Raspberry Pi: Kodi Case with Passive Cooling
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Unboxing and review of the Kodi case for the Raspberry Pi 3, Raspberry Pi 2, or Raspberry Pi Model B+. The case features integrated passive cooling, so I also run some temperature tests.
My ‘Extreme Passive Cooling’ Raspberry Pi video -- in which I fit a very large heatsink -- is here: • Raspberry Pi 3: Extrem...
You can also learn more about Raspberry Pi cooling (and my cooling test script) in this video: • Raspberry Pi 3: CPU Te...
The Raspberry Pi Kodi Case is available from:
US: flirc.tv/more/...
UK: thepihut.com/p...
Some of my other Raspberry Pi videos include this one where I spend a whole week using a Raspberry Pi as my only computer:
• Pi Week: Raspberry Pi ...
More videos on computing-related topics can be found at: / explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / explainingthefuture
Been doing a lot of research on the Rasp Pi out of curiosity, and I keep running into your videos. Very informative, I appreciate your work!
Thanks. :)
"Stroking your Kodi" and a new euphemism was born!!! :)
hihihihihi
Stroke yer Kody kids
I was just thinking about this
Edit: thinking about how it's a euphemism, not about stroking my Kodi if you know what I mean
"hey, draco do you want to come over to play smash on the switch?"
"No, sorry I am busy stroking my Kodi."
Yes, yes it works perfectley
Thanks for doing this video! I was just looking at that case for a Pi 3 build, and dismissed it out of hand because it 'had no cooling'. I didn't realize that the case itself provides the cooling via the aluminum lug. Thanks again!
Two points:
1) The case is not made by Kodi, merely branded by/for them. It is, in fact, made by Flirc, as can be seen by the embossed logo on the side.
2) While a Pi3 can fit inside the case, doing so will obscure the status LEDs and SD-card slot. I have emailed Flirc about a week ago asking when they plan to update this case and their response was as follows:
"It's in the works. We've gone through several 3D prints. Just keep an eye on the blog/twitter for an announcement.We've been focused on a new product which should launch soon."
----------------
In short, if you have a Pi3, I recommend you wait until Flirc update their current aluminium-based case first.
Useful feedback, thanks.
You're welcome. I thought I'd subscribed to your channel, but had in fact forgotten to do so - ah well, fixed now. You have a great channel; keep it up!
ExplainingComputers. Yes, very helpful feedback. I was thinking about getting a Flirc case but I didn't know the SD card slot was covered up. Guess that's what they invented the Dremmel tool for.
W. Rusty Lane the new Flirc 2 case has fixed that problem and you can see the lights to
No OC CPU/GPU test on the Pi Kodi Case? ;(
I got a Kodi case and I'm pleased with it. Very well made. Only small issue with the Raspberry Pi 3 is that you have to use tweezers to remove the SD card, since the SD slot on the Pi3 is not spring loaded.
thank you for this vid.. very useful because your the only one that actually compares the performance of the case to other solutions..
*you're (contraction of "YOU aRE")
"Your" is for possession.
Kodi Stroke countdown:
1. 1:33
2. 1:35
3. 1:38
4. 4:37
5. 5:00
6. 7:11
SkreamnRedSkull I'm pretty sure you missed one or two...
You’re doing Gods work. Well done.
He’s stroking his kodi!
I like this idea - passive cooling using the case as a massive heat sink - that is both quiet and energy efficient. I would like to try that on something bigger, perhaps a standard desktop PC. I look forward to more interesting videos like this :)
There is a Mini ITX case that's supposed to come out in the future using that idea. I think it may be from Supermicro, but I'm not sure. The baseplate for the CPU connects to the case with heat pipes, and it looks really cool
I was on the fence about buying this case for my pi 3, I think I'll get it now :)
Love this kodi pi3 series, please do more series like this 👍👍👍👍👍
I've been using this case with RetroPie for a while, it gets warm to touch, but works very well.
The only Kodi part of this is case is the branding on top. I've got a couple of these housings for almost two years now. Not to take away from your video or anything, just thought it was worth mentioning (and if I remember right, they cost about the same)
I have the exact same case but my box just said FLIRC on it and was not branded as Kodi, with the plastic top blank. It is definitely the same case as I see yours has the FLIRC logo moulded in the side of your one as well. Mine was just sold online as a Raspberry Pi Premium Aluminium Case that cost me NZ$38.60 including P&P.
Thank you for another great video tutorial. I would like to see KODI make a case like the one you reviewed with a fan mount on top to add active cooling too. I guess you could modify the case and cut a hole in it to mount a fan but one already fixed up that way would be preferable.
"The last screw" "Finishing off there" XD
I like your comparative approach
Amazing Videos. Very matter of fact and to the point. Perfect!
Thanks.
Professor, another great video. I think there's a design problem with this case that it's not letting it dissipate all the heat it could. That thermal pad is just not working with that gap. If you replace it with an aluminum shim with the same thickness with a little drop of thermal paste between it and the proc and between the case's contact and the shim you'll get results almost as good as your extreme cooling experiment. I don't know if that's a good idea for another video but at least I hope someone at Kodi or someone getting this case will read this and experiment.
I am sure that you are right here. The gap "filled" with a thermal pad is not idea (though it does make the design of the case work).
@@ExplainingComputers *ideal
This case is the best, but you can get slightly better cooling with 1 simple step & that's using sand paper to remove the silver paint underneath the thermal pad. With my case it stayed at 60 degrees Celsius for 15 mins, then quickly cools down when the stress test is over. Still not a bad case to have for the pi 3, for most people the pi will never overheat if they have this case. The price is high but found a similar case for $16 on amazon -except without the kodi design on top.
Yay uploaded today! And it's raspberry Pi! Thanks so much!
Thanks. :) The Pi will make a (joint) appearance here next week as well. It is never absent from the channel for that long . . .
I love this guy's voice
As always, a top-notch piece of work; thank you. However, I think the most important point was missed: even though your stress test checks the cpu temps, the end-user also needs to be careful of the case temps. You said it was "getting warm". The Burns Centre states that a burn can be achieved from as low as 44C over a period of time, to 1second at 80C. As the cpu is at 60C+, what was the actual temp of the case itself - as that will be handled?
Also, as you have already got the screws and screw holes, you could fit an external fan over the vents of the Kodi case - which might prove effective as experience from your previous RPi cooling efforts have shown. The wire to the fan can be ported through that back plate and powered via the GPIO?
Many thanks for continuing an amazing series of work. Have a great week!
It's probably not likely that the case on the outside would get that hot; there's so much surface area compared to that little CPU that it's doubtful the case would burn you.
+Zepher Tensho I agree totally, especially with the plastic covering. however, I know some kids who place stuff on their laps while gaming and while it's not 80 or 60, even at 50 it can be a concern. it would be good to know.
I bought the case some weeks ago, here you go: with ambient temperature at 22.5°C and running the sysbench prime test for an hour on all four raspberry 3 cores I got 37°C at the hotest case spot. The cpu temerature maxed out at 66.5°C. When using Kodi I've seen a maximum cpu temperature of 44°C. Would say it's for sure the best passive cooling solution you can buy for money at the moment (the original FLIRC case as well, of course). :o)
Kevin H. Thanks for that bit of info. Now to find a fan that will fit over the screw holes--then you'd have active and passive cooling for the PI. Thanks again for that great idea.
@@Dunkelheit667 *hottest
I have an eeekit pi case. I have one of them little heatsinks on the processor and graphics chip. I have never run a stress test like you did because I only use the pi as a media player. But when playing 1080p HD video, the processor will barely get to 50c. Most of the time it hovers around 47 or 48c. Although I am sure if I ran the same stress test you ran, mine would run hotter than yours did in that kodi case.
Hi Perhaps you could heat test the wicked case. Looks interesting for passive cooling
Another classic, Good job!
It certainly is keeping it cooler than the throttling limit there. No real need to keep it cooler than that except for longevity reasons.
for passive cooling it seems pretty good
Great !! the Video comparison and the info well Explained !!
I have two RPi3s, one in this case, and one with a 5v fan sitting directly on the CPU. It'll be fun using this test script to compare their cooling performance.
I liked it, but I kinda wished the top was also just etched aluminium instead of that plastic thingy (which usually gathers a lot of dust and little treads to it)
This case looks really cool.
very nice and straight to the point videos. When you do the heat test, what kind of stressing do you do to the CPU?
Many thanks. I cover my stress tests in this video: th-cam.com/video/e6okZKRwnTQ/w-d-xo.html
You have the very best videos. I I would like to see one about the raspberry pi 3 booting from usb drive.
I do have a video planned based around Berryboot, which can (sort of) allow this . . .
Yes, he does great content alright.
I found I needed to make a little hook to use with my case if I want to pull the micro SD card out as the case was designed with the Pi2 in mind that has an ejection mechanism in the micro SD card slot. Something my Pi3 does not have. I'm thinking of drilling a couple of little holes in my case also as the case covers the two Pi3 LEDs as they moved them to the opposite side on the Pi3 and the case was designed to let you see the ones on the Pi2 only.
i bought a ridiculed 18$ case with the cutest fan ever!!! it's only slightly cooler so i say this is better!
Would you be able to try an overclock test using this case to see what the temperatures are like?
nice video,i have and like my kodi case,but when I took lt apart for the first time I noticed from an impression on the pad that the hump and cpu don't line up properly ,leaving part of the cpu not touching the pad'
If memory serves me correctly that is the Flirc case not a Kodi case. Just with Kodi branding on it. You can see the Flirc logo on the side. My RPi2 has the same exact case by Flirc without Kodi branding.
Interesting. Kodi claim that Flirc make the case for them, which can I guess be interpreted in various ways . . .
+ExplainingComputers link to buy??
Good idea! I've added links to two stores (one US, one UK) in the video description. :)
Thank you for the video, $19.95 is just too much. $12.95...maybe. I have $5.50 in my PI3's attractive yet efficient cooling case. There's many choices available at reasonable prices these days. Thank you again.
I'd be curious as to whether the heat-sink interface (aluminum) works appreciably better if polished, rather than as cast.
Nice case. Nice review.
Your videos are great, could watch them all day. Are you related to Jasper Carrot? Blobby x
:)
i love your british accent
it may be more considerate if a mini fan is equipped in the case .
Cool case, I saw them at my computer stuffs store and now I may get one!
90k Subscribers!!
Yes, thanks for noticing. I passed this milestone this morning. So I am now on the countdown to 100K subs and my TH-cam silver play button. :)
I can't wait
i think if it had one mount bracket you could easily mount it behind your tv and have some sort cables and you are free from the terrifying view of tangled cables then you download kodi and you free to go by the way very nice video
also set the raspi on edge so the heat can flow up and through the small heat sink.
Does the metal case interfere with the wifi at all? I was hoping to use Kodi but my wireless router is upstairs. Will this be a problem?
you should have displayed the cpu freq. during the tests near 80C.
the small heat sink may have been more effective than you realize...ie much less throttling than a naked chip, even though near 82C.
Plus great way to donate to Kodi who created awesome media player!
Looks like the flirc case with the kodi logo printed on the top.
Personally I would have put the heat pad on the CPU first (or used some thermal compound instead) as then you know you have the thermal pad aligned correctly on the cpu since you cannot see the heat sink and pad making contact. But great video, I'm going to buy this case.
turb0m0nk3y I would assume it's made to fit well enough that the lug of aluminum ligns up exactly with the processor anyway
Great idea
@@maxpetra9176 *lines up
This is an off topic question, is it good that my raspberry pi temperature never goes above 30 always stays at mid 25?
Good Video again few points i was not aware of.
I do hope you will do at least one more video on the Panda,Will you be doing Any videos on Microbit and Chip computer ?
I am working on a new Panda video right now, for upload next Sunday. This includes some performance comparisons I've run against the Raspberry Pi 3, which gave some rather surprising results. I have a CHIP on order that was supposed to be delivered last month. The company seems very good at charging credit cards, but less good at shipping product (now apparently due in October -- previously July, August and September). I've spoken to industry insiders about the Microbit and concur with them that it is a BBC vanity project, so I don't anticipate featuring it here. Even the BBC have stopped referring to it as a "computer" (it is most definately a microcontroller).
Interesting,I have also order one,its also slipped shipping dates, i think last one i had was October too,very looking forward to this device despite the delays and hope its worth,as results as a super portable terminal i have seen are impressive ,As for the Panda ill look forward to this video as i am very much on the fence in getting one,but saying that i have followed its development since there first kick-starter video last year,I would also love to see comparison a benchmark of some type in order to compare it to similar hardware devices such as 2gb ram atom based desktops and tablets.
I know the Kodi logo is nice looking, but is it worth $5 more than the case without the logo....I think not!
You could also try using a laptop vaccum cooler and attach it from the side (with the gpio) with the raspberry pi in the official case. works wonders and it brought it down to 55°.
Great idea! :)
Can i use this Case with a Tinker Board? Or is the processor, on a wrong place?
The processor is sadly indeed in the wrong place.
ExplainingComputers Ok Thank you for the answer
Does this case affect the performance of the RPi-3 on-board wifi? Seems like an all aluminum case would create a faraday cage thus shielding it from the surrounding wlan environment.
I've not experienced WiFi issues -- though I've never found the Pi3's WiFi to be particularly strong. The base of the case is plastic.
Did not see a way to access the GPIO with this case. Otherwise very nice case for the Pi
Yes, no GPIO access. :(
Looks nice :)
Does the job pretty well :)
Price is a bit high but what is better case than that :)
Awesome Case :)
I'm not a fan of passive cooling with the PI's, I like to squeeze as much task, performance and efficiency as possible. A fan and heatsink is usually my preferred method provided that it's quiet enough
can you do a video on setting up kodi on raspberry pi?
Good idea -- noted. :) Though I have done a video on setting up the OSCM varient: th-cam.com/video/-9vgJ4u4saI/w-d-xo.html
I wonder if its possible to mount a high end PC cooler on to one of these without the screws to get extremely low temperatures, such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo. (and to say without shorting anything)
A very interesting idea -- I think that the top plastic panel can be fairly easily removed. Could be a very neat solution.
*it's (not possessive)
Try playing a snes game with a good shader enabled in retroarch. That will give you loads of heat. Im curious to see the results with this case.
I think a valid test would be to compare the included thermal pad with using a thermal compound like Arctic Silver to provide contact between the Kodi case and the Pi.
I think the gap is too great to use a thermal compound, but will check.
that would be a terrible shame as thermal pads, in my experience, have never done a good job of transferring heat in the same way a good thermal paste will.
Some Guy Named Rob
I agree that thermal pads work less effectively than a good thermal paste.
ExplainingComputers It's otherwise a very sound idea to use the case as a massive, passive cooling solution. Shame there isn't a more effective way to couple the system.
Did you find this case limited the wifi capabilities?
FLIRC is completely the same case but much cheaper. Probably this explains the thanks-card in he box of kodi-case.
Do you have the test script available for download?
Does the aluminum case interfere with the Bluetooth or Wlan reception of the Raspberry Pi 3?
I have not tested Bluetooth, but WiFi was fine.
Thanks for the info
Is the PI in this video at stock speeds or overclocked?
In this video, at stock speeds only.
Will this case has impact on built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth of pi3 as it is made with metal?
WiFi works OK (the base of the case is plastic). I've not tried Bluetooth with it yet.
*have an impact
Looks like a IntelNUC case design ;)
What if you used thermal compound, if it would properly interface?
The case creator says to not use paste: www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/9bdgrr/it_turns_out_putting_a_heatsink_on_the_flirc_case/e52xs6z/
Does the heat pad stick to the Pi's CPU by a lot? Meaning, can I take my Pi in and out of this case without worrying that the heat pad will stick to the CPU?
Yes, you can get it in and out -- especially if you stick the pad to the lug in the case, not the CPU.
That's the answer I was hoping for. Thank you very much!
Hi, I've heard this case blocks wifi and Bluetooth, can you confirm? Big hit to wifi and Bluetooth
I've not had any problems using WiFi in this case; or using a Bluetooth keyboard. But it may drop signal strength.
is it possible to add a cooler with the extreme cooling metod? :)
hope he try's that. i really want to see the heat test :D
@@LightOfSkyFalling *method
*tries
What about the Wlan connectivity in an alu case?
Works OK, I guess because the base is plastic.
how about make a liek a hole on top and put the other cooling on top will work great
*How about making a hole
Also, you misspelled "like."
so everytime i need GPIO i have to screw? that kinda sucks. also the Pad will get dirty kinda fast from all the out and in....
*every time
*I
Does this case affect the performance of the on board WiFi?
It does not seem to, as the base is plastic.
can you access the SD slot with this case?
Kind of... The case is slotted where the SD card sits, but you really need some tweezers/a littel screwdriver/long fingernails to get it out. Inserting the SD card is no problem at all.
rite ho, thanks for the help
@@Dunkelheit667 *little
hey Christopher when I run this script it finishes of very quickly and there are 100(approx) entries of temperature. can you help.
The script requires Sysbench to be installed -- in a terminal type: sudo apt-get install sysbench -- or see my "Raspberry Pi 3: CPU Temperature Tests & Heatsink" video (about half way through): th-cam.com/video/e6okZKRwnTQ/w-d-xo.html
+ExplainingComputers yes I figured it out when I entered sysbench in the terminal, I also tried this on my laptop and the temp. values reached 92. I know that this is not safe.
Darth Vader Wow, 92 is hot! :)
*finishes off
Wouldn't Thermal paste work better than the thermal pad?
Probably not here, as it would have to fill a very large gap (c. 1mm).
*thermal
The case creator says not to use paste: www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/9bdgrr/it_turns_out_putting_a_heatsink_on_the_flirc_case/e52xs6z
try to test that cooper big heatsink with small 30x30 or 40x40 mm fan. You will be shocked how low temperatures are. My Pi is overclocked to 1,46Ghz and it has max 42 C degrees.
I have done many videos here on Pi3 cooling! :) But your temperatures are most impressive. :)
+ExplainingComputers would have liked to see that test for more than 10m as it had not peaked!! And also over locked pi3 results. Another video?
my raspberry (pi 3 modell b) is 45c without any heat sink or fan at light load and 35c with pi fan in closed case on light load
*model
I wonder what the final temp would be. (+1.1ºC in the last 3 measures)
I got 65.5° with 22.5°C ambient and sysbench running for an hour. The temperature maxed out after approx. 15 - 20 minutes.
I thought I was the only one of the commenter's concerned about the loss of GPIO pin loss until way at the bottom of comments I found Zwen and leroy87532, both from 2 years ago, that were also concerned. Chris verifies that the access to the GPIO pins is not accessible with this case.
What about this case whilst the Pi is overclocked?
It should be a reasonable overclocking case -- if not as good as using a larger heatsink, or a fan.
That is very impressive.
Could you try cooling the pi with a full sized desktop CPU cooler?
That is on my production slate for a video, probably September. :)
ExplainingComputers cool
I'd probably put normal thermal compound on it instead of that pad. Might make a difference, altho probably small.
The case creator says to not use paste: www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/9bdgrr/it_turns_out_putting_a_heatsink_on_the_flirc_case/e52xs6z/
Hey chris, i have yet another computing question for you! I want to upgrade my outdated AMD CPU, to a nice new 6th gen intel one, doing that would require a new motherboard and RAM and i was wondering if you could tell me about the process and tell me if my component choices are okay and all compatible.
Current PC:
Windows 10 64bit
AMD Phenom x6 II 1100T
Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. 990FXA-UD5
EVGA GTX 970
16GB of cruical ballisticX DDR3 @1333mhz
EIZO Foris FG2421 1920x1080 @120hz via dual link DVI-D
I want to swap out the Processor, motherboard and RAM, will these work okay and all be compatible with each other?
ASUS Z170E
Intel Core I5 6600k
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 @2800mhz
I heard someone say i will have to reinstall windows, is this true? would i be able to do that while keeping all the other stuff on my drives?
Thanks chris, i love your videos!!!
The hardware should work together fine. You are incredibly likely to have to reinstall Windows, and if your copy of Windows is OEM (or you moved to Win 10 via a free upgrade), then you will need a new copy I'm afraid, as the current one will be licensed to your existing hardware.
ExplainingComputers Thanks for the reply! I just have a few questions as to how i would go about doing this, is there a way to keep my windows 10 settings? also would i have to wipe my :/C drive and then do the hardware exchange? im not really sure if that makes sense, but can i clone everything on my c drive except windows to somewhere else, then wipe my drive, reinstall windows, then clone my stuff back on, to avoid downloading hundreds of gigs of games ect or would it be better to just back up my important files and then wipe it and reinstall. Thanks for the help chris!
OblivionGaming You could probably get away with putting your existing hard drive in your new/upgraded PC, and then installing Windows on it (ie do not try to boot from the drive, but go to a Windows install). This may pick up your software OK, at least in most cases. It is in effect what you would do if Windows had become corrupted. Taking an image of the disk somewhere else before starting is always a good idea if possible.
ExplainingComputers okay, thanks for the help!
never knew kodi could cause heating problems , or maybe it is the rasppi , as shown by your other vids .... interesting.
Do they make it for pi zero?
Sadly no, though the Zero gets far less hot.
The cooling would probably have been even better if it wasn't for the logo on the top, creating some insulation.
The case reminds me of a Intel NUC :D
Thanks a lot.....
i use a heat sink and fan and temp does not pass 35
Cool! :)