Is there a way to attatch a tiny cooling fan to my smartphone?

[Kol Khara]

It's a samsung s5, and I'm sick and tired of heat throttling. It ruins fps in games. What I know is there's nowhere for the heat to escape, it stays trapped inside a plastic shell and builds up over time which causes the phone to throttle during graphics intensive games.

So I'm thinking I scrape off a piece of plastic from the back and expose a part of the chip. Then I glue a fan (ripped out from a laptop) and as simple as that the phone would be actively cooled. Would it work? Would it cool the GPU or CPU without a heat sink? Give me your proffesional opinion.

 

[gorcorps]

I don't see how this could possibly go wrong

 

[Dulanic]

I don't see how this could possibly go wrong

^ This LOL :hmm:

 

[paperwastage]

get a metal back + some thermal pads (won't help a lot, because the internal shell is still plastic)

install kernel, override throttling, hope that you don't brick your phone from overheating

 

[Commodus]

Short answer: just don't.

You're best off just looking for a phone that won't throttle in games. The iPhone I know doesn't (the CPU is designed for consistent speed); you might also have some success with the GS6 or LG's G4.

 

[Kol Khara]

install kernel, override throttling, hope that you don't brick your phone from overheating

I've been trying this for the past year. I have no idea how to override throttling on this phone, and if I knew I would have done it.

 

[Kol Khara]

Short answer: just don't.

You're best off just looking for a phone that won't throttle in games. The iPhone I know doesn't (the CPU is designed for consistent speed); you might also have some success with the GS6 or LG's G4.

There's no such thing as a phone that doesn't throttle. The only difference between various models is how long the phone takes to throttle.

 

[Commodus]

There's no such thing as a phone that doesn't throttle. The only difference between various models is how long the phone takes to throttle.

True, but that's still an important factor. I'd much rather have a phone that's not quite as fast as it could be, but gives me smooth frame rates for 15 minutes of intense gaming instead of 5.

 

[openwheel]

why not just play your games in front of a big fan or AC register?

Better yet, don't play games. Problem solved.

 

[Oyeve]

I come across heating issues on my Note 4 when I use my gear VR. Pretty much no way around this except for removing the back cover and using it in front of a fan.

The problem with these gadgets is that there really is not much we can do. Using the cpus/gpus in ways not really suited for it will generate tons of heat.

 

[ChronoReverse]

If you're rooted, try to underclock the GPU. The GPUs are capable of delivering consistent performance at a lower but usually still acceptable level.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Anand's thing was to put it in a ziplock bag in the freezer before heavy use. I will never forget his epic S4 tests.

 

[Kol Khara]

Okay I'm gonna try it
#yolo

 

[SlitheryDee]

So I'm not saying this is a good idea, but you've got me thinking about it. Ifixit speculates that the processor and memory are layered together under the larger metal heatspreader on the left side of the battery opening. There doesn't seem to be anything vital between that and the outer casing. It should be possible to cut a hole through both the mid-casing and the outer casing and expose that piece to the air without a terrible amount of trouble. I don't know if this phone features inductive charging or not, but you'd likely break that when you cut through the coil on the outer casing if it does. Adhering a fan to the metal plate with thermal adhesive doesn't seem to be a problematic prospect, provided you can find a fan that fits and can power it somehow.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I would think a heat sink would be better than a fan as you would have to build a fan shield to keep a pocket from ruining it.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I would think a heat sink would be better than a fan as you would have to build a fan shield to keep a pocket from ruining it.

I meant to add this to my post. A heatsink would be much better because you could theoretically cut it to the exact dimensions of your opening for a near seamless and professional looking result. It might even provide better cooling performance compared to the tiny, low CFM fan you'd have to use otherwise.

 

[Kol Khara]

So I'm not saying this is a good idea, but you've got me thinking about it. Ifixit speculates that the processor and memory are layered together under the larger metal heatspreader on the left side of the battery opening. There doesn't seem to be anything vital between that and the outer casing. It should be possible to cut a hole through both the mid-casing and the outer casing and expose that piece to the air without a terrible amount of trouble. I don't know if this phone features inductive charging or not, but you'd likely break that when you cut through the coil on the outer casing if it does. Adhering a fan to the metal plate with thermal adhesive doesn't seem to be a problematic prospect, provided you can find a fan that fits and can power it somehow.

Would the GPU be under the smaller metal heatspreader? Is the Gpu or Cpu the one that needs more cooling during games?
Cause when I cut through the plastic I have to get it right the first time.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Would the GPU be under the smaller metal heatspreader? Is the Gpu or Cpu the one that needs more cooling during games?
Cause when I cut through the plastic I have to get it right the first time.

Being not at all a microprocessor engineer I'm making a bunch of assumptions here, but since all modern smartphones use SoCs I'm assuming the processor and GPU will be together on the same chip. That is to say, cooling the processor is the same thing as cooling the GPU. Specifically the upper half of that heatspreader covers the backside of the chip that is the RAM/gpu/cpu combination. What's under the heatspreader is shown in this picture.

You could cool it more efficiently if you could get at the other side of the motherboard, but I don't see how that's possible, so you'd have to settle with cooling the backside. Honestly I'm not sure how much good that does. It would suck to go through all that trouble for no or minimal benefit.

 

[Kol Khara]

You could cool it more efficiently if you could get at the other side of the motherboard, but I don't see how that's possible, so you'd have to settle with cooling the backside. Honestly I'm not sure how much good that does. It would suck to go through all that trouble for no or minimal benefit.

Why is there a metal heatspreader on the back if the heat is at the other side of the motherboard?

 

[SlitheryDee]

Why is there a metal heatspreader on the back if the heat is at the other side of the motherboard?

Could be that there are other components on the back that also need cooling completely separately from the processor. Could be that cooling the processor from the back does have benefits to performance. Could be a combination of both. I know that the other side of the motherboard has the chips on it though, and that their flat surfaces would make better direct contact with a heatsink or spreader if it was mounted there. I'm assuming there is some kind of cooling solution deeper inside the phone, though I can't fathom how that works well enough to cool the processor. Apparently it simply doesn't work well enough, hence the throttling problem.

 

[SKORPI0]

Of course there is.. :hmm:

 

[Kol Khara]

Could be that there are other components on the back that also need cooling completely separately from the processor. Could be that cooling the processor from the back does have benefits to performance. Could be a combination of both. I know that the other side of the motherboard has the chips on it though, and that their flat surfaces would make better direct contact with a heatsink or spreader if it was mounted there. I'm assuming there is some kind of cooling solution deeper inside the phone, though I can't fathom how that works well enough to cool the processor. Apparently it simply doesn't work well enough, hence the throttling problem.

How can you be sure that the other side of the motherboard has the chips on it and that they're not under the heatspreader? In the colored squares in your last image, aren't those chips?

 

[SlitheryDee]

How can you be sure that the other side of the motherboard has the chips on it and that they're not under the heatspreader? In the colored squares in your last image, aren't those chips?

I'm getting my information from here.

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Samsung_Galaxy_S5

ifixit says the chip on the other side of the motherboard is probably the one with the RAM and processor. In any case, I would study that website before I did anything drastic to my phone. There's a lot of good info there that could help you with any modifications.

 

[Kol Khara]

I'm getting my information from here.

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Samsung_Galaxy_S5

ifixit says the chip on the other side of the motherboard is probably the one with the RAM and processor. In any case, I would study that website before I did anything drastic to my phone. There's a lot of good info there that could help you with any modifications.

Well that colossally sucks.
Now I get why it's always the screen that heats up instead of the back. Who the love thought it would be a good idea to concentrate all the heat on the touch screen

Should I still try the fan or it's not worthid? I do have one which I took out from an ancient VGA card someone threw away.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Well that colossally sucks.
Now I get why it's always the screen that heats up instead of the back. Who the love thought it would be a good idea to concentrate all the heat on the touch screen

Should I still try the fan or it's not worthid? I do have one which I took out from an ancient VGA card someone threw away.

I'd say it's an interesting project to try, but I would temper my expectations for the results.