Thermal throttling experiment [Updated] - Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

While playing some games I noticed my phone(N910H/Exynos) has a very hard time keeping framerates once it heats up, I downloaded 3D mark and a frequency/temp monitor app and discovered that during Physics test my phone throttles at 92°C and keeps frequency at 1500MHz(simply can't sustain the 1900 supposed max) to prevent burning, how can the CPU reach 90° while my hands are barely any hot?. Then I watched some disassembly videos and turns out theres no thermal pad/paste between the CPU and "heatsink"(these older phones don't really cared for cooling,it sinks heat to the frame).I re-did the benchmark while applying slight pressure over the CPU area and my physics score went from 1500 to 1600, still reaching 90°C but taking a little bit more time to do so, so it kept 1900MHz for longer.
So I though about doing the experiment of applying thermal paste over the CPU, but i'm scared I may brake the phone on the disassembly, so I'd like to ask if someone is willing to do the test to see if it's worth it. Maybe we can unlock gaming potential we didn't know was there, thank you guys.
[Update] So I did the test
TL;DR: There's already a thermal pad there, so it's not like the results are shocking, it does make a difference but it's not worth disassembling your phone just for it.
BUT there's an additional experiment I'm gonna make sooo things could change.
WARNING: if you're thinking of disassembling your phone for any reason be warned that the spen digitizer connector is a little bit hard to connect so it happens pretty often that it won't work, so test the spen before reassembling everything.
Long version:
Anan did not publish the OC kernel yet but I was too curious and did the thing anyway, you don't need to remove the screen from the mainframe so the procedure is not really that risky.
Turns out that pinky thing I saw on the images are thermal pads (as anyone not stupid as me would already know), not copper as I originally thought, anyway since thermal pads are worse than thermal paste(even the 2w/mk ****ty one I used) I did replace it, I had to use a generous amount to make contact, after all it's replacing a thermal pad(0,5mm i think).
Overall CPU temps got like 5-10°C lower, but the benchmark results are pretty boring since they don't thermal throttle the CPU much, geekbench got 100-200 average more on multi core (no difference on single core) and antutu went from 99251 to 103408 ,CPU multi-score went from 26136 to 27971. The stress test basically achieves the same temps, only taking a few seconds more to throttle.
However,gaming performance did get a considerable boost,since they offer a constant heat output. Minecraft( yes it thermal throttles the cpu a lot) almost doesn't see throttles anymore granting a SIGNIFCANT better performance, Free fire also does perform better but stupid me did not pay attention to temps before the mod.
Heat on the phone also feels WAY less concentrated on the CPU area.
Now if you know a little bit about this stuff you know that thermal pads are usually used when the heat source is not touching the heatsink, which is the case here. I am 100% sure the results would not be this boring if the CPU actually touched the midframe, so I'm going to do another test sometime putting a 0,5 mm copper pad(401 W/mK vs the 2 from my thermal paste) to see the actual result I was expecting.
I know all this sound pretty stupid and pointless but I'm going to use this phone for another year or two so I want to make the most of it, also I really like this stuff.
If you want to know WTF is even going on you can watch this video/read the article: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2137-thermalpaste-types-conductivity-and-more

I think someone has already done that, don't recall the thread

Use a kernel which can give you possibility to tweak. Search on Exynos forum.

w41ru5 said:
Use a kernel which can give you possibility to tweak. Search on Exynos forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A custom kernel would not solve this problem, as you need to get heat away from the cpu so it can maintain high power usage and low temps.
The only way a custom kernel would help the cpu run cooler is trough undervolting or increasing temperature limit, the latter is obviously dumb, about undervolting I have already tried managing mere -50mV wich did not change a thing.

So Anan confirmed he's porting Helios Kernel V3 to the lineage 15.1 rom (wich is the one I'm using) then well be able to overclock to 1500/2100. Once he posts that I'll see just how hard this phone throttles and then maybe do the procedure myself.
I got :
99251 on Antutu
1114 single 3734 multi core on geekbench
It throttles in both
the stress test in Antutu gets it so hot Im not really confortable letting it finish, it imediately reaches 90°C, keeps oscilating between 900 and 1900 on the big cores,in 5 minutes the entire phone is burning hot.

Thread Updated

Worth the effort it looks like

Related

How high can I overclock

I can set it as high as 1646. IV looked around and it seems that people use 1504. Is it unsafe to go any higher?
Thanks
Sent from my A501 using XDA App
1400 is safest I run Alexandra iii
if you go up to 1.6 GHZ, you might get SHUTDOWNS...
if you don't run any games, or apps, sure it will work. But not smart to overload it.
If on Custm ROM, Read DEV Notes, usually they'll say (or mention about Kernel changing)
as a rule I keep it on 1.5 Ghz (when 1.6 was max) (have tested on about 8-10 diff roms) (never have had any shutdowns yet)
*** also maybe use a meter app to check TEMPS (like battery TEMP)
Cool Tool - shows battery temp, RAM, Proc Freq, + more in little box on screen all the time (adjust settings)
https://market.android.com/details?id=ds.cpuoverlay
"setCPU for Root users" - underclock to lowest when off, set lower cpu freq if battery gets warmed to ur custom Degrees)
http://www.setcpu.com/
***Some custom ROM's have thier own Freq CONTROLER app (that could clash with prog or have 2 progs do the same thing)
Like humans NO TWO CPU's are equal
All of the above it true with one exception..NOT every cpu is created equal Not all ram chips and so on also live up to this..
Start over clocking your cpu slowly. as you push clocks higher of course lower voltage. This keeps heat down .
Two processors even made on the same casting can be totally different . Where one will take more heat with less errors and corruption and the die next to it will almost crash running its designed clock speeds . Being that extreme is very rare with a few exceptions. most are close as to a common ability. within a few 100 mhz.
So the answer is there is NO TRUE Answer. its trial and error but on the side of caution and testing clock speeds and heat is not a 30 second yes it runs. Do it over a week or so. I know with my dragon cup in cell phone its at its end of life from being over clocked for a few years. some last longer some die quicker.. Its kinda like drinking on your brain the more you drink the more cells you kill.. The hotter your cpu gets the more transistors fail the slower it becomes the more errors you have .
Relax .. go slow.do not expect to get what everyone else is claiming. and you will be fine..
Sorry again for long winded post..
dr mcknight said:
I can set it as high as 1646. IV looked around and it seems that people use 1504. Is it unsafe to go any higher?
Thanks
Sent from my A501 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any is unsafe. Higher speed equals heat and heat kills semiconductors. Might work for a while but why risk it
My daughters has been running at 1.6GHz for 2.5 months without any crashing or blowing up.
I say at 1.6, you're starting to enter the "red zone", sort of asking for problems. Why go up that high? I mean, 1.5 shows enough performance improvement over the 1GHz...

[Q] Nexus 4 GPU Frame Rates Drops

Hello Guys, i registered to XDA developers to ask this question so please reply. i heard many say GPU of Nexus 4 is very bad because after 20 mins of gameplay the phone gets heated and the GPU performance is Dramatically Reduced to cooldown. I am going to buy Nexus 4 thats y im asking, i didnt hear this from my neighbours..., i saw someone say this in youtube comments. Anyone Experiencing this Issue? or its a defective product?.
This is a good thread to read about Thermal Throttling: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2144652
I am not sure about the GPU actually reducing it's power when the nexus is getting hot. I know the CPU will clock lower when it has reached 70 degrees so it can cool down. Most kernel's have the ability to up this to about 100 degrees so you won't have the thermal throttling as fast. You are also able to remove the throttling completely with a commando.
I've played alot of Dungeon Hunter 4/GTA Vice City/Real Racing 3 and I have never experienced severe FPS drops because of it getting hotter. The only thing you will experience is a battery that will be empty within 2 hours.
PS: This is based on what i've read on the forums, I do not have my nexus 4 for that long and I am not a developer, someone might be able to give you more accurate information.
The thermald.conf sets the battery threshold to about 40-41C before it begins to underclock aggressively (hence why it feels sluggish). I forget the exact number. It starts reading "Overheating" status when it reaches about 46C. Max rated temperature for the battery is 60C.
At that battery temperature ~41C, the CPU is no more than about 50C, so it's not the CPU overheating.
If you feel so inclined, you can modify the thermald.conf with root to modify how aggressive the thermal throttling acts, within reason. Otherwise you'll cook your phone.
desynch- said:
The thermald.conf sets the battery threshold to about 40-41C before it begins to underclock aggressively (hence why it feels sluggish). I forget the exact number.
At that temperature, the CPU is no more than about 50C.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or you can run a custom kernel(like trinity) that disables the battery thermal throttle and not worry about it.
simms22 said:
or you can run a custom kernel(like trinity) that disables the battery thermal throttle and not worry about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YMMV with that. My nominal binned SoC overheats really easily. With the way I use my phone, it'd be overheating way too often.
I modified my thermald.conf so it's less aggressive. It's not that hard to figure out.
The phone throttles its clock speed like a PC. It's not a big deal.

G3 Temperature Throttling

Stuck my phone in the freezer for a few minutes, took it out, and ran the stability test in AnTuTu which plots the temperature and a benchmark score. Looks like it starts right around 34 degrees (93 Fahrenheit), which really isn't that warm at all. You could get that just browsing around and holding it in your hand.
My cpu temp is normally in the 40's and 50's while browsing.
Have you tried turning the thermal daemon mitigation and high temperature property off in the hidden menu and see if this throttling happen? Will be interesting to know if the hidden menu selection works.
ddeath said:
Have you tried turning the thermal daemon mitigation and high temperature property off in the hidden menu and see if this throttling happen? Will be interesting to know if the hidden menu selection works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does work. you can just open an app like setcpu and you'll see that it rarely peaks without disabling throttling. Just be careful as it does open you up to potential hardware failures and shorter life of the device. I only keep phones for around 6 months so I don't care but I'm not a normal usage case.
arcanexvi said:
It does work. you can just open an app like setcpu and you'll see that it rarely peaks without disabling throttling. Just be careful as it does open you up to potential hardware failures and shorter life of the device. I only keep phones for around 6 months so I don't care but I'm not a normal usage case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't the hardware still have a thermal cut off point where it will just shut down the phone if it gets too hot? It's to my understanding that this hardware shut off point is different than the software thermal throttling. If anything, I think it will just make your device get too hot for comfort than do any real hardware damage to it.
I'm just throwing an educated guess out there though, I honestly have no real proof one way or the other.
Enddo said:
Wouldn't the hardware still have a thermal cut off point where it will just shut down the phone if it gets too hot? It's to my understanding that this hardware shut off point is different than the software thermal throttling. If anything, I think it will just make your device get too hot for comfort than do any real hardware damage to it.
I'm just throwing an educated guess out there though, I honestly have no real proof one way or the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes eventually it'll hit tjunction and shut down. This isn't even a safe shut down though. It is basically an emergency kill switch. It's like yanking the cord out of the wall on a desktop. Running at higher temps also shortens the life of the silicone. Much the same effect that overclocking has on a normal PC.
Enddo said:
Wouldn't the hardware still have a thermal cut off point where it will just shut down the phone if it gets too hot? It's to my understanding that this hardware shut off point is different than the software thermal throttling. If anything, I think it will just make your device get too hot for comfort than do any real hardware damage to it.
I'm just throwing an educated guess out there though, I honestly have no real proof one way or the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it gets hot, it will do damage. It can fry the GPU before it even gets to shutdown point. The XBOX 360 for example had the RROD where the constant heat made the solder joints fail (I know the 360 is different but the heat point stands)
scy1192 said:
Stuck my phone in the freezer for a few minutes, took it out, and ran the stability test in AnTuTu which plots the temperature and a benchmark score. Looks like it starts right around 34 degrees (93 Fahrenheit), which really isn't that warm at all. You could get that just browsing around and holding it in your hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 34 in this case is temp or battery, not SoC. The SoC is probably hit 75 Celcius and that's why CPU throttles. Try HWBot bench instead, it shows not battery but CPU temp. You will see that CPU immediately hits 75°
---------- Post added at 07:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:49 PM ----------
Enddo said:
Wouldn't the hardware still have a thermal cut off point where it will just shut down the phone if it gets too hot? It's to my understanding that this hardware shut off point is different than the software thermal throttling. If anything, I think it will just make your device get too hot for comfort than do any real hardware damage to it.
I'm just throwing an educated guess out there though, I honestly have no real proof one way or the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Afaik they shut down itself if battery hits 60°C or CPU burns to smthn like 105C
HWBot runs parallel... If you want to see your CPU get really hot press the button multiple times. Phone melted!
Why does the snapdragon get so hot. I don't understand what's the point of a fast chip in these phones if they can't run on there maximum lol.... Maybe that's why Intel is gonna take over qualcom one day.
Sent from LG Gangster 3
helikido said:
Why does the snapdragon get so hot. I don't understand what's the point of a fast chip in these phones if they can't run on there maximum lol.... Maybe that's why Intel is gonna take over qualcom one day.
Sent from LG Gangster 3
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Click to collapse
It runs hotter because its having to produce all the pixels for the QHD. The same chip in other 1080 phones doesn't run as hot. At times doing normal things like browsing and Facebook etc my phone has throttled down to 1.4Ghz max and the CPU temp is up at 65-70deg C. That's pretty hot.
androiduser991 said:
It runs hotter because its having to produce all the pixels for the QHD. The same chip in other 1080 phones doesn't run as hot. At times doing normal things like browsing and Facebook etc my phone has throttled down to 1.4Ghz max and the CPU temp is up at 65-70deg C. That's pretty hot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not the only phone. And mine never throttles that low doing normal tasks. It doesn't even throttle at all. However, when playing games or running demanding apps it does throttle.
Also, its not the only phone that runs this hot. All other phones will get hot and throttle just as much when running equally demanding stuff.
So the question was, what's the point of super fast chips when they are going to throttle themselves so fast?
Sent from LG Gangster 3
helikido said:
Its not the only phone. And mine never throttles that low doing normal tasks. It doesn't even throttle at all. However, when playing games or running demanding apps it does throttle.
Also, its not the only phone that runs this hot. All other phones will get hot and throttle just as much when running equally demanding stuff.
So the question was, what's the point of super fast chips when they are going to throttle themselves so fast?
Sent from LG Gangster 3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd recommend that you do a bit of testing,run some apps for 5-10 min then open up a CPU frequency app. The frequency will be be at a low maximum and the temp high. The GPU also throttles, open an app like Faux clock after running some apps and the max GPU value has decreased. Without a doubt the extra pixels are causing this as the SOC is having to work harder to produce them. Its simple physics.B
But anyway, its a specs game. People want faster and better so that's why the SOCs get faster and faster even if they're throttling.
androiduser991 said:
I'd recommend that you do a bit of testing,run some apps for 5-10 min then open up a CPU frequency app. The frequency will be be at a low maximum and the temp high. The GPU also throttles, open an app like Faux clock after running some apps and the max GPU value has decreased. Without a doubt the extra pixels are causing this as the SOC is having to work harder to produce them. Its simple physics.B
But anyway, its a specs game. People want faster and better so that's why the SOCs get faster and faster even if they're throttling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The soc is working harder, but like I just said the how soc is still hot even on other phones man.
Run the dead trigger on the s5 and the g3. They both most likely throttle down to the same limit while the fps on the G3 might be a little lower due to the resolution.
But like I just said, what's the point when the damn thing will burn. There is no point in 2.5ghz when your phone can't run at that frequency more than 5 seconds lol.
I remember when I used to run my Galaxy S One full speed. Not one but of throttling. These CPUs have not gotten any more efficient thermal wise.
Sent from LG Gangster 3
helikido said:
The soc is working harder, but like I just said the how soc is still hot even on other phones man.
Run the dead trigger on the s5 and the g3. They both most likely throttle down to the same limit while the fps on the G3 might be a little lower due to the resolution.
But like I just said, what's the point when the damn thing will burn. There is no point in 2.5ghz when your phone can't run at that frequency more than 5 seconds lol.
I remember when I used to run my Galaxy S One full speed. Not one but of throttling. These CPUs have not gotten any more efficient thermal wise.
Sent from LG Gangster 3
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I agree there's not much point in having a super fast chip when it throttles so much. Again, people want bigger faster and better and most users wont even know about thermal throtlling.It does seem to be bad on the G3 though. I think I saw another thread that said LG don't use a proper thermal pad also. Don't know about that but to run a 1080 phone with the same chip as a 2k phone then you'll have thermal and performance issues on the 2k Vs the 1080.
androiduser991 said:
Yeah, I agree there's not much point in having a super fast chip when it throttles so much. Again, people want bigger faster and better and most users wont even know about thermal throtlling.It does seem to be bad on the G3 though. I think I saw another thread that said LG don't use a proper thermal pad also. Don't know about that but to run a 1080 phone with the same chip as a 2k phone then you'll have thermal and performance issues on the 2k Vs the 1080.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 801 is more than capable of driving a QHD phone. The 800 series are basically created to support up to 4k. And how will give the same performance as a 800 while on QHD. Its not even close to being a big deal. And yeah I saw that same thread. I wonder if it's true.
Sent from LG Gangster 3
androiduser991 said:
It runs hotter because its having to produce all the pixels for the QHD. The same chip in other 1080 phones doesn't run as hot. At times doing normal things like browsing and Facebook etc my phone has throttled down to 1.4Ghz max and the CPU temp is up at 65-70deg C. That's pretty hot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not totally true, every Note 3 and S5 I tried ran hotter than this G3.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
I see that the layered CPU/memory unit has a metal cover to it, im wondering if a thin thermal pad could be placed between them to conduct heat to the metal cover. Its not much of a heatsink, but it might help a little bit. It may even be possible to put a thin copper sheet on the metal cover to move heat away. It all depends how much room there is under the plastic cover. The only teardown ive seen doesnt make it very clear.
ChrisM75 said:
I see that the layered CPU/memory unit has a metal cover to it, im wondering if a thin thermal pad could be placed between them to conduct heat to the metal cover. Its not much of a heatsink, but it might help a little bit. It may even be possible to put a thin copper sheet on the metal cover to move heat away. It all depends how much room there is under the plastic cover. The only teardown ive seen doesnt make it very clear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could possibly cause other issues with other components due to heat transfer?
ChrisM75 said:
I see that the layered CPU/memory unit has a metal cover to it, im wondering if a thin thermal pad could be placed between them to conduct heat to the metal cover. Its not much of a heatsink, but it might help a little bit. It may even be possible to put a thin copper sheet on the metal cover to move heat away. It all depends how much room there is under the plastic cover. The only teardown ive seen doesnt make it very clear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Suggest you to read this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2730641
---------- Post added at 06:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:11 PM ----------
Skizzy034 said:
That's not totally true, every Note 3 and S5 I tried ran hotter than this G3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Is it safe to change my CPU governor to "performance" to force max clock speed?

Is it safe to change my CPU governor to "performance" to force max clock speed?
I don't want to overclock my Note 4, don't worry, not talking about that. But I am talking about MAX clocking it - forcing it to run at maximum rated speed. I've already tested out SetCPU and used it to change my governor to performance which forces the clock to max, and it nearly doubled my framerate in many games, especially the ones that struggled to play on this device like Xcom:EW.
But I quickly turned it off because I wasn't sure it was safe to do in the new era of smartphones, what with their DVFS and all. I'm worried that I'm going to overheat the CPU, and it's not going to be able to downclock because of temperature anymore. I'm only modifying the governor, but what if I actually used SetCPU to just change the CPU clock to max, without even touching the governor?
Can I hurt my phone by doing this? Can I safely start forcing my CPU to run faster while playing games, knowing that the only thing I risk is my battery draining faster, or am I actually risking damaging components by doing this?
Hello and thank you for using Q/A,
your CPU will not be damaged, but the battery life time will be shorted.
Regards
Trafalgar Square
RC
I personally have used Performance governor on Moto X 2013 for almost the whole 8 months I had it, 24x7 I mean. Never had a problem, yeah maybe battery life was little less than normal but I never did really care about it. Then I ran the same governor for a good period of time on my Note 3 too, same, no problem at all. Like you said, in games the frame rate difference is massive, but I don't play much games, I simply used that governor because it gets rid off all those micro lags and jitters which are Android's trademark, I simply can't them, with default Interactive the micro lags are very apparent.
However with Note 4 I am pretty happy with the BluActive governor, it makes most of the micro lags to go away, so sticking with it.
In any case unless you plan to use a mobile phone for maybe 5 years or so, I don't see any problem at all with it, other than a slightly increased heat, and maybe a little less battery backup, but you will find so many comments which might scare you, that chip burns off if you run it and all that, but those mainly are BS.

CPU throttle?

Hey guys not to good at understanding this... I ran a throttle test because my phone keeps getting extremely slow... After the 10 min test it said my CPU was throttled to 48%... I am fully stock (Tho at one point i was rooted) and running Android 8 OREO on H910. I added a video of the throttle test. Could this be thermal related? I don't mind tearing the phone apart to replace thermal compound but if it wont do anything then why waste time right?
Throttle video
Nevea said:
Hey guys not to good at understanding this... I ran a throttle test because my phone keeps getting extremely slow... After the 10 min test it said my CPU was throttled to 48%... I am fully stock (Tho at one point i was rooted) and running Android 8 OREO on H910. I added a video of the throttle test. Could this be thermal related? I don't mind tearing the phone apart to replace thermal compound but if it wont do anything then why waste time right?
Throttle video
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did your phone get noticeably hot during the throttle test and was the plugged in and charging during test?
KUSOsan said:
Did your phone get noticeably hot during the throttle test and was the plugged in and charging during test?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was not plugged in. It did get hotter during the test which i thought was normal considering it is loading the CPU's.
Side note... how come my first core does not get as hot as the other 3 cores? is there a reason for that?
Nevea said:
It was not plugged in. It did get hotter during the test which i thought was normal considering it is loading the CPU's.
Side note... how come my first core does not get as hot as the other 3 cores? is there a reason for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure but I have noticed that the CPU temp monitors are extremely inconsistent. I've had 4 tell me completely different temps than each other. If you wanna try a few mods before you try the thermal paste then I would suggest the thermal throttle mod which is only really supposed to help when charging but maybe it'll work for ya and try the MK2000 BTTF kernel if there is one for your model. Those have both helped my H918 and runs great even in hot climate it doesn't throttle.
Even so it's prolly a good idea to get the thermal paste ready for a change as my stock paste was pretty much completely solid. Cheap stuff whatever was used.
Just saw you were on Oreo. Most of the mods aren't available for Oreo yet or haven't been updated or tested so if your still on Oreo you might wanna hold off on the mods or at least make sure you backup the appropriate files before doing so. If you are still on Oreo that is

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