Setup:
Colibri iMX8QXP 2GB WB IT V1.0D
Iris carrier board V1.1B
Linux BSP 4.0
We are running the iMX8 as an access point to pass through Internet access with a program that controls a Bluetooth chip through serial and thats about it but the iMX8 is rather hot. We really dont want to add a heat sink, we just use passive cooling. We dont use screens or LCD displays, no ADC or PWM etc etc.
Is there a way to get the iMX8 to run cooler by turning off daemons or processes we dont need?
Hi @robple11 , sorry for the late reply but we just saw that your issue is being followed up here: Colibri iMX8, how to include dnsmasq when compiling the kernel
To specify a bit more on your particular question, depending on the process it is true that can add more load to the CPU/GPU (ie. Qt app) but most daemons running are really not that impactful and you should focus your efforts on disabling devices on the device tree.
You mentioned that you don’t use screens so make sure to choose our “Minimal Image” for evaluation rather than the “Multimedia Image” since it won’t have that extra load from running the Qt app included.
Regards,
Alvaro.
The other question that I marked as answered was how to set things on/off and did not answer how to reduce heat. I have had some success with turning off devices in the device tree but I cant seem to get anything better than 10 degrees. I saw this question https://community.toradex.com/t/reduce-idle-power-consumption/9154/7 and that someone had success with reducing the cpu frequency that is the only reason why I asked about setting a new frequency to reduce heat.
In the documentation it does say 900MHz and 1.2GHz are the only clock frequencies but gives a range starting at 650MHz, shouldnt it be possible to then set the clock at 650Mhz at least?
Thanks
The other question that I marked as answered was how to set things on/off and did not answer how to reduce heat. I have had some success with turning off devices in the device tree but I cant seem to get anything better than 10 degrees.
Your mileage may vary depending on the enclosure and the use of the CPU.
In the documentation it does say 900MHz and 1.2GHz are the only clock frequencies but gives a range starting at 650MHz, shouldnt it be possible to then set the clock at 650Mhz at least?
Actually, the clock doesn’ t really affect the heat, the voltage does, and that is fixed. So even if we manage to reduce the clock speed, it is very likely that the temperature won’t change since the voltage will be the same.
The best recommendation for reducing the CPU/module temperature is the most simple: disable CPU cores or apply cooling.
