Rock64 heatsink

znoxx · May 14, 2019

Hi all.

In download section i do see "large heatsink required" for Rock64.

Can anyone post any links to eamples of good heatsink with proper size ?

I will be migrating "home server" from Cubieboard2 to Rock64 and chasing long-term stable operation.

When board just booted and "does nothing", cpu remains pretty cool. However i'd better be prepared.

thanks in advance for tips.

Igor · May 14, 2019

14 minutes ago, znoxx said:

and chasing long-term stable operation

Just remember Rock64 is not there yet. Leave your daily operations on a Cubietruck for a little while at least those problems are not resolved:

znoxx · May 14, 2019

Igor, thanks for reply.

I see in download section "legacy kernel 4.4.y" -- marked as stable and supported.

And I guess you are talking about 4.17+ regarding "mainline".

I will start with 4.4 anyway, hope it has docker support...

One thing which confuses me a LOT: "Rock64 V3 is not supported". If I booted, installed system to USB hdd (ssd)... Does it mean I'm not on V3 version ? Cannot find any description of V3 vs not-a-v3.

Igor · May 14, 2019

2 hours ago, znoxx said:

marked as stable and supported

This means it is at high level of software maturity, while Rock64 (and most of the supported boards) can't compete with maturity Cubietruck has. Maturity can only come with age

Most of distributions out there doesn't write anything about most important thing - level of hw support. If their nice and shiny distro boots, then it's they support that hardware. We have higher standards and even with them its still hard to say what is supported and what not. Therefore we came up with this https://docs.armbian.com/#what-is-supported

2 hours ago, znoxx said:

And I guess you are talking about 4.17+ regarding "mainline".

Ofc there are less problems in legacy, almost everything works, but problems are since sw support (not just kernel) is not matured. There are many different hw versions, which can make problem only bigger. In general there is overall low coding/maintenance quality in official (Rockchip) legacy kernels. On top of Rockchip there is development specifically for Rock64/RockPro64 which is better, but resources for "fixing everything" are not there.

2 hours ago, znoxx said:

One thing which confuses me a LOT: "Rock64 V3 is not supported". If I booted, installed system to USB hdd (ssd)... Does it mean I'm not on V3 version ? Cannot find any description of V3 vs not-a-v3.

In case you can boot, than you don't have v3 ... I added this note because people think we must support it (without having boards, time and funds) and rush to fix problems after hardware folks failed with their design. This is what it seems happens with V3. Don't know.

znoxx · May 14, 2019

Igor, thanks for your prompt reply :).

I think I will not rush a transition for new hardware, however I will try to simulate load and perform similar tasks, which I do on Cubieboard2. Thanks again for a caution.

Anyway, any tips for heatsink size ? =)

Does this one look applicable ? http://znoxx.me/shop/data/uploads/images/products/heatsinkpi.jpg

size is like 16mm X 20 mm x 16 mm, aluminium