to 17 * record size.
random random bkwd record stride
kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write read rewrite read fwrite frewrite fread freread
102400 4 40059 51432 60812 63636 31464 50149
102400 16 106962 142357 160286 165256 95699 139100
102400 512 325343 335507 317536 323487 312129 338324
102400 1024 340292 351986 340852 339575 337433 352246
102400 16384 444705 452061 479606 482634 479726 454479
those are great results!
I hope the X820 will show something similar to that
do you think it is possible?
You should be somewhere near the 2nd test results as over USB there is little difference between the Pi & Rockpi
Tkaiser is really good for getting all the settings and optimisation right he is part of the Armbian crowd or is the Armbian crowd but what he don’t know don’t matter
Still that Sata trounces you though