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AppGameKit Classic Chat / Systems overheating and rebooting when particles are used

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JRNTexas
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Joined: 24th May 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Posted: 18th Apr 2015 03:00
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I've got several, Android "TV Cloud Stick" systems. You can see more on the specs here:

http://www.amazon.com/DIAOTEC-antennas-Cortex-A9-processor-Mali-400MP4/dp/B00ECBY5VS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429314811&sr=8-1&keywords=tv+cloud+stick

They are equipped with the Mali-400 3D graphics engine and ROCKCHIP RK3188 CORTEX-A9 QUAD-Core CPU 1.6GHZ.

They are running Android 4.2.

If I use ANY particles, they overhead and reboot.

If I use extensive particles they reboot much sooner.

I have removed all particles from the custom app I am writing and they no longer overheat and reboot.

I understand that there is probably nothing I can do to alleviate the problem, other than don't use particles and using an external fan to help cool the systems.

The systems get fairly warm, but do not overheat on any other app I find, like YouTube or games, etc.

It seems that my app is overheating the graphics processor, because that part of the "dongle", closest to the HDMI port, seems to get the hottest, however other areas of the dongle also are heating up to high temps.

My question is has anyone else run into this problem and if so, how did you resolve it? Any clue what the REAL issue is?
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CJB
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Joined: 10th Feb 2004
Location: Essex, UK
Posted: 18th Apr 2015 23:40
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Do you limit the frame-rate in your app or are you letting it run as fast as it can? You might want to add setsyncrate(60,0) to the start of your code otherwise your app will max out the CPU / Mali GPU which will get HOT.

V2 T1 (Mostly)
Uzmadesign
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JRNTexas
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Posted: 18th Apr 2015 23:45
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@CJB

Good idea. Thanks for the feedback. I can try 30 fps and see if that works. I will post the results.

Thanks!
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JRNTexas
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Posted: 18th Apr 2015 23:54
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I just looked at my code and found a setsyncRate(40,0). ;0(

I'm going to lower it to possibly even 15, if it will run at 15 without stuttering. Will report back.
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JimHawkins
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Joined: 26th Jul 2009
Location: Hull - UK
Posted: 19th Apr 2015 00:34 Edited at: 19th Apr 2015 01:44
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Limiting the frame rate seems like a good idea. Not all devices cap it, and you'd be pushing the CPU and GPU to go flat-out. Apart from over-heating that's going to eat battery at an alarming rate.

Delphi's XE7/8 compilers allow optimised parallel loops that run over all processor cores - but there is a warning that you should be careful on battery-powered devices when doing this, because it can cause rapid battery drain. Not the same problem - but an indicator.

<<It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.>> Dijkstra
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JRNTexas
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Posted: 24th Apr 2015 11:19
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@JimHawkins

UPDATE...I don't think it was the particles. I was loading images and creating sprites then deleting images and deleting sprites then loading new images and creating new sprites on a regular basis.

This seemed to be a problem. So I'm trying it with loading all the images at once, creating the sprites and not doing it over again.

ALSO...I ran a test, just loading images, creating sprites and letting it run. It overheated although I could tell by feeling of the systems and I was checking the FPS so before they rebooted themselves, I changed the max FPS to 30 and it is no longer overheating.
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CJB
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Location: Essex, UK
Posted: 24th Apr 2015 14:20
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Woohoo! That's great to hear I'm going to get myself one of those dongles. I ordered one off e-bay (from China), but 8 weeks later it still hadn't arrived so I got my money back.

I'd love to see my apps on the big screen!

V2 T1 (Mostly)
Uzmadesign
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