How hard is OP on an RPi 4 - ok without fan?

General
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Hi all!

Long time OP user and supporter with a very random question.

I run OP on an RPi 4 in a Canakit case like this.

The starter kit came with a "CPU fan" which frankly has a whine to it that I'd rather not deal with.

I assume the fan is kindof overkill, and is probably there only b/c the case restricts airflow. If I remove the top cover and fan, will that likely be sufficient? I mean, RPis are meant to run just "as is", I'd think and I don't think OP is all THAT demanding of the CPU. Plus they give you heat fans in the case kit as well, so I think heat dispersion is probably taken care of.

Am I likely to fry my RPi without the fan? Just looking for thoughts from anyone with similar setups - thanks!

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Hello @Aaron_Cammarata !

With OP, do you mean OctoPrint or OctoPi?

To avoid confusion, please write in full words.

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Google for " Joy-IT Armor Case Block (RPI4B+)". I have several RPi4B+s in operation (24/7) in these cases. No fan, no overheating.

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Hi! Thank you Ewald and Walter for the kind replies.

Regarding "OP" meaning - TIL! I guess I meant both - I'm running OctoPrint on an OctoPi installation, so I guess I was asking about "is all of this ok to run without fan cooling" - but I think Walter's response gets what I need.

Walter - thanks! Looks like I'm ok to run as is without a fan. Thanks - that's exactly what I needed!

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I had a similar noise complaint with my Pi4 case. I replaced the case with one that had a fan that was PWM controlled. So, it should only run the fan when it is needed. So far, it hasn't been needed! :slight_smile: The fact it is winter and house on the cool side... probably helps. We'll see when we get to the summer time and ambient temperature runs more on the warm side.