Can the operation of a Banana PI M3 without any heat sink cause damage?

Question

My pure Banana PI M3 board has just been delivered. However, it has come without any heat sink.

The specifications are:

CPU: A83T ARM Cortex-A7 octa-core,512 KB L1 cache 1 MB L2 cache

GPU: PowerVR SGX544MP1· Comply with OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenCL 1.x, DX 9_3

Power Source: Micro USB, optional 5V DC port (center positive 1,6 x 4,4mm)

source: http://www.banana-pi.org/m3.html

I've got a USB 2A power supply.

Now I doubt if I can start it first time without placing a set of heat sinks onto the chips. I have read different statements. Some say the A7 processor had a feature to adjust speed and stop cores to manage operation temperature. But I am not sure if I should try a first startup completely without any cooling solution, not even a heat sink. It will run only as a network device with a LAN cable and a USB stick connected, no display.

Do I risk a damage when I try the Banana PI M3 board without cooling down the chips?

Answer 1

Do I risk a damage when I try the Banana PI M3 board without cooling down the chips?

Not if you are using the provided operating system and standard configuration. It will shut down cores to keep temperature within safe limits.

See Quick review of Banana Pi M3

Answer 2

Yes you may start the board, but within less than 10 minutes you will see the processor heating up above 65°C (even in idle mode) and the OS lowering the CPU-frequency or even shutting down most of the cores. I ran into the same problem - even with (small) heat sinks on each of the chips I was not able to use the M3 board - so I sent it back after two weeks of failful tests with all the OS variants from banana homepage. Even with the heat sinks the cpu temperature was monitored up to 85°C during a benchmark test. I own also a banana pi R1 which is running perfect (without heat sink) but I am very disappointed by the M3!