GPD Win (x86 Computer / Palmtop)

[Exophase]

23.5mm isn't that bad. Still a lot thinner than Pandora. Looks like their original specification of 22mm was the same thickness as DS Lite, so slightly thicker now.

But I wonder if such a tiny fan will really do much of anything.

 

[levi]

Probably depends how fast it's spinning

 

[slaeshjag]

Might end up doubling as a gyroscopic stabilizer

 

[SNESFAN]

the fan in the shield got rid of a lot of heat, and it was basically silent

 

[slaeshjag]

The fan in my i3 laptop runs all the time and does fuck all (at one point, it was broken, and the CPU throttled about as much as usual.)

It depends a lot on if they figure out a decent design.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Here's another pic of the metal bottom case

 

[comradekingu]

So the cooler turned into the whole baseplate? And this whole thing has a fan in it?

Wondering if they now have to route antennas up into the lid.

 

[TheOldOne]

Wondering if they now have to route antennas up into the lid.

It would explain what's taking so much space there.

 

[vcoleiro1]

It also has a big heat sink inside with ridges etc, . I posted it a few days ago

 

[thatgui]

the fan in the shield got rid of a lot of heat, and it was basically silent

A fan means a moving part, which means there is a certain percentage of that, thats "not optimally" produced, which means it will work fine, but won't be as silent as most others. Probably not the majority here, but I would have rather taken the less powerfull SoC that can be cooled passive and does not make the device even bigger and heavier.

I wonder whether it would be possible to limit the SoC so the fan is not needed.

 

[rygD]

Can't you do something to limit it so the fan never kicks in? I think I would agree, though. Skip the upgrade and fan (but keep the metal base ).

As for the metal base interfering with the antenna, it might, but I would assume it wouldn't cause to much of a problem since it is only one side (although depending on orientation of the Win and location of the AP or whatever, it seems as though it could be a bigger problem). Understand that I an talking out of my ass, and this is just based on experience and best guesses, without actually thinking much about it or looking for additional info.
[doublepost=1469166178,1469165853][/doublepost]Oh, and since I never mentioned it, I do think it looks better with the semimetal case. It is still a bit too rounded for me, but it looks nice enough.

 

[EvilDragon]

As mentioned a couple of times during the last year already, when someone asked for air vents on the Pyra:
A fan actively replaces the heat with fresh air.
Any heatsink will just give you more time until the unit overheats, the fan is the needed component to get it out of the device.

About the Wifi antenna:
If they keep it in the base, it could cause issues if the unit rests on the table and the router is below.
Or if you lie on your back holding it in your hands.

So hopefully, it will move to the lid, but if not. It should mostly work, except for in some positions.

 

[SNESFAN]

A fan means a moving part, which means there is a certain percentage of that, thats "not optimally" produced, which means it will work fine, but won't be as silent as most others. Probably not the majority here, but I would have rather taken the less powerfull SoC that can be cooled passive and does not make the device even bigger and heavier.

I wonder whether it would be possible to limit the SoC so the fan is not needed.

Every product has a certain percentage of defects, regardless. That's what RMA's are for.

I'm not suggesting the WIN will have as fancy of a fan as the shield, just showing an example of a fan done correctly. My hope is that it is just quiet, it's effectiveness probably doesn't matter if you're not constantly gaming.

The fan on my raspberry pi for example is small and compact, but completely worthless and noisy as all hell. So it could turn out horrible.

I would imagine they put some sort of thermal governor on the fan speed. They might even have options to set the tolerances on when it kicks in, or how high it revs up. If anything, you could throttle the CPU it's self and disconnect the fan if you're feeling adventurous.

 

[vcoleiro1]

So reading the comments and replies on the Chinese crowdfunding site for the GPD WIN.

It looks like the fan will have a manual on/off switch


Also, I think the metal case is in question now that they have used a fan. I see comments suggesting they will revert back to ABS+PC eventually to save 100g weight. Take this with a grain of salt as I'm translating via google. I could totally be wrong.

Here's some photos that seem to show the fan switch on the bottom of the GPD WIN. That red box is probably the fan

 

[Citizen_Lurker]

Every product has a certain percentage of defects, regardless. That's what RMA's are for.

I'm not suggesting the WIN will have as fancy of a fan as the shield, just showing an example of a fan done correctly. .

Funnily enough, that fan melted the surface of my Shield's faceplate. But maybe that's just because of hot Italian weather...

 

[EvilDragon]

Hmm, not sure about the position of the fan.
It looks like the openings at the side are exactly where you place your hands...

 

[Grench]

Hmm, not sure about the position of the fan.
It looks like the openings at the side are exactly where you place your hands...

Looks to me like the holes on the sides are for the speakers - which isn't ideal either.

The fan appears to blow out the slots on the front edge - which isn't so bad.

A fan doesn't have to blow much air if it's moving very hot air. I.e. the difference between the replacement air and the exiting air would need to be high. They're probably assuming air entry from the case back where the ports are - which isn't so bad unless the ports are full of peripherals.

The aluminum case back would actually assist as both a heat sink and a heat transference interface - to the users hands - which in turn means blood - which in turn makes the device liquid cooled too.

The problem enters when trying to run the CPU/GPU at 100% for an extended period. I.e. PC gaming - which is their objective, so they're at least following that objective. The lack of storage options, no 4G, horrid phisical keyboard design all still put me off of it, but they're certainly following the Windows gaming handheld objective faithfully.

 

[Klumpen]

The aluminum case back would actually assist as both a heat sink and a heat transference interface - to the users hands - which in turn means blood - which in turn makes the device liquid cooled too.

Have you ever bled from a burn? If yes, you should see a doctor. Oo

Regarding the fan:
I guess it's a better way than the metal bottom, they should just use a really good fan and not some cheap stuff like they often do.
It's good to see that GPD is showing a bit of their work and that they are testing various ideas.

A fan for "performance mode" in the Pyra probably wouldn't be such a bad thing, some of the old Asus Netbooks have two GPUs and when you use the faster one, it gets loud and hot but it works.
Of course better software optimization is where the long life of battery and other hardware lies - as well as the nice and cozy silence.

 

[Exophase]

As mentioned a couple of times during the last year already, when someone asked for air vents on the Pyra:
A fan actively replaces the heat with fresh air.
Any heatsink will just give you more time until the unit overheats, the fan is the needed component to get it out of the device.

Are there any thermal analysts or physicists or the like that can comment on this?

You seem to be suggesting that if constant power is applied to the heatsink it'll just get infinitely hot. In reality it's always going to reach some equilibrium temperature somehow, even if the paths for convection or conduction are poor. And the larger heatsink with more surface area should have a lower equilibrium temperature. Every test I've ever seen shows passive cooling w/o airflow to still get more of a reduction in equilibrium temperature than no heatsink.

 

[EvilDragon]

Nikolaus has a heat camera and we did a few tests. The difference in a closed case with or without any copper or heatspreader is not that much.
With heatsink, it took a lot longer to reach the higher temperatures, but in the end, it got very close (about 3 - 4°C colder).