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[jokiin]

Curious. Is the heatsink glued to the processor or can it be detached? I'm wondering if a nice coating of good thermal paste might solve the overheating problem.

waiting for better photos to confirm but it appears the heatsink is not attached to the processor at all, apparently it's stuck to the EMI shield that sits above the processor, only going off second hand information though, someone would need to open one up again and get some better photos to confirm that is the case, won't be a great effect if that is how it is setup

 

[EGS]

waiting for better photos to confirm but it appears the heatsink is not attached to the processor at all, apparently it's stuck to the EMI shield that sits above the processor, only going off second hand information though, someone would need to open one up again and get some better photos to confirm that is the case, won't be a great effect if that is how it is setup

Hopefully this are clear enough... Please give us your honestnthoughts.

 

[EGS]

by the way... that fingerprint on top of the sd card tray is not mine.

 

[HonestReview]

by the way... that fingerprint on top of the sd card tray is not mine.

WTF @jokiin is right. The EMI shield is mounted to the cpu, and the data ribbon is sandwiched between that and heat sink. Holy crap that's an odd design. Does an EMI shield need to protect cpu? or what is it protecting? Very strange you wouldn't have heatsink sitting DIRECTLY on the cpu.

FYI: That's some crappy looking thermal paste. And someone's DNA along with it (fingerprint).

 

[EGS]

Was the EMI cable sitting on the CPU or the Heatsink?

Thtat was my first question when I opened this unit the first time. I didn't proceed to separate that part as it is a hard stiff glue holding the SOC lid and the heatsink block together and didn't want to risk bending the lid. But maybe a project for a later time applying some heat to it. If you look closely, they are not joined tightly or evenly.

 

[HonestReview]

Thtat was my first question when I opened this unit the first time. I didn't proceed to separate that part as it is a hard stiff glue holding the SOC lid and the heatsink block together and didn't want to risk bending the lid. But maybe a project for a later time applying some heat to it. If you look closely, they are not joined tightly or evenly.

I don't get it. Placing the thermal paste on the EMI shield, sandwiching the data cable in the middle, and having the heatsink on top is counterproductive. The heatsink isn't making contact with the CPU and able to give it maximum cooling.

Clearly, there's "SOME REASON" there's an EMI shield???? I'm at a loss. Might be worth trying to separate the shield, cable, and heatsink on future project and see how mounting heatsink direct to CPU does using something like artic silver thermal paste.

What is the data ribbon sandwiched in the middle attached to?

 

[EGS]

WTF @jokiin is right. The EMI shield is mounted to the cpu, and the data ribbon is sandwiched between that and heat sink. Holy crap that's an odd design. Does an EMI shield need to protect cpu? or what is it protecting? Very strange you wouldn't have heatsink sitting DIRECTLY on the cpu.

FYI: That's some crappy looking thermal paste. And someone's DNA along with it (fingerprint).

The EMI shield is a very important part around the the ribbon connectors but and the metal case, but I definitely don't like seeing it between the lid and cooling block diminishing the heat transfer.

 

[HonestReview]

The EMI shield is a very important part around the the ribbon connectors but and the metal case, but I definitely don't like seeing it between the lid and cooling block diminishing the heat transfer.

Is that ribbon cable connected to each camera or where does it go to?

 

[EGS]

sandwiching the data cable in the middle

There is no data ribbon in that portion. just part of the shielding tape.

 

[HonestReview]

There is no data ribbon in that portion. just part of the shielding tape.

Ah OK. I thought that was a data ribbon in between the EMI Shield and Heatsink. What a crazy design that without any doubt is diminishing the heatsinks ability to cool the processor. I'm truly wondering if ANYTHING can be done to solve the overheating, short of a product redesign. Cooling is definitely inefficient with the current setup.

As the heat sink must penetrate the shielding tap, emi shield, and before reaching and dissipating heat from the CPU.

 

[jokiin]

not sure how well that pink snot works for thermal transfer, not a substance I've seen used before, maybe it works ok, the tape between the EMI shield and the heatsink may be an issue, not sure what that's about, can't tell what it is from the photo or what type of properties it offers and whether it's a positive or negative aspect having it there, gut feeling is that there may be some room for improvement

 

[HonestReview]

not sure how well that pink snot works for thermal transfer, not a substance I've seen used before, maybe it works ok, the tape between the EMI shield and the heatsink may be an issue, not sure what that's about, can't tell what it is from the photo or what type of properties it offers and whether it's a positive or negative aspect having it there, gut feeling is that there may be some room for improvement

Gut feeling tells me making the heatsink penetrate the tape and EMI shield to cool cpu is a flawed product design.

 

[jokiin]

Gut feeling tells me making the heatsink penetrate the tape and EMI shield to cool cpu is a flawed product design.

if it's just the material and methods used it should be easy to improve without any major rework of the design

 

[HonestReview]

if it's just the material and methods used it should be easy to improve without any major rework of the design

What happens if the EMI shield were removed and heatsink mounted direct to CPU? I mean i know the EMI shield is meant to shield against interference but is the level of interference on a dash camera significant?

And if EMI shield is necessary, then there'd definitely need a redesign to put that shield in a better place.

 

[jokiin]

probably a number of ways to improve things, they'd need to experiment a bit and see which method offered the best results

 

[EGS]

not sure how well that pink snot works for thermal transfer, not a substance I've seen used before, maybe it works ok, the tape between the EMI shield and the heatsink may be an issue, not sure what that's about, can't tell what it is from the photo or what type of properties it offers and whether it's a positive or negative aspect having it there, gut feeling is that there may be some room for improvement

As you can see it is a thick booger. A big gap between the SOC and the plate cober to get filled. The tape band goes from one side to the other in between the aluminum block and the tin plate.

 

[jokiin]

I guess the fact that there is room for improvement is a good thing, if it was done as well as could be expected already and was having heat issues it would be a much worse situation to try and improve it further

 

[EGS]

I guess the fact that there is room for improvement is a good thing, if it was done as well as could be expected already and was having heat issues it would be a much worse situation to try and improve it further

Yes, I definitely there is room for improvements in here. Now that I had dissected this unit, I will do some experimenting of my own.

 

[EGS]

I'm not sure about using a thermal pad and the gap is huge for the white thermal paste. Those pads are kind of slow transferring heat. At least those I have seen on other boards. Any recommendations?

 

[Nigel]

You must of got a version built specially to test how it copes with being continuously overheated!

I'm not sure about using a thermal pad and the gap is huge for the white thermal paste. Those pads are kind of slow transferring heat. At least those I have seen on other boards. Any recommendations?

Could do with a copper heat spreader on top of the processor to fill most of the gap and just a thin layer of thermal paste either side.