Easy Fix for Throttling

[schecter7]

Edit: This is just a fun project. Every octa core phone throttles. That includes my S6. Its AnTuTu score from 5 back to back runs with similar 32C start ranges from 65K to 52K. That means a similar drop in performance. Also overheating & throttling are two very different things. Z3+ & S6 both throttle so that they don't get too hot (or 'overheat'). Glass backs on both don't help either, but I like them anyway. I was just trying to speed up the cooling process- not to cool down anything as the phone doesn't 'overheat' in the first place. You won't notice this throttling with regular usage & all these temperature numbers are for internal temp, not surface temp. I hope this clears up my intent. *End of Edit* 07/21/2015

This is probably the easiest way to decrease throttling during heavy CPU workload. All I had to do is insert few foil layers between the phone & TPU case. Attached picture shows plots from three scenarios - no case, just case, foil & case respectively. Oh, NFC will get blocked out by the foil. But I don't use it much anyway. Cheers.

 

[schecter7]

#Reserved#

 

[nfs2010]

Very interesting thread, mate! It made my lazy as* to sign up just to post my results. Oh, I used this copper foil with a case. You won't need that much, btw lol

amazon dot com/Louis-Crafts-Copper-Foil-Inches/dp/B0042SWM98

My scores (normalized like yours) from 5 consecutive AnTuTu runs (& my initial temp was also a bit higher than yours)

Initial Temp (C) Score

0 34 100%
1 48.1 91.10%
2 49.1 86.86%
3 49.8 84.80%
4 50.1 83.00%

4K Test:

Outdoor-> 4 minutes in 96F / 35.5 degree Celsius weather (starting CPU temp was 37C as I was using few apps before the recording started )

Walked back home two minutes later and then

Indoor -> 9.5 minutes (CPU was still warm at 41C)

It really is the easiest fix ever for extreme users who use case anyway. Thanks!

 

[schecter7]

Oh, I used this copper foil with a case. You won't need that much, btw lol

That's freakin' awesome, dude :good: I never knew copper foil existed. Since I can't afford diamond foil, I'll go with copper I'll take the whole roll though as people are (primarily) using it for shielding their guitar pickups. Thanks a lot for your tip.

 

[MarkMRL]

Have you guys considered the fact that the phone might, and let me say it again, MIGHT get hotter because we're in summer and it's seriously hot outside? I just checked the forecast for Austin TX, OP's town according to his info, and he has 37C over there. I think that MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT have something to do with the phone getting hotter than usual.

Just saying.

 

[pacattack81]

This is probably the easiest way to decrease throttling during heavy CPU workload. All I had to do is insert few foil layers between the phone & TPU case. Attached picture shows plots from three scenarios - no case, just case, foil & case respectively. Oh, NFC will get blocked out by the foil. But I don't use it much anyway. Cheers.

What do you think about putting foil around the actual battery? Some people have suggested putting paper around it. Does anyone think either of those things are safe?

 

[schecter7]

Have you guys considered the fact that the phone might, and let me say it again, MIGHT get hotter because we're in summer and it's seriously hot outside? I just checked the forecast for Austin TX, OP's town according to his info, and he has 37C over there. I think that MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT have something to do with the phone getting hotter than usual.

Just saying.

Yes, it's quite hot over here in ATX. I added an extra comment to my first post. I hope that makes things clear now.

What do you think about putting foil around the actual battery? Some people have suggested putting paper around it. Does anyone think either of those things are safe?

The foil will short out the internal components and your phone may get toasted . Please DO NOT try it. But I really wanted to open the back and put some thermal compound like this one. I'll try it some day!

 

[pacattack81]

Yes, it's quite hot over here in ATX. I added an extra comment to my first post. I hope that makes things clear now.



The foil will short out the internal components and your phone may get toasted . Please DO NOT try it. But I really wanted to open the back and put some thermal compound like. I'll try it some day!

Thanks I was very close to trying it out. Funny you should mention the thermal compound...there's a guy on YouTube who opened up the nexus 5 and put some on the CPU and a little piece of metal
heat sink. I have the thermal compound but I don't have the piece of heatsink to test it out so I haven't tried it. One day I'm going to try it though as I have a nexus 5.

 

[schecter7]

Thanks I was very close to trying it out. Funny you should mention the thermal compound...there's a guy on YouTube who opened up the nexus 5 and put some on the CPU and a little piece of metal
heat sink. I have the thermal compound but I don't have the piece of heatsink to test it out so I haven't tried it. One day I'm going to try it though as I have a nexus 5.

That's great! You'll have better luck with the compound on the N5 as it has plastic back - I guess? On Z3+, I'll probably get bottle-necked by the glass back regardless of the internal enhancement. I could be wrong though if the heat sink goes all the way to metal side frame. It's certainly worth a shot.

As battery wrap, you'd probably want something that's thermally conductive AND electrically non-conductive.

 

[pacattack81]

That's great! You'll have better luck with the compound on the N5 as it has plastic back - I guess? On Z3+, I'll probably get bottle-necked by the glass back regardless of the internal enhancement. I could be wrong though if the heat sink goes all the way to metal side frame. It's certainly worth a shot.

As battery wrap, you'd probably want something that's thermally conductive AND electrically non-conductive.

Yea, there's got to be something you can wrap around a smartphone battery that could shield in the heat. I just bought an oppo find 7a and it has a removable back. Maybe some sort of insulation can be put on the inside back cover so your hands don't feel the heat when the phone heats up. Any ideas for either the battery and/or back cover? What's thermally conductive, but not electrically conductive?

---------- Post added at 09:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:08 PM ----------

Yea, there's got to be something you can wrap around a smartphone battery that could shield in the heat. I just bought an oppo find 7a and it has a removable back. Maybe some sort of insulation can be put on the inside back cover so your hands don't feel the heat when the phone heats up. Any ideas for either the battery and/or back cover? What's thermally conductive, but not electrically conductive?

I can't post links yet, but what about putting some cotton insulation inside the back case? I would think that might shield us from holding a hot phone. Also, what about reflective insulation tape? I think that might actually work. Thoughts?

 

[schecter7]

Yea, there's got to be something you can wrap around a smartphone battery that could shield in the heat. I just bought an oppo find 7a and it has a removable back. Maybe some sort of insulation can be put on the inside back cover so your hands don't feel the heat when the phone heats up. Any ideas for either the battery and/or back cover? What's thermally conductive, but not electrically conductive?

---------- Post added at 09:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:08 PM ----------


I can't post links yet, but what about putting some cotton insulation inside the back case? I would think that might shield us from holding a hot phone. Also, what about reflective insulation tape? I think that might actually work. Thoughts?

Wait, we're not on the same page. I was trying to avoid throttling (not shielding the heat). Z3+ back side heats up where the CPU seats (very small spot somewhere underneath the top row of icons). The idea was to take that heat and spread it laterally over a bigger surface area to speed up the cooling process. Without the foil, I still don't feel the heat as my fingers don't touch that hot spot. The foil also indirectly reduces the hot feel from that tiny spot as the heat gets spread more uniformly.

But your case sounds different. You want to avoid the heat from the battery (or the CPU) ? Battery already has a pretty big surface area. And you probably don't want to keep the heat inside by using thermal insulators as that can be very harmful for the battery. You probably want to establish an even faster heat transfer to the environment so that equilibrium point can be maintained at a lower surface temperature. Is that right? A metal back cover can help in that case.

Also here are some electrical insulators that are thermally conductive - but I'm not quite sure about the availability of those

https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...ductive-thermally-conductive-material.125368/

 

[pacattack81]

Wait, we're not on the same page. I was trying to avoid throttling (not shielding the heat). Z3+ back side heats up where the CPU seats (very small spot somewhere underneath the top row of icons). The idea was to take that heat and spread it laterally over a bigger surface area to speed up the cooling process. Without the foil, I still don't feel the heat as my fingers don't touch that hot spot. The foil also indirectly reduces the hot feel from that tiny spot as the heat gets spread more uniformly.

But your case sounds different. You want to avoid the heat from the battery (or the CPU) ? Battery already has a pretty big surface area. And you probably don't want to keep the heat inside by using thermal insulators as that can be very harmful for the battery. You probably want to establish an even faster heat transfer to the environment so that equilibrium point can be maintained at a lower surface temperature. Is that right? A metal back cover can help in that case.

Also here are some electrical insulators that are thermally conductive - but I'm not quite sure about the availability of those :confused

I've tried TPU cases, but I still feel the heat. Maybe a metal case would be better. These look interesting.

amazon(dot)com/gp/aw/d/B00HNKD6A6/ref=pd_aw_sbs_107_1?refRID=1VRK3Q399HJZXA2GHWCJ

amazon(dot)com/gp/aw/d/B00L71LNS4/ref=pd_aw_sbs_107_1?refRID=1BQ362P6XMYRJET82TFG

 

[schecter7]

I've tried TPU cases, but I still feel the heat. Maybe a metal case would be better. These look interesting.

amazon(dot)com/gp/aw/d/B00HNKD6A6/ref=pd_aw_sbs_107_1?refRID=1VRK3Q399HJZXA2GHWCJ

amazon(dot)com/gp/aw/d/B00L71LNS4/ref=pd_aw_sbs_107_1?refRID=1BQ362P6XMYRJET82TFG

Interesting! So why does your battery heat up in the first place? Did you try to compare your battery temp (using CPU Z, etc) to others'? I thought battery only heats up during charging.

 

[pbergonzi]

Edit: This is just a fun project. Every octa core phone throttles.

That was genius--thank you.

 

[kamranhaghighi]

I've attached a heatsink with thermal paste (cheap one) to my nexus 4 once it didn't make a difference
too bad i sold it i can't try it with my Peltier (TEC)
and my note 4 here is cooler without my tough armor (ofc it is, that case is a monster) i think i bent my phone while taking it out will try it with foil as soon as i get one, hope it doesn't damage it :S
a copper plate would be better! or simply a thin heatsink

 

[fredrik8]

I tried this maybe a year ago, phone was a lot cooler but I lost my reception. I noticed this after few days, everyone thought something had happend because they couldn't reach me. I was busy gaming ?

 

[an3k]

Because the phone is opened from the back (http://www.witrigs.com/blog/sony-xperia-z4-teardown/) we should crowdfund a metal replacement made of aluminium but in the same glossy style and color the frame is and with a copper base which directly connects to the thermonuclear fusion core (aka Qualcomm) so that the heat is as best as possible transported from these to the whole backplate. The only difficulty will be the holes for the camera and LED light to be waterproof. And while we are at it, we could make the backplate a little bit ticker than the glass currently is so that the tiny height difference between the glass and the frame is gone too.
Ok, we can argue about the color and thickness but you get the idea. Should we do that? Once we got them funded we can sell them and get rich

 

[schecter7]

Because the phone is opened from the back (http://www.witrigs.com/blog/sony-xperia-z4-teardown/) we should crowdfund a metal replacement made of aluminium but in the same glossy style and color the frame is and with a copper base which directly connects to the thermonuclear fusion core (aka Qualcomm) so that the heat is as best as possible transported from these to the whole backplate. The only difficulty will be the holes for the camera and LED light to be waterproof. And while we are at it, we could make the backplate a little bit ticker than the glass currently is so that the tiny height difference between the glass and the frame is gone too.
Ok, we can argue about the color and thickness but you get the idea. Should we do that? Once we got them funded we can sell them and get rich

That'd be excellent & throttling would probably be gone forever. I'm in But some dudes might mix up fast heat dissipation with 'overheating & throttling & battery drain' - all in one sentence The rear area that gets warm on Z3+ is actually very narrow & my fingers don't touch that part at all. But we've already seen a ridiculous amount of whining over that. Can you imagine the whining as we try to expand that dissipation area to get rid of throttling?

I think the thickness would be debatable as some may want to keep the slightly raised lips on the back to keep their phones from sliding around.

 

[schecter7]

I tried this maybe a year ago, phone was a lot cooler but I lost my reception. I noticed this after few days, everyone thought something had happend because they couldn't reach me. I was busy gaming

lol - good point. It depends on the antenna placement - I think. I didn't experience any difference in reception. I usually get 0-1 bar at home. So I really didn't have anything to lose in the first place lol

 

[ChrisJ951]

If you do this and have the phone on max brightness, does it auto-dim when loading xda's website?

Due to all the ads and issues with the website it always causes the screens brightness to throttle when loading, and then go back to full brightness afterwards.
(Try loading a couple of different topics when doing this)