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sadly i don't have one of these elite-atrix which can stand massive overclocking without at some point reboot because of too much heat.
so i decided to do something against overheating.
what i did was tearing apart the atrix and removing the aluminium part covering the tegra II chip (and no this piece doesnt have any contact to the chip so it doesnt serve as heatspreader).
now i took some spare aftermarket ram cooler and grinded it down to the exact size of the chip.
next step was quite easy: just cut out some part of the inner plastic frame to have some space for the new built "cooler".
last but not least i just put a small drop of thermal paste onto that chip and pressed the new cooler on top. (sidenote: you shouldnt have to glue it. it will keep sticking there because of adhesion)
no i'm going to try wheather this has any effect at all gonna flash some 1.5/1.6 kernel and see if my atrix can handle the speed now
pictures and results follow soon (partly done)
btw any good app to log temps?
Here you go with some pictures (more to come):
Really cool. You are a brave one....
I might have to try it.
Thanks for the info.
Even running at stock speeds the heat management on this phone is horrendous. I actually think the overheating caused my digitizer problems.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using XDA Premium HD app
Interesting, I hope you took some pictures. (and are willing to share!)
Hahaha, that's epic. Finally a real hardware mod for the atrix, please upload a picture!
Sent from my Atrix
I cant wait to see the pictures! XD
sorry mates, had no pc around and posting the first 10 times via tablet/smartphone is a pain in the ***
So the results are not that overwhelming but i'll surely try to figure out how to optimize all of this.
Results so far at stresstest
Clockspeed ..................................... Before ....................................... After
1000mhz max....................................working........................................ working
1300mhz max .........................reboot after some minutes..................... working
1450mhz max..........................reboot & bootloop soon.....................reboot after some minutes ... sometimes bootloop
as you can see there already is some slight increase of stability with overclocking, but i think that there can be done even more. just got to find a way how to squeeze even more heatsink into that little case without having to cut out any more will try with aluminium tape and also with some leftover copper heatsink soon
Copper should be better and maybe some holes in battery cover.
I hope that you're not going to try water cooling
no but got some copper heatpipes lying around XD
yes some holes in the cover would be better, but i really want to keep the outside stock.
well i also could also varnish some copper-plate into the backcover having contact to the heatsink on the cpu. so there would be a much bigger surface and of course allover masses. but i suppose if you hold this ting in your hand it would be too freaking hot. holding my finger down on that little heatsink while stresstesting can already be painfull. here i'm glad i got that plastic cover in between.
my plans are now to extend the heatsink over msdcard and simcard, since there is some good space left. maybe next days when i'll get home again
Actually copper plate into the backcover is great idea! Don't worry about heat because bigger surface and you still have plastic between heatsink and fingers
I did similar thing long time ago with zx spectrum
well then i need a really thin copper plate wich will not have that good effect on cooling, or i replace some area of the backcover with copper. then there would be heat issue (and aesthetic, too)
Try to find copper foil or easier aluminum foil. Just be careful to avoid electrical short circuit
Are you testing with or without the cover on?
What are you using to conduct the stress test?
I know you want to keep it stock, but an extended battery cover would give you lots of extra room and many have vents. Might even be able to squeeze a fan in there for active cooling!
atm i'm testing with back cover on. having stable oc only with back cover taken off doesnt make any sense since its unusable as daily driver.
i got some aluminium foil at home and some some fine copper plates.i'm sure i'll be able to work something out.
atm I'm using cm 7.2/miui hybrid with faux's 1450ghz 027b5 kernel. slightly undervolted.
mainly stresstesting with "StabilityTest". after about 10 mins of stresstesting i wouldn't get temps over 65°C still tweaking a bit, then i'll give some benchmarks a go and will see if i can get 1.6 ghz kernel running
still looking for some good tool for logging cpu temps or at least showing on screen/status baar. atm got to switch to setcpu and open cpu info tab to get some readouts.
I'm curious to see how 1.45Ghz kernel and tweaked stock rom will do in webtop-mode. hopefully this will be also run stable since webtop-charging also produces some extra heat. we'll see when i get my lapdock back from motorola ^^
extended back cover would be an option for space as long as i dont want to dock it to lapdock oder cardock, which i do multiple times a day. so no option for me.
i have also thought about adding a fan, but when i think about it, it's way to big, makes noise and drains even more juice. so this is a no-go.
if you would want to do extreme overclocking just for benchmarking this would be an option again. but then we would need a kernel with even higher clocks to get something groundbreaking...
so who starts with a LN2-cooled smartphone ?
Lol, fan is going to drain battery really fast. Only for extreme overclocking. Bigger heatsink, some holes or extended battery cover should be enough.
At the end he's going to overclock with liquid azote
Edit: system tuner pro could log data. Try it.
stresstesting @1450 faux kernel 027b5
while connected to a 1.6A charger and static 100% cpu-load i get temps of 86°C with the phone freezing.
got to play with some profiles here and maybe even more uv.
thanks for the tip with system tuner pro, looks promising. now i can get more accurate values and also log and see when the device crashes/reboots/freezes, etc
86°C is too much! Be careful, don't burn your phone
Zeljko1234 said:
86°C is too much! Be careful, don't burn your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol Could fry some egg and bacon on it!
be sure that i know its way too hot. i set up some profiles in setcpu and undervoltet a bit more.
i'm trying to peek at even while powercharging 65° but for that i will have to improve the heatsink. atm i still get about 72 with limit of 1200 when over 65
Anyone thought about raising the ouya with a fanned base mount of some kind, and creating some vents in the top to make the case a little wind tunnel. I mean it's great the processor has a heat sink and fan, but all that heat still needs an escape. anyone already working on something like this, or have thoughts on it?
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
bwild said:
Anyone thought about raising the ouya with a fanned base mount of some kind, and creating some vents in the top to make the case a little wind tunnel. I mean it's great the processor has a heat sink and fan, but all that heat still needs an escape. anyone already working on something like this, or have thoughts on it?
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey bwild... I just received my Ouya a few days ago and this was one of the many initial issues which i've noticed, especially when you launch a game and leave it sitting at the title screen for about 15 minutes. It heats up pretty well and if the ambient temp is 25c or higher then the little thing struggles to cool itself.
After opening mine up, i can see several points which cause me concern heat wise, and obviously the long term issues are potentially reducing the lifespan of the device as a whole.
1. Due to the size of the device internally, and the amount of air that the small fan can shift per minute and the lack of escape points for heat, the device warms up pretty quick as essentially the small cooler is just reusing warm air internally to try and cool the heatsink. There is no heat shielding on the inside of the case to isolate the board from the surrounding case so the entire device heats up but the only effective cooling part is the small heatsink. Its a REALLY bad design.
2. The mobo inside is mounted on its side, this forces the fan and heatsink to fire out warm air towards the vents at the top and the bottom of the case, well at least im sure they are 'Vents' . Im quite sure that this kind of heat build up and pressure makes it almost impossible to draw any kind of reasonably cooler air from the outside, inside. Any air being drawn in is already warm before it even hits the cooler. My Ouya does get noticeably warmer underneath the device but i also believe that this is due to the 4 small metal weights which sit right at the bottom of the case heating up as warm air is expelled downward from the heatsink... I'm thinking of removing these as they are acting as a small heater with cool air trying to enter the underside of the case. But i can test and let you know if theres any difference.
3. The unique shape of the Ouya doesnt help either i believe... Warm air being expelled downwards towards the bottom of the case, will naturally try and rise and move up the curved side of the case internally and then get drawn in by the cooler again, im no expert when it comes to these types of things but im pretty sure thats whats happening.
4. I've replaced the standard 40mm fan with an Akasa 40mm fan with slightly higher airflow rating (and a little more noise), Not sure if this again helps much due to the design but it should help to at least cool the device a little quicker once your return to the Ouya dashboard.
5. Something else that i noticed was that the heatsink is actually spread across what looks like the GPU and (What looks like) Memory Modules, i cant confirm this as it was a side on look and havent removed the heatsink (Yet). Again i noticed that the GPU sits on one half of the heatsink (the side which is closed to the bottom of the case actually) so im wandering if this heatsink is doing anything at all I'll see about removing this at some point and probably putting a highly polished copper shim on it with some better heat compound, silver or ceramic and see if this helps.
6. The underside of the motherboard, has no cooling or anything on there despite a memory module being present on the back but i dont think that this will cause any issues.
So will all of that in mind... i've set of to find a suitable cooler of some kind that wont require ear plugs or make the device levitate 2 inches from the surface its supposed to be sitting on.... Space is a real killer inside this so i think we are going to be limited to what can can do however i'll need to see if theres any way that i can change the airflow in the device to allow for cool air being drawn from underneath and the warm air being expelled from the top. Sounds simple but i dont think its going to be anything easy... Just by looking at the Ouya, i had the crazy idea of trying to mount a 80mm fan (Low Profile if such a thing exists) which has a low rpm which sits between the top of the case and the top lid where the power button is. There may be much pressure between the fan and top lid though so there would need to be some mods and see if i can get enough power.....
All of this sounds extreme for what it is but i hate warm devices
I came across this : http://www.ninjalane.com/reviews/motherboards/rampage3extreme/page4.aspx : which shows a small chipset cooler. This would allow you to mount is side ways with the fan obviously pointing towards the top of the case and flip the fan over so its draws air from underneath and out through the top. Its either something like that, or we start a watercooling ouya project LOL :highfive:
Well thats my 2c
I think the outside only gets warm because it metal if it were plastic no one would know.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Ok.... Quick test there after work.
Removed the lid, played Shadowgun for about 30 minutes. Fan kicked in a couple of times, but when the fan kicked in for a 3rd time, I exited back to the dashboard and the fan stopped immediately.
Console was slightly cold to touch and the heatsink was roughly a little warmer to the touch so I'd say between 40 and 45c at the most. :thumbup:
Compared to last nights epic slaughter session on Shadow gun, the fan remained on for approximately 10 minutes with no system usage, just sitting at the dashboard as it tried to desperately cool itself.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
It's running a mobile cpu... won't it just throttle itself if it actually gets up to a dangerous temperature??
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
I agree mate yes... however i'm not sure if it does actually throttle itself? On an enclosed mobile i can see why thats required, on an open, air cooled device (albeit poorly) there wouldnt really be a requirement for throttling, unless they know it couldnt cool itself properly there any way we know for sure?
That aside though, the device will still take some time to cool down even when throttled as it will still generate heat
Personally if i am playing a game at 1080p, i'd rather not have to suffer from reduced quality when the device throttles due to poor design!
I did notice as well initially when i had a really good session on Shadowgun, that the frame rate on a 1080 monitor was dropping below 30fps and the textures didnt quite look as crisp, so maybe it does throttle. If thats the case, i'll play it with the lid off until i can stop it from overheating and lowering the core frequencies :good: I'll make this a little project and see how cold i can get it to run.
If i make any changes that i think are working, i'll post a few pics :highfive:
Im going to picking up a mini-itx case so i can not only rectify the cooling issue when running my roms , but also to permanantly install a usb hub and hard drive internally. I am growing accustomed to using this for media too, so a hard drive is a must. I will post some pictures and video as I move along with it.
Ramzes13 said:
Im going to picking up a mini-itx case so i can not only rectify the cooling issue when running my roms , but also to permanantly install a usb hub and hard drive internally. I am growing accustomed to using this for media too, so a hard drive is a must. I will post some pictures and video as I move along with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
played through shadow gun and the left over and the system stayed cool to the touch the fan did come on a few times
I stripped mine down again tonight and had a closer look at the PCB. Looks like the heatsink, which is soldered on, isnt flush. It rises slightly at the end where the CPU/GPU is so that's maybe why mines is a little warm. I can apply a little pressure to the high end and it does drop 1 maybe 2mm. So maybe my heatsink isn't as effective as it should be.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Here is the simple rigging I came up with.
A 60mm case fan with some allen bolts for legs. Plugged into the ouya usb (I still need to split it so I don't loose a slot.)
The fan blows up through the bottom vents, I do intend to cut a couple extra slits in the top too.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
Thingiverse has the plans for the ouya and others have likely moded it for better air flow if you have a 3D printer.
Sent from my DROID4 using xda app-developers app
The Old One said:
Thingiverse has the plans for the ouya and others have likely moded it for better air flow if you have a 3D printer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I'd ultimately want to do I have a design in my head for incorporating the fan inside the bottom of the case raising the board by the equivalent height and adding in just a spacer with additional venting, between the case and top cover.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
bwild said:
Here is the simple rigging I came up with.
A 60mm case fan with some allen bolts for legs. Plugged into the ouya usb (I still need to split it so I don't loose a slot.)
The fan blows up through the bottom vents, I do intend to cut a couple extra slits in the top too.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's awesome mate!! :good: Do you get a noticeable difference with that fan?
it is noticeably cooler to the touch. I'll try to measure it somehow and update when I get a chance.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
So I picked up a dead sega dream cast at the flea market, got it home, gutted it, cleaned, and got most of it done. I was able to convert the sega push button power switch to a momentary and soldered the leads to the ouya main board. I hot glued the connection afterwords so it will stay (the power pins are tiny). I added two USB ports to the front and rear using a USB hub. I also mounted an hdmi coupler and m type power connector on the rear. I made a jumper cable to hook up power internally. I'm also looking into wiring up the stock dream cast cooling fan to use as side exhaust. I will update when i get the cooling sorted out. The point of doing this was to increase airflow in the case and make a more compact package for all of devices.
Ramzes13 said:
So I picked up a dead sega dream cast at the flea market, got it home, gutted it, cleaned, and got most of it done. I was able to convert the sega push button power switch to a momentary and soldered the leads to the ouya main board. I hot glued the connection afterwords so it will stay (the power pins are tiny). I added two USB ports to the front and rear using a USB hub. I also mounted an hdmi coupler and m type power connector on the rear. I made a jumper cable to hook up power internally. I'm also looking into wiring up the stock dream cast cooling fan to use as side exhaust. I will update when i get the cooling sorted out. The point of doing this was to increase airflow in the case and make a more compact package for all of devices.
View attachment 2098033View attachment 2098034View attachment 2098035View attachment 2098036View attachment 2098039
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Pretty cool, I considered doing this as well with a dreamcast, but won't have a chance till I buy another OUYA specifically to mod. Looking at it, I have 2 concerns. Your USB hub is almost wasted, isn't it? I mean the majority of USB ports are inside the case, or am I missing something? What about heat? With the OUYA in the middle, close to the top, wont it cause more heat? or do you think the second fan will fix that?
Have you thought about anything to do with the lid/cd area?
JLCollier2005 said:
Pretty cool, I considered doing this as well with a dreamcast, but won't have a chance till I buy another OUYA specifically to mod. Looking at it, I have 2 concerns. Your USB hub is almost wasted, isn't it? I mean the majority of USB ports are inside the case, or am I missing something? What about heat? With the OUYA in the middle, close to the top, wont it cause more heat? or do you think the second fan will fix that?
Have you thought about anything to do with the lid/cd area?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wanted the majority of the USB ports internal for use with the front USB ports and to add internal storage. You are correct about the pcb location and I'm going to make small vents above the fan inside the cd area for air intake. As it sits now heat isn't in issue yet. I mounted the pcb near the stock fan location so once I have that working it can pull air out more efficiently. Using a dream cast was great, I wish I did this in my spare Nintendo 64, but I didn't have the security tool yet (ordered last night). The n64 cartridge slot makes an amazing air intake, I will more than likely do it when I pick up another ouya ?.
So I got around to wiring up the stock dream cast fan to maximize air flow and moved the led from the pcb to the lid of the console so now the light can be seen.
The first picture is with the cd tray open to show the vents I had to create since the CPU fan sits below. In both pics you can see the light now works. I ordered right angle USB adapters last night and will update when they are installed.
...and so nothing falls into the system or the fan ...
I was inspired by this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-4/general/hardmod-nexus-4-investigating-thermal-t2144652 and decided to do some experimenting.
My phone was idling at about 53 degrees with screen on at 50% brightness w/ auto brightness off, ambient temperature of 70 degrees farenheit.
I ran two Antutu benchmarks from idle temperature. Results were 31990 and 31555 and a max temp of 77 degrees.
I then ran two Qualcomm benchmarks with scores of 1860 and 1855 with the temperature topping off at 66 degrees.
I disassembled my phone and removed the main board. I added a small drop of Artic Silver thermal compound to the processor and reassembled.
Results after adding thermal compound. Phone idles about 9 degrees cooler, at about 44 degrees. Max temp while running Antutu benchmark is down to 71 degrees with scores of 35356 and 34856. Results for Qualcomm benchmark after thermal compound, max temp of 60 degrees and scores of 1880 and 1875.
I may clean up this post later with pictures etc but I did this on a whim. This whole process only took about 25 minutes. Phone comes apart extremely easy and with excellent results so far. If you take the plunge and open it up, I noticed that one of the screws at the volume rocker assembly is longer than the other, be careful of this when reinstalling.
I was considering doing a similar thing using a thermal pad. I assume the Arctic Silver was applied under the metal shield?
Damn,
why I didn't ask for this when my G3 got repaired
ChrisM75 said:
I was considering doing a similar thing using a thermal pad. I assume the Arctic Silver was applied under the metal shield?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The processor is exposed in the middle of the metal shield, like at 3:18 of this disassembly video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRXzRQ69264
You might be better off using a thermal pad, as there is quite a gap to fill with thermal compound. I think ideally I should use a pad or a copper shim like in the thread I posted in OP.
Yes thats the shield I mean. I assume it just pops off, its not soldered to the mainboard? On the G3 the CPU faces away from the LCD so heat transfer to the LCD (as is likely on the N4) isnt a problem for us.
I wonder if a pad under the shield and a pad over the shield would be possible. The buttons are over it, but it might just fit.
ChrisM75 said:
Yes thats the shield I mean. I assume it just pops off, its not soldered to the mainboard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure how the shield comes off, I didn't pay much attention to it. I applied compound to the processor without having to remove the shield.
ChrisM75 said:
On the G3 the CPU faces away from the LCD so heat transfer to the LCD (as is likely on the N4) isnt a problem for us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CPU does indeed face the display as on the N4. I think you're mistaking the NAND for the processor?
When stress testing for 10 minutes the display definitely got quite warm but I don't think I will be pushing it that hard too often.
The CPU and RAM and stacked together on the G3 and are underneath a thin metal shield. It has to come off to access the it.
EDIT: ah I see I read the images wrong, the CPU does face the LCD.. Hmm.
You were probably looking at the same teardown I was. It's confusing the way it's posted on there. I doubt I can damage the display but if I do I guess I'll accept the couple hundred loss for having to tinker with things haha. Temperature as I type this is 42 degrees. Solid ten degrees lower than 'normal'
i'm interested in doing this mod. can you share your pictures? because none of the teardown show the processor.
How the heck if your phone so cool?
Mine is like 30 degrees Celsius (86F) when just browsing the net, goes up to 40 degrees Celsius (104F) :/
Do you have an estimate of how much of a "gap" has to be filled? I'm planning to try this with either paste or coollaboratories liquid ultra i still have lying around.
biustech said:
i'm interested in doing this mod. can you share your pictures? because none of the teardown show the processor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt take pictures, sorry. The processor is on the back side of the board, facing the display. It's in the middle of a metal housing, you can't miss it. If I teardown again and switch to a thermal pad, which I think is more ideal, I'll be sure to take some.
PrimaryComplex said:
Do you have an estimate of how much of a "gap" has to be filled? I'm planning to try this with either paste or coollaboratories liquid ultra i still have lying around.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I'd say about a .1mm gap. I'd really recommend some sort of copper or aluminum shim with compound on both sides of it. Or a thermal pad. Thermal compound isn't meant to fill this kind of gap, although it does work.
hawkswind1 said:
I didnt take pictures, sorry. The processor is on the back side of the board, facing the display. It's in the middle of a metal housing, you can't miss it. If I teardown again and switch to a thermal pad, which I think is more ideal, I'll be sure to take some.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem dude. Thanks for the tips. But do you think this mod can compromise the LCD, somehow more heat will be transfered to the LCD and then could cause some problem...
biustech said:
No problem dude. Thanks for the tips. But do you think this mod can compromise the LCD, somehow more heat will be transfered to the LCD and then could cause some problem...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could cause a lcd issue. I turned off thermal throttling then ran the cpu at max for 10 mins with a stress test. The upper part of the lcd where the processor is does get quite warm. When playing asphalt it gets warm but nothing crazy. My opinion is it will be fine, but use this mod at your own risk of course.
hawkswind1 said:
Hmm, I'd say about a .1mm gap. I'd really recommend some sort of copper or aluminum shim with compound on both sides of it. Or a thermal pad. Thermal compound isn't meant to fill this kind of gap, although it does work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am finally now in possession of a 15x15x0.3mm copper shim. I'll try this tomorrow and give you guys an update.
PrimaryComplex said:
I am finally now in possession of a 15x15x0.3mm copper shim. I'll try this tomorrow and give you guys an update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice. Let us know how it goes
Finally done with the mod. After checking taking the phone apart i feel the best option to go is a 0.5mm thermal pad/copper shim. The added thickness should put a little more pressure on the SoC for better heat transfer.
Can report the same 9C difference on idle from 54 to 52.
Antutu scores:
Before: 31438
After: 36099
Load temp max from 73 to 64.
Strangely everything feels smoother but could just be bias on my end.
PrimaryComplex said:
Finally done with the mod. After checking taking the phone apart i feel the best option to go is a 0.5mm thermal pad/copper shim. The added thickness should put a little more pressure on the SoC for better heat transfer.
Can report the same 9C difference on idle from 54 to 52.
Antutu scores:
Before: 31438
After: 36099
Load temp max from 73 to 64.
Strangely everything feels smoother but could just be bias on my end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you link to the exact materials you used? The thermal pad/paste. Thanks.
Found while researching the 5X bootloop of DEATH.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV8_hsua4vo
Maybe too much paste and looks like in translation .8mm copper plate was used.
Any comments regarding this relatively simple mod.
omgdwong said:
Found while researching the 5X bootloop of DEATH.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV8_hsua4vo
Maybe too much paste and looks like in translation .8mm copper plate was used.
Any comments regarding this relatively simple mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the square cover you used, is the same as the cutter cutter?
Enviado desde mi Nexus 5X mediante Tapatalk
I bought these copper shims: http://www.ebay.com/itm/261704004472
15mmx15mmx0.3-5-8-1, think I'm going to try just putting a 0.5mm shim on the CPU with some paste, none on the screen side, I don't want the area of the screen there getting too hot - the copper itself should act as a good heatsink
Why? The only thing this device needs is 4 gb RAM mod. Nothing else.
Sinistersky said:
Why? The only thing this device needs is 4 gb RAM mod. Nothing else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because putting a copper chim on the back of the CPU that overheats is a good temporary fix until I can organize shipping my phone to china? I'm talking to [email protected] in PM about it but it's hard because his english isn't very good. he says $200 without shipping for 128gb internal storage upgrade and 2gb-4gb ram upgrade.
paradoxiumwind said:
because putting a copper chim on the back of the CPU that overheats is a good temporary fix until I can organize shipping my phone to china? I'm talking to [email protected] in PM about it but it's hard because his english isn't very good. he says $200 without shipping for 128gb internal storage upgrade and 2gb-4gb ram upgrade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me know how that goes, as I would be very interested. I love the 5x, but there are a number of limitations that are starting to peek out.
16GB storage
2GB ram
CPU is fast enough for me, but overheats and throttles
Battery lasts ~4 hours SOT
If I could upgrade to 128GB, 4GB, cool the CPU with a copper shim and some modding, and then swap my old battery for an LG G2 3,000 mah one, I could see myself using this phone for several more years!
Or at least until Android P comes out, and I get upgrade envy.
I just finished this in the morning. Initially I got the idea from here: youtu.be/mV8_hsua4vo.
Used a 1mm thick, 15 x 15 mm copper pad that I bought locally, I couldn't get a 0.8mm one and waiting for an order from Aliexpress for such a tiny item is not my thing since our national post is a mess and it adds up like a week to an already huge delivery time.
So I sanded down the 1mm one to about probably 0.8, just enough so the board is not floating on it and the contacts for the ear piece are fine.
Removed the factory yellow pad, cut the thin foil off of the metal shield, slammed some DeepCool thermal compound that I had laying around and pieced it back together.
All I can tell you is that I can't get the CPU temp past 52°C. Tried all the trending benchmarks on the PlayStore, max brightness, streaming Play Music over bluetooth to my headphones, you name it.
That 52 is peak, doesn't stay there, at idle it ends up around 30 to 32 and some casual browsing with mid brightness goes up to around 40.
So the most is runs at when gaming or doing heavy tasks is between 40 and 50. Which is a massive improvement over stock temperatures and even better than the thermal config that I used to run (see bellow).
Worth mentioning that I'm running the extremeV4 thermal config, throttling temp at 51, EX Kernel with Heimdall_5x_v4 profile for the interactive governor.
The screen is NOT getting too hot, in fact it used to get hotter before, without the copper pad.
Sorry I don't have any photos, but I don't have another camera, just an old GoPro H3+B - useless.
Tried this too. Didn't seem to do much though.. Tried this test and CPU didn't reach even close to 40 degrees Celsius. Weird thing was that the two faster cores quickly went offline after starting the test though..
EDIT: I used a 1 mm thick thermal pad but now notice a blue spot around the cpu. I can also see a curvature in the screen under the right lighting. Maybe the thermal pad is too thick? I figured a 1 mm pad could be squished down to 0.8 mm if it would be too thick..
I just saved mine via fastboot with a modified img but having two disabled cores bothers me. I thought about replacing the motherboard or upgrading/replacing the two cores to a new one with 4gb ram and then adding the heat sink. Do you guys think it's worth it or should I just leave it be
Hi,
i made the mod a few days ago. i used a 0,8mm 15 x 15 mm copper pad.
It works great.
But today i used gps the first time since the mod and got a big problem. I was driving with maps und a had a few seconds gps then searching for gps then a few seconds gps and searching again.
Anyone alse noticed some problems with gps after this mod?
Or any ideas what could happend?
I had the same issue with GPS, seems like only done encounter the issue. I just had to get a new thermal pad. Found some Arctic thermal pad that is .5mm thick and used that.
Here is a post of mine in another thread
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=75586886&postcount=26
the_desaster said:
Hi,
i made the mod a few days ago. i used a 0,8mm 15 x 15 mm copper pad.
It works great.
But today i used gps the first time since the mod and got a big problem. I was driving with maps und a had a few seconds gps then searching for gps then a few seconds gps and searching again.
Anyone alse noticed some problems with gps after this mod?
Or any ideas what could happend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
octavioromo said:
I had the same issue with GPS, seems like only done encounter the issue. I just had to get a new thermal pad. Found some Arctic thermal pad that is .5mm thick and used that.
Here is a post of mine in another thread
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=75586886&postcount=26
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok thank you. seems like not everyone got this problem.
i will try to press the backcover a bit on the mainboard next time.
if that doesnt help i try with the thermal pad or maybe a thinner copper pad.
are your temps better with the pad than original?
I couldn't use the copper pad at all, and it wasn't a clearance issue. I tried a thinner shim and I had the same issue. Send like there is some sensor or something that gets blocked by using a metal shim. I used CPU throttling test and it said performance improved by about 10 percent or so. But in real world it's a bit better but essentially couldn't use the copper pad.
octavioromo said:
I couldn't use the copper pad at all, and it wasn't a clearance issue. I tried a thinner shim and I had the same issue. Send like there is some sensor or something that gets blocked by using a metal shim. I used CPU throttling test and it said performance improved by about 10 percent or so. But in real world it's a bit better but essentially couldn't use the copper pad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the copper pad in there and I use Strava and Google Maps almost every day but never had a GPS problem.
I still believe you are encountering a problem with the antennas' pins not making contact with the board.
There just can't be any shielding or any problem from the copper pad, since the whole back of the display is a big chunk of aluminum that would mess the GPS even more if that would be the problem.
RO.maniac said:
There just can't be any shielding or any problem from the copper pad, since the whole back of the display is a big chunk of aluminum that would mess the GPS even more if that would be the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
makes sense... but than an 0.8mm copper shim seems to be to thick.
i dont used to much thermal paste...
do you know which of the pins on the backcover are for gps-antenna?
maybe i can try to improve the contact.
if that doenst work i will try an thermal pad.
Desaster
This only works with the stock rom?
Rojas2018 said:
This only works with the stock rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WTF this is a simple mod to improve cooler, hardware is not changed so it work with any rom
[GS] said:
WTF this is a simple mod to improve cooler, hardware is not changed so it work with any rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool!
Paste
Is it necessary to use thermal paste, or can I use glue?
I just took out the copper pad because I lost all gps signal and after troubleshooting every other possible cause, I went with the "rumour" that the pad is causing interference. And oh man, it does!
I have no idea how my gps worked for like 8 months, since I got the mod in. Still, Strava was losing signal here and there, generating zig-zag lines, but I blamed it on the app.
Now everything is fine, I get signal from at least 6 fixed satellites and Strava is super stable.
I guess I'm back in line to get the bootloop now, the SoC is back running in the 70s and 80s C.
So I think you can forget about this mod unless you don't care about proper gps signal.
Needed an inexpensive spare phone. Picked up a Nexus 5x 16GB for less than USD50, with problems (Unable to turn on, only red LED when trying to charge) so starting a project to revive it.
Stumbled across this thread.
Bit the bullet and bought the oudini UNLOCKED H791 32GB Mainboard with the 4GB RAM and a Da Da Xiong 3400mAh Battery to go with it.
Planning to do the copper heatsink mod too.
Was thinking of expanding on the idea of the copper heatsink mod with this Experimental "home-made" modding for heat dissipation mod. Aluminum foil was used along with liquid metal thermal compound in that thread. Not a good idea as liquid metal with aluminum is a recipe for disaster. I was thinking of using copper foil instead. Haven't decided on whether to use thermal paste or liquid metal. Also thinking of creating a bigger surface footprint for the "heat dissipation pipe" like the attached picture.
Your thoughts?
Will update once all parts arrive and I begin assembling. :fingers-crossed:
Attached Thumbnails
Good luck with that. Sounds like fun.
With that mainboard, is there any guarantee it won't start bootlooping a few months down the road?
Good to see somebody else dumping money into such a hobby
Aside from my daily driver 5X, I have another one now at the shop for a reballing job - kind of a long story, outcome still unknown
I don't think that whole 'heat pipe' situation is needed, you are going to be fine just with the copper pad.
I've been running it for a few days now and honestly it's more than enough. You won't get anymore performance out of this chip unless you go sub zero cooling or something.
Seriously, having it run at 30 to 40°C on daily normal usage and 40 to 50 in games or other intensive tasks is just fine.
Thermal throttling is also kept to a minimum, especially with the non-stock thermal configs.
That battery capacity is jank, you can't physically fit that much juice into that space.
The best battery you can get your hands on is a LG *allegedly* original unit from Amazon sold directly by LG. Other than that, you are always going to end up with some knock off that gives you, at best, the same battery life as a 3 year old original one.
Good luck with all this then.
But you'll probably ditch it all in a year's time for a Pixel, when you'll want that fresh Android. That's going to be my story, anyway.
AsItLies said:
Good luck with that. Sounds like fun.
With that mainboard, is there any guarantee it won't start bootlooping a few months down the road?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess there are no guarantees... My understanding is, this bootloop is caused by hardware problem with solder connections between the board, RAM and CPU. The RAM is packed with the CPU together on the top.
This main board has had a new RAM/CPU soldered on. So unless it was a shoddy job, it should all work. Now, under heavy load, heat builds, and when it gets too hot, there is a possibility of the solder connections giving problems again. Which is why I thought of doing the copper heatsink mods to reduce the chances of it happening. Also, with the 4GB of RAM, I am hoping it will have less stress on both CPU and RAM, which in turn will generate less heat, thus reducing the chances of the problems with the solder connections.
All this is just theoretical. I guess I have to build it and see how it goes. :fingers-crossed:
RO.maniac said:
Good to see somebody else dumping money into such a hobby
Aside from my daily driver 5X, I have another one now at the shop for a reballing job - kind of a long story, outcome still unknown
I don't think that whole 'heat pipe' situation is needed, you are going to be fine just with the copper pad.
I've been running it for a few days now and honestly it's more than enough. You won't get anymore performance out of this chip unless you go sub zero cooling or something.
Seriously, having it run at 30 to 40°C on daily normal usage and 40 to 50 in games or other intensive tasks is just fine.
Thermal throttling is also kept to a minimum, especially with the non-stock thermal configs.
That battery capacity is jank, you can't physically fit that much juice into that space.
The best battery you can get your hands on is a LG *allegedly* original unit from Amazon sold directly by LG. Other than that, you are always going to end up with some knock off that gives you, at best, the same battery life as a 3 year old original one.
Good luck with all this then.
But you'll probably ditch it all in a year's time for a Pixel, when you'll want that fresh Android. That's going to be my story, anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don’t really game on phones but where I live, temperatures and humidity are quite high. Not looking for crazy performance, just hoping the phone stays cool and will last a while.
As for that battery, we’ll see. No harm trying after all. A guy on reddit bought one and said it does last longer than the original. If it sucks, I’ll just revert back to the original one.
This is just a small hobby/project, who knows how long I’ll use it. I actually already have a Pixel 2 XL. As I’ve mentioned, this is just a spare.
I also bought one of the 4GB boards (two actually) and replaced a dead N5X from ebay with the upgraded one. Works flawlessly, will post screenshots of the system info of 4GB RAM soon when I have my phone sorted.
I'm curious about that battery though - is it legit 3400MaH?
This is the 4GB board I bought, same as you. My first two didn't make it past chinese customs but he sent another two and they made it fine. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/oud...for-LG-H791-32GB-Motherboard/32846103543.html
AsItLies said:
Good luck with that. Sounds like fun.
With that mainboard, is there any guarantee it won't start bootlooping a few months down the road?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the moment, no one reported bootloops on Nexus 5X with 4GB Ram. We will see in the future.
4GB board installed, just installing apps and setting it up etc. Feels snappier anyway. When installing ElementalX kernel, I set the read-ahead buffer from 512kb to 1024kb to adjust for the increased RAM.
Soon I will order one Motherboard. If my 5X will have bootloop again.
paradoxiumwind said:
I'm curious about that battery though - is it legit 3400MaH?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea but on the sellers ad, they say they use a EBC-A10H machine to test their batteries for the desired result. Also, there are a couple of brands besides the Da Da Xiong one that I bought. There's HSABAT, LOSONCOER and IBITION.
On reddit k3v1ng1994 says ;-
"Just wanted to update you on the extended battery.
I finally had it delivered a couple of days ago. I can confirm that the battery does so far last longer than the OEM battery- I just don't know exactly how much by.
The biggest issue is the battery has thrown my phone out of calibration. No longer can I see what battery percent I'm on (it always stays on 50%), and the screen on time isn't resetting when I put my phone on charge. I've tried many ways to try and recalibrate the battery, with no luck.
I would say it's not worth getting for this very reason. I'd rather be able to tell how much battery I have left, rather than have a longer battery life. But you might be interested in giving it a go, especially if you're rooted since you can take additional measures to calibrate the battery."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess there is an issue with calibration but I think should be an easy fix with a flash of stock images (or factory wipe) and batterystats.bin will be removed in /data/system... Should be calibrated after that. Not sure which brand he bought though. Who knows. Will try and see how it goes.
Got a notification, my items have been shipped!
Main board should arrive by the 2018-03-18 but the battery says 2018-04-08 . I've ordered stuff from China recently and they usually arrive before their estimates. Hopefully they get shipped out of the country before their Chinese New Year holidays. Then it's up to my country to deliver the goods.
Took apart the phone today and tried the "heating" method fix but it didn't work. I got as far as getting "Google" to appear on the screen then it gets stuck there.
Anyway, looking at the heatsink/"heat pipe" mods, I'll probably stick to thermal paste instead of liquid metal. Liquid metal is corrosive. Even with copper the metal ions will migrate into the copper metal, gradually creating a copper-gallium alloy that is grey-silverish in color. Which is why people think it's drying up. It's actually the copper absorbing the liquid metal.
Looking at what PC CPU heatsink are like these days, the contact point is usually copper, followed by aluminum fins for faster heat dissipation. Why not just follow that recipe. :silly:
So, looks like the copper foil I ordered won't be of any use now :laugh:.
Really don't think a heatsink mod is needed, in my old phone I used a 0.1mm(or 0.2mm I forgot) copper shim over where the CPU is, stuck it on with thermal paste, didn't make much difference in cpu temp.
paradoxiumwind said:
Really don't think a heatsink mod is needed, in my old phone I used a 0.1mm(or 0.2mm I forgot) copper shim over where the CPU is, stuck it on with thermal paste, didn't make much difference in cpu temp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A .1 or .2 mm shim won't indeed change anything, it's way too thin for the chip to be in contact with the chassis. Especially if you don't remove the factory yellow pad and the thin foil from the chip shield.
With a .8 or .9 mm copper pad (can't tell for sure, I sanded down a 1mm pad) I can guarantee that you'll notice the temp difference, the throttling is almost gone.
It also depends on what thermal paste you use and how much of it.
Also to everybody wondering why the bootloop issue occures, here's a few things:
The 808 and 810 were the first x64 chips Qualcomm came up with as a response to Apple's. So you can imagine they aren't exactly well thought out, especially in the long run. You can do a bit of research to see how they just janked together some ARM cortexes, slammed a GPU in there and called it a day. Samsung even ditched the 810 from the S6 and used in-house silicon - I think we can safely assume Samsung knows its hw game.
The stock thermal config and kernel are absolute garbage and don't help at all with the thermal throttling that keeps the little cluster pinned at 1440Mhz and the big one off, anytime the package is above 46°C - that's most of the time. Now you tell me how easy that is on the hw.
These design flaws coupled with possibly bad soldering led to our problems. Even though it's hard to imagine that so many boards made it out of the production line with bad soldering since that's a mostly automated and very tidy job, leaving little to mistake.
RO.maniac said:
A .1 or .2 mm shim won't indeed change anything, it's way too thin for the chip to be in contact with the chassis. Especially if you don't remove the factory yellow pad and the thin foil from the chip shield.
With a .8 or .9 mm copper pad (can't tell for sure, I sanded down a 1mm pad) I can guarantee that you'll notice the temp difference, the throttling is almost gone.
It also depends on what thermal paste you use and how much of it.
Also to everybody wondering why the bootloop issue occures, here's a few things:
The 808 and 810 were the first x64 chips Qualcomm came up with as a response to Apple's. So you can imagine they aren't exactly well thought out, especially in the long run. You can do a bit of research to see how they just janked together some ARM cortexes, slammed a GPU in there and called it a day. Samsung even ditched the 810 from the S6 and used in-house silicon - I think we can safely assume Samsung knows its hw game.
The stock thermal config and kernel are absolute garbage and don't help at all with the thermal throttling that keeps the little cluster pinned at 1440Mhz and the big one off, anytime the package is above 46°C - that's most of the time. Now you tell me how easy that is on the hw.
These design flaws coupled with possibly bad soldering led to our problems. Even though it's hard to imagine that so many boards made it out of the production line with bad soldering since that's a mostly automated and very tidy job, leaving little to mistake.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to go OT, but understanding some things may help "solve" the heat / bootloop problem in non-bootlooping N5X. In stock kernel, through ExKernelManager, I've seen CPU at 96º C when taking photos with HDR+ With Jolla kernel and the big off, CPU hardly reaches 60º C. If soldering is not "the problem", an "accurate" kernel configuration will be enough to avoid the bootloop? Sorry if I misunderstood your explanation or if I ask something stupid. I know nothing about this, but I would love to learn something. Thanks!
CLPose said:
I don't want to go OT, but understanding some things may help "solve" the heat / bootloop problem in non-bootlooping N5X. In stock kernel, through ExKernelManager, I've seen CPU at 96º C when taking photos with HDR+ With Jolla kernel and the big off, CPU hardly reaches 60º C. If soldering is not "the problem", an "accurate" kernel configuration will be enough to avoid the bootloop? Sorry if I misunderstood your explanation or if I ask something stupid. I know nothing about this, but I would love to learn something. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I'm saying is pure speculation, the web is filled with people talking bs about 808 and 810.
Also, Qualcomm, LG or Google never settled this with actual honest facts.
Another fact is that some Huawei made Nexus 6P devices bootlooped as well, so you can see how one could easily think that the root problem is the architecture itself of that generation of SoCs.
On the other hand, I can make an 'educated guess' about how a cooler running package prolongs its life and puts less stress on the 'allegedly' weak soldering.
So I think it's safe to assume that running a custom kernel and thermal config, along with other tweaks like the heatsink, will dramatically increase the life of your 5X.
Hello friends first forgive the translator's mistakes. I already knew this topic before but did not know that the motherboard had already been sold already modified.
My thanks to @LeonF for providing the link of the sale of the motherboard with 4GB of RAM.
I already have a functional 5x nexus, but I bought another today with the burned motherboard per US $40.00. Then I bought the motherboard per US $132.05 5% off.
Unfortunately I live in Brazil, the customs (IRS) here are horrible, it will certainly take up to 70 days for me to receive the product, as soon as arrive i come to post my opinion here... on a battery 3400mAh do not think it's good.
I have noticed with my 4gig ram board, my battery usage is really good. same battery. ordered two of those 3400mah ones though, but somehow more ram = better battery time
Copper shims arrived today. They're 15 x 15 x 0.8 mm. Took the phone apart, did a mock of the copper shim then cleaned off the yellow thermal pad...
So @Mortihead found a service that will replace your emmc chip to 32GB, 64GB or 128GB and mentioned I should try.
Mortihead said:
Taobao service now can change internal storage for 32/64/128GB in Nexus 5x
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a211ha.10565794.0.0.e9dd404sdwVlg&id=549749619850&toSite=main
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got in touch with them and found out (as best as I can understand the WeChat translator) that the 128GB chips have been out of stock but they still have the 64GB ones and it will cost RMB280 to do it.
I found this chart from @ikfe from this thread of the part numbers...
ikfe said:
Sure, but my idea is not an occasional adaptater but a real memory extend like this thread : http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/help/nexus-5-64gb-t3350533
I'm confused with 2 ideas :
-Add an SDCard slot (can be cool)
-Extend memory to 64 or 128gb (my advice SDCard still better)
On the iFixit Teardown guide, it says it's a Toshiba THGBMFG7C2LBAIL (16gb variant) chip.
And in the Toshiba catalog, like u can see downside, all chips seems to be the same type (P-WFBGA153).
The problem is the size of the chip. Upgrade can be easily done to 32GB (N5X Variant), or to 64 and 128 gb, up to 0,4mm difference.
Searched a bit on the web and finded some chips:
64GB Variant:
https://www.rutronik24.com/product/toshiba/thgbmhg9c4lbair/7782539.html
http://fr.aliexpress.com/item/THGBMHG9C4LBAIR-VFBGA-153-eMMC5-1-64GB-Flash-Memory/32653487163.html
128GB Variant:
http://fr.aliexpress.com/item/THGBMHT0C8LBAIG-TFBGA-153-eMMC5-1-128GB-Flash-Memory/32653124263.html
http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=THGBMHT0C8LBAIG (Ask seller)
The only problem i see is like i said above, the chip size grew up to 0,4mm, so is it possible to do it without get an curved nexus?
Any ideas where and how is possible to put an SD Reader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Searched for the 128GB chips and found this for USD$35. I can go as far as fitting the new 128GB chip but I have no idea how to proceed after that. Reading the thread about @KApetz2 and how he fitted a 64GB eMMC to his Nexus 5 you have to fix the partition tables to support the larger capacity storage or it wouldn’t recognize the upgrade. If someone can point me in the right direction, I might try it out.