Re: What do I need to go with a Pi 4

David Taylor <david-taylor@blueyonder.co.uk.invalid> wrote:

On 09/04/2024 13:52, Adrian wrote:

I'm currently running a Pi2, which has a BME280 (via a hat) and a SSD
attached to it.  The Pi is now starting to struggle to generate graphs
for my home website, so I'm thinking of swapping it for a Pi4.  A
rummage online doesn't seem to fully answer my questions.
 
Apart from the Pi4, to upgrade, I know that I will need a bigger power
supply and a HDMI adapter lead, but after, things are a bit vague.  Can
I get away with the Pi4 without any additional cooling, or do I need a
heat sink or fan, and if so, how do they get on with the hat ?  The
space it is in has had a temperature range of -1 to 40 degrees C, the
mean across that time is about 15.5C.
 
TIA
 
Adrian

 
Adrian,
 
No problem with the other suggestions.
 
When you say "starting to struggle" what have you measured?  Are you running
out of memory, CPU power, disk I/O, or network I/O?  I think it would be useful
to know what exactly in your system needs changing.
 
It's possible that a Pi 3B+ might be a sufficient upgrade (but can you still
get them?).
 

Yes, but a 1Gb Pi 3b costs more than a 1Gb Pi 4 so there's not much
point in buying one unless the lower power consumption is really
important.

The Pi-5 creates quite a bit more heat than the Pi 4, and has some software
compatibility issues, so unless you really need the 5, stick to the 4.  (I have
both here).  If you are not running headless, the Pi 400 has a heatsink and
keyboard built in.  I have a couple here and have been very pleased with them.
One even runs both Windows and Linux, that's using the Twister OS.  It uses
about 2 GB of its 4 GB memory, and averages 10-12% CPU.

When idle there's little difference, e.g. :-

"We also ran a test to measure the heat generated by the devices
during use. The comparison shows that both Raspberry Pi 5 and
Raspberry Pi 4 generate similar amounts of heat. In terms of power
consumption, the PI4 and PI5 have similar power consumption when not
running programs. However, during video playback, there is only a
small difference of 0.2 watts in their power consumption."

The Pi 5 *can* use more power but when doing the 'same thing' the
power consumption is pretty close to that of the Pi 4.


--
Chris Green
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