The new Raspberry Pi 4 B

[#1]

Does anyone have one of these? I’ve got the 4gb version on back order at CPC along with a PoE HAT and a Camera but I won’t see it until early August, which is annoying, but it does give me time to prepare my new project for it.

If you do have one how does it compare to any previous versions you have. There appears to be a lot of enhancements and favourable reviews to this release.

[#2]

@Anonymous  Don't have a newer one but I hope the cooling is improved. My earlier Pi 2 (got a Pi 1B as well) used to get pretty warm - I see the latest supposedly can run 2x 4K outputs. Thought about fitting a fan at one point but decided maybe running mundane things was the way to go.

How much is the 4gb version?

[#3]

On my existing cluster (x6) I have a heat sink on each one just to keep the edge off of them, as they could get a bit cosy. The 4gb version can be had from CPC for 51.97 (which is the cheapest I found) and the PoE HAT I bought has a fan built in so that will help hopefully.

I intend to run headless, so no GUI, as I'll be installing Arch Linux on mine so I won't have the overheard or thermals of the GUI

[#4]

From what I've read online there are overheating issues with the Raspberry Pi 4B to the point that CPU is being regularly throttled in normal use. A lot of online reviews are saying that unless you run it headless, you need an heat sink and fan solution to use it for everyday things.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/22/raspberry_pi_4_too_hot_to_handle/

Also they messed up the USB C implementation so some 3rd party power supplies incorrectly detect it as and audio device and refuse to power it up, fine with the official Pi charger though, needs a hardware change to make it work properly.

https://www.extremetech.com/electronics/294665-the-raspberry-pi-4-has-a-flawed-usb-c-port

[#5]

I found this Youtube video most informative as to the "hot" topic of throttled Pi4B's

Bottom line seems to be a heat sink is essential (and careful consideration as to the case construction),

[#6]

The Pi Foundation has just cut the price of the 2GB version, effectively now making it the base model for end users

https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/new-price-raspberry-pi-4-2gb/

Also there's been a PCB revision that fixes the USB-C issues

https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/raspberry-pi-4-usb-c-update

[#7]

I took the plunge and bought one of the 4GB desktop kits a while ago.

After experiencing thermal throttling watching YouTube videos, I got one of these: https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/fan-shim for a tenner.

I've got to say its worth every penny for keeping your Pi 4 cool.

[#8]

@mikelahey yes indeed with the fan-shim. I've heard they are good.

I got one of these for my Pi 4:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GeeekPi-Acrylic-Raspberry-Model-Heatsinks/dp/B07TVLTMX3 

The fan is almost silent.

I didn't bother fitting the heatsinks that come with it and the cpu never goes above 37 C with youtube or bbc iplayer.