As others stated, you likely saw variance in your temps due to the reflective metal surfaces. When using an IR thermometer like that, applying a piece of tape over the surface you want to measure would cut down on the light reflecting and give you a more accurate reading. Even then, I think there are a lot of variables that aren't being considered, such as the clock speed changing and the area of the game you're in requiring the system to do more or less than the previous benchmark. Since you're also holding the system, you'll impart your own body heat onto the console. Benchmarks like this are ultimately all about repeatability, and the only variable you want to change is the one you're testing for, so maybe a game with a good attract mode, left idle for X minutes while plugged in at 100% battery would give you that repeatability you're looking for?
Thank you for the feedback Joseph! Totally agree, definitely need a better more controlled way to get a temp reading. That’s a really good idea, putting a non reflective material on the metal shell. Really appreciate the feedback dude!
@@MachoNachoProductions Use something like Corsair's temp sensors. If you want accurate readings, take a page out of GamersNexus's book and definitely use temperature probes on the internals next to areas that produce heat. Heat radiance, clock change fluctuations, reflections, and plenty of other variables affect the accuracy of readings. I'm sure there's ones that are thin enough to fit into the device, but you may have to remove a speaker or the headphone port (something along those lines) from the chassis to feed probes into the device in order to get the accurate internal readings while ensuring that the exhaust fan can still operate unimpeded. Just gotta mask off the area in order to prevent any cfm/pressure changes from a gap where a component would normally be.
I was wondering, can we remove the shield and adding thermal pads directly from the Cooler and RAM to the aluminium back cover be better? I assume multiple layers of heat transfer is less efficient.
I was thinking the same thing, plus that the clock of the tegra wasn’t looked at. It might be set up to run to the temp, so you could be cooling it but its ramping up to put out more heat anyways
Could sticking a temp probe to the plate where the CPU is and include 3 more probes spaced at equal distances from the center of the CPU (to calculate dissipation efficiency through the metal mass of the plate) give a more accurate reading than just the temp gun?
@@MachoNachoProductions you're welcome. It's something I picked up from some videos on the Gamers Nexus channel. They are incredibly thorough when it comes to testing stuff out.
@@MachoNachoProductions Yeah you will get a more accurate reading off a black surface than a reflective surface. Watch this video for better way to test. ruclips.net/video/VgWuGA8cExo/видео.html
Try to test the range of the wifi and Bluetooth signals with an unmodded switch to this fully modded metal case. Somehow it feels like it took a hit on how far you need to be from a wifi source while handheld, and controller connectivity while playing in docked mode.
I was thinking the same thing but N online sucks anyways and my switch is modded so I never really use wifi I may use BT though for some gaming buds but I don't think I really need to much range for that one anyways
I sincerely respect that you're open to changing your testing methodology and didn't present it as conclusive fact! It seems you already know the results aren't very comparable between the plastic and metal shell, due to many factors. When you tested the single pad versus many pads, THAT was data was conclusive within the subset of metal backplates. You absolutely gave us meaningful data within that! I would've loved to see you try no pad, one pad, and many pad with each the metal and plastic backplate, maybe even different single pads, though that can become a rabbit hole of work. Also, using physical, thermistor probes (as I'm sure many others have suggested) will control for the surface reflectivity of metal versus plastic, but introduce its own issues, like surface conductivity and contact surface area. Aluminum dissipates heat to air more effectively than plastic or copper, but copper conducts heat within itself better than aluminum.
Here's the requisite GamersNexus-style comment that surface and exhaust temperatures tell you absolutely nothing about the temperature of the SoC or other electronic components. You would need to open up the switch and install thermocouples on the actual chips to get useful data. The surface and exhaust temps are only useful for determining if the Switch might be too hot to physically play, e.g. the shell is so hot that you cannot comfortably play it portably. One possible proxy might be to run before and after performance tests on games with unlocked frame rates like Hyrule Legends - a hotter switch might thermal throttle more, reducing performance. Another possible proxy would be fan noise - a hotter switch should run it's fans faster, leading to more noise.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Was hoping there would be a way to measure temps that wasn’t super invasive. Will definitely want to look into that more. Thank you for the detailed comment 😁
There are some uses of surface temperatures though? A hotter surface temp (with all other factors being the same) means that more heat is being removed from the Switch. But this is assuming the fan speed isn't changing or the processor isn't clocking higher due to the change. Personally, I think Nintendo probably dialed the Switch SOC to be fine with the standard casing in most cases so it probably wouldnt clock higher in standard cases. If it's really hot outside it may dissipate heat faster since the outside is probably cooler than the inside
@@shanez1215 not really, it can also mean that more heat is being trapped inside and heats up the surface of the back technically so quite the opposite
@@MachoNachoProductions maybe you can boot into atmosphere custom firmware, and measure the temperature of SOC? You can run custom firmware in dual boot so you don't need to taint your system firmware with potentially bankable actions
@@MachoNachoProductions This is a great GamersNexus video on the issue with surface temps: ruclips.net/video/v55u3Xrjf-c/видео.html The TL;DW is basically the first 3 sentences of my original comment.
By homebrewing the switch and setting the fan speed to a constant you can track the soc temperature itself. also when using a laser temperature sensor you should put black tape on reflective surfaces
Quick tip, you can't measure infrared waves (radiant heat) on a piece of shiny metal, because of it's reflective properties. Try painting on some matte black patches where you plan on measuring, or even just some scotch tape will help
The best way to accomplish accurate temperature measurement is going to be to mod the switch, boot Atmosphere, install Tesla (to allow overlays in-game), and install the Status Monitor Overlay. You can then bring up the Status Monitor Overlay in any game, allowing you to view the SoC, PCB, and skin temperatures individually. You are not going to get more accurate measurements outside of manually installing temperature probes but that is difficult to do correctly and depending on how you do it, the system's built in sensors may still give you more accuracy. Honestly, you really probably shouldn't even be mentioning temperature testing results unless you really know what you're doing or are using the system's own built in sensors as this type of testing is not straight forward or intuitive and therefore giving some random measurement taken by a thermal camera or infrared monitor is not only pointless but also likely counterproductive.
I installed an aluminum housing as well, except I used K5-Pro to thermally bridge the SoC heatsink and battery to the rear housing (Arctic MX-6 between SoC die and heatsink). Replaced the original battery with an extended capacity battery and soldered a hwfly core rp2040 modchip to the Tegra SoC. Set up Hekate and Atmosphere with some other packages such as sys-clk so that I could overclock the switch. Joycons also got aluminum shells and extended capacity batteries, plus hall effect thumbsticks and LED button mods. The results are pretty great I must say. Soldering the mod chip to the SMDs on the SoC was a little nerve racking because of the scale of it (extremely tiny. Limited visibility even with good lighting and magnification.), but it was doable and the results were worth it. I chose the silver aluminum shells instead of one of the anodized colors because I wanted it to be immediately visually obvious that the Switch was metal. It was a fun project and it turned out really cool.
thanks never knew that existed but when I watched the video I was thinking what about the kick stand too bad the top and bottom are still black tho I wonder how much it is for the kick stand, metal back and metal joycon housings alltogether
@@andreamitchell4758 Idk where you can buy them now. But I got mine from Gamestop shortly after the Switch launch for about $15. They come in a bare metal or black finish.
In other tutorials I have seen, MUCH more thermal compound was used and they reported that the back got very hot. And they added thermal compound under the heatpipe, over the heatpipe, then again between the shield and the backplate. Also, they did a max overclock. They said Nintendo underclocked these tegra chips because of the thermals inside the plastic.
multimeters come with a thermometer wire. its a very thin wire used to measure temperatures in electronics. you can remove the backplate, place the wire on the area you want to measure and close the backplate with the wire still inside and proceed to take measurements with the multimeter.
Your best bet would be to open it up, remove the copper sticker and mount the heatpipe to the chip properly with better paste, if you pop off the random shield and use a thermal pad on the VRAM then put it back. Do what you already did with the pads, but use the overclocking homebrew, even if you don't OC it, it gives you access to the SoC internal sensors so you can get direct chip readings.
I’m confused with the links. One says front shell and the other back shell but both links are for front shell?? Also did he buy just the same single thermal pad and just cut it? and what size is the bigger one? would this be fine just to put on my oem shell or pointless? I know there wasn’t a huge difference in temps but i still want to do it so it transfers the heat a little better.
Does this affect the connection of controllers or wireless connections? Also just how safe is the case? Id be worried about a static shock shorting something isn't aluminum a conductor? Very cool looking best case I have seen for the switch, really like it.
Another thing you could test for are games where you get a lot of framerate drops and stuff like that. Some areas in Breath of the Wild (like that one forest) always made the game run poorly. You can see if the thermals help smooth that out.
It might be better to use the frames as a reference. If the metallic case dissipate the heat better, it’s likely that the the TEGRA chip would run at higher frequencies and therefore increasing the throughput.
I would solder a thin semi lattice of copper across the inside of the plate that converge at the pad. Pull heat away from the pad faster and into the metal shell and the switch's natural airflow
SO a thing that needs to be talked about with metal mods like this is that you might lose wifi/bluetooth signal at certain angles with the Switch since the antenna's were designed with plastic in mind. So you might lose effective range with your controllers or lose wi-fi signal more often. Not sure how bad it would be with aluminum though.
Didn't even think about this and blown away. Yeah plastic back stays now. I've always just thought put a hole in back plate around the size of fan over fan area screen it in. Then boom extra ventilation.
Hey Tito, wondering if you had any idea if there was going to be a backplate/front plate set for the OLED released? I know there’s a very slight size difference so I’m sure this OG Switch set wouldn’t work for it.
The accuracy of an IR thermometer depends on the emissivity of the material you are measuring. Emissivity is always between 0 and 1. Most materials have a high emissivity, ~0.95, but bare metal can have a significantly lower emissivity and depends on the metal, any coating, and the surface finish. An IR thermometer can't read temperatures off uncoated metals with a shiny finish, instead the metal will reflect the heat from the surroundings like a mirror. Despite this you probably are getting accurate results in this case though because anodizing gives aluminum a high emissivity despite having a bright and shiny finish.
Suggestions to maximize cooling if you want to take it to an EXTREME: Remove backplate and RF shield. Lap smooth the surface of the RF shield that is above the Tegra SOC area. Might want to lap the underside as well. Replace the original "pink/red goo" thermal paste that goes between the copper heat pipe and the RF shield with a high grade non-electrically-conductive thermal compound. Reinstall the RF shield. Apply high grade thermal compound on the lapped area of the RF shield. Place a copper plate that is the appropriate size/shape/thickness over the thermal compound. The copper plate needs to be lapped smooth on both sides. Apply thermal compound on the top side of the lapped copper plate. Take the anodized aluminum backplate and lap smooth the underside area that lines up with the SOC. Apply the extra thermal pads like you did in that one part of the video (battery, etc) Install the aluminum backplate. Check temps.
I'm not sure if there was already a comment about this, but FWIW one missing important measurement was the ambient room temperature, more specifically the Switch when it's sleeping/not playing.
Definitely looks cool as hell! I believe there have been tests done that show that OEM RF shield, is just that and RF shield. It doesn’t work as a heat sink or anything like that. So there’s probably not a lot of heat to even transfer to that backplate if it’s not really being transferred to that RF shield. Maybe some newer testing has been done though. Not too sure.
when you tested the temps without any backplate on it ran cooler because the fan had nothing blocking/restricting the airflow for cooling it, if there was a grill over the area over the cooling fan, the switch would run cooler
There's mods for hacked switch consoles that will display the temperature of the SOC. But the switch has to not only be the old fat model, but it has to be an older version of the old model. I have the mod installed on my switch. After a bunch of testing, I leave my backplate off the switch, as it keeps the SOC about 5c cooler. Also, my switch is only ever played in docked mode, and I have a mini-dock, to allow air to get to the system better....ALSO, I even took the thin aluminum that's covering the motherboard and SOC, and applied thermal paste in the area where it may touch the heatsink that's above the SOC. But I also have an overclocking utility on my switch, that lets me run the CPU and GPU at max speeds, at all times. So most people's switch's won't be as warm as mine, along with the fact that I literally never play it in hand-held mode, I'm 100% fine with the risks of leaving the plastic back-plate off. Also, reflective metal can't really be used with an IR temp probe. It throws off the results. At the very least, put a piece of black tape over the spot you want to measure. As for the game, I'd suggest going to the kokiri forest, where you get the Master Sword. That area has a lot of slow-down, and taxes the system. Then, just let it sit there for about 15 minutes ( for every test ), to make sure the temps have stabilized ( with the switch and it's heatsink being so small, 5 minutes might be enough ). And don't touch the system. The heat from your hands could have been warming up the back plate, even if you ignore the " don't use IR on shiny metal without tape " thing. There may not be enough contact between that thin aluminum plate and the SOC for it to then transfer any meaningful amount of heat to the thermal pad, and then to the back-plate, which is also why I suggest you not touch the system with your hands. I'd love to test this myself, but it looks like all the shells are sold-out. Hopefully they will come back in stock soon, and I can order one. I've been wanting a metal shell for the switch for a long time, and would look for them every once in a while. Once I get one, I'm definitely going to use he mod that lets you read the temps of the thermocouple built into the switch, and compare how the temps are with the plastic cover, Metal cover, and no cover, all with a thermal pad in-between, just as you did.
Awesome! Thank you so much for the very insightful response! Very much appreciated! I do have an old model switch, pretty close to launch (about a month after). Again appreciate the info 😁
Yeah this is by far the easiest way to check temps, using Tesla sysinfo overlay. Think some digital foundry switch overclocking videos even showed it off.
@@MachoNachoProductions Oh yeah, That switch will be old enough to run hacked firmware on it. Depending on what firmware you have on it, you may be able to run custom firmware, and then use the Tesla Sysinfo overlay.
Why didn't they make the kick stand aluminium? guessing the copper heat pipe takes most of the heat away before it gets to the backplate. regardless off what back you have on.
I got mine through AliExpress. It's not cheap, but the quality is at least good. You can get the front plate too, but keep in mind installing that means completely disassembling your switch and rebuilding it into the new frame.
@@nathanfisher1535 Hy there. How long did it take to ship to you? I live in Austria and i´m not sure if i should order it . What about the Quality and the fitting.
Its a stunning look. I try to get my hands on a switch with a broken screen so that i can get a laminated panel and can change the front too. This is really awesome.
Hi, thermodynamics guy here. The aluminum panel should dissipate heat more, and that means the direct area would be higher temperature than the plastic, but that temperature would spread very quickly to the surrounding area, so a reading of the surrounding area is what you wanted, as it should be higher. Also of note, you had no temp pad between the heat sink and the plastic backing. Everything needs to be equal to compare.
Inferred temperature readers are not accurate I work in the hvac field I would have used a thermal camera. I had to replace my joycon rails because they where worn out and would not let one of them connect or charge why I had it opened I replaced the thermal paste with artic Mx-6 and I was mad cause I wanted to use my thermal camera on it before and after to see if there was any difference in temps. I want to get the metal back for my switch that’s about 3 years old and I will film the temperature tests. I also use a temp probe that I can put inside the switch to watch the temps over time
my first thought was: okay would it run cooler.. but then i was thinking: wouldn't the metal heat up the whole body of the switch? in handheld it would be warm to the touch maybe but what about docked mode? wouldn't it be somewhat hotter?
The emissivity (think of it like shiny metal reflecting light, most metals reflect some IR) of the metal makes it harder to get an accurate reading. The back should be hotter. Put a piece of black tape on the back and then measure it's, that should be more accurate. But realistically you're trying to transfer heat through the heat shield through the cooling solution through the SOC. Is it helping? Yeah probably a little bit. Does it make any sort of different? Probably not. It most likely doesn't hurt, so leave it in. I've done similar things with laptops before, it doesn't make a huge difference but every little bit helps.
Thanks for the video, this was awesome to see! It would be interesting to see connectivity tests with a full aluminum shell, so we can see how it affects Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections. Personally, I think I could sacrifice wireless for something like this...
It would be cool to have wireless charging on the switch, unfortunately, the metal shell prevents wireless charging. (I'm looking at you Google Pixel 5...)
Try to test it in doc mode during playing Zelda BOTH and apex legends, better if you use doc + charging mode. Switch normally gets less hot when normally playing without charging or doc. So there is no significant changes that time and the effect of atmosphere is also considerable. Better if you test it in a room where no air conditioner is working or no fan. And as the heat spreads the whole area it takes a very little time for a metal to dissipate heat.
I was wondering, can we remove the shield and adding thermal pads directly from the Cooler and RAM to the aluminium back cover be better? I assume multiple layers of heat transfer is less efficient.
Are there any replacement shells for the nds lite or 3ds? ive been looking for some high quality shells to replace my consoles with because they are using crappy aftermarket shells
if you plan to do more thermal testing of various devices, I would suggest a CAT S60 phone. You can find them on used on auction sites for decent prices, and it includes a thermal camera.
Are there any mods to fix the crappy connection for the joycons to the side of the console. My joycons are always losing their electrical connection to the switch. I've already replaced the plastic button mechanism and that locks up tight. The joycon connection is just intermittent.
Hope to see one last video with total metal switch, also the support tap need to be metal it doesn't look natural. Is there any metal case for 3ds or 2ds?
Does the kickstand seem like it will hold up to supporting a metal shell? That's my only concern at this point because the stand always seemed kinda flimsy to me.
Hello Tito, first of all thank you so much for your amazing work and content in the retro gaming community. Really like your channel. This was probably already mentioned by other viewers but here's my two cents: I think you should use an infrared camera to compare temperature and how the heat is spread across both shells. I'd advise you to paint the shells with non reflective paint, so that the results are comparable. It can be tricky to set up the emissivity parameters but some cameras have pre-defined parameters. One other thing to keep in mind is that the Nintendo switch has a fan which controls the air flow, so comparing temperature should also be compared with fan (air) speed to compare apples with apples. Hope to see more content related to this topic, keep up the good work!!
Question to the people saying "not to temp on reflective surfaces". Wouldnt the read be more likely to register a higher temp if thats the case? And if that is indeed happening, is it possible the case is effectively transferring heat and that the spot temp could actually be much lower? Curious.
Would like to see a FLIR image of the temperatures before and after the mod. Love the idea of the fully metal switch but out in the sun or hot weather would put a damper on performance as the heat around the switch would warm up the components and your hands while in portable mode.
I can measure temps directly from the Soc on the switch so if the shell was available still i could test it out. I can say that with my switch docked and overclocked at 17850/921Mhz it doesn't go above 62°C playing Xenoblade. Switch has no problem staying cool until the thermal paste underneath the Shield plate and CPU cooler dries up. Its max temp is 80°C and it starts to throttle at 81-82°C
Taking the temperature of the screen would be a better indicator of cooling (as the aluminium rear frame of the LCD will be soaking less heat if more heat is being soaked by the back cover. Fan noise would also be a good measurement as less fan noise means the cooling is better.
The best way to conduct the heat test is to mod your switch ,install CFW and run a homebrew to overclock it those homebrew apps also show you internal temps
I like this. it's an easy mod to do. Just need thermal paste or pads and you're good. Thermal camera and external sensors won't tell us much. The best thing you can do is thermal coupling. Gamers Nexus just did a video on the PS5 explaining why these tests aren't conclusive regarding Austin Evans tests.
it will work but how well is the caveat more thermal mass will pull more heat from the system but without anyway to throw away that heat your just delaying the outcome this might make a switch stay cool internally for say a few more hours but then when the case can soak any more heat with minimal being transfered to the enviroment it will resume thermal throttling and your left with a ripping hot case which in addition to extending the heat up time now has a extended cooldown time
As others stated, you likely saw variance in your temps due to the reflective metal surfaces. When using an IR thermometer like that, applying a piece of tape over the surface you want to measure would cut down on the light reflecting and give you a more accurate reading. Even then, I think there are a lot of variables that aren't being considered, such as the clock speed changing and the area of the game you're in requiring the system to do more or less than the previous benchmark. Since you're also holding the system, you'll impart your own body heat onto the console. Benchmarks like this are ultimately all about repeatability, and the only variable you want to change is the one you're testing for, so maybe a game with a good attract mode, left idle for X minutes while plugged in at 100% battery would give you that repeatability you're looking for?
Even that though isn't taking into account the fan ramping up or down to cool the SoC, which would throw off your readings.
Thank you for the feedback Joseph! Totally agree, definitely need a better more controlled way to get a temp reading. That’s a really good idea, putting a non reflective material on the metal shell. Really appreciate the feedback dude!
@@MachoNachoProductions Use something like Corsair's temp sensors. If you want accurate readings, take a page out of GamersNexus's book and definitely use temperature probes on the internals next to areas that produce heat. Heat radiance, clock change fluctuations, reflections, and plenty of other variables affect the accuracy of readings.
I'm sure there's ones that are thin enough to fit into the device, but you may have to remove a speaker or the headphone port (something along those lines) from the chassis to feed probes into the device in order to get the accurate internal readings while ensuring that the exhaust fan can still operate unimpeded. Just gotta mask off the area in order to prevent any cfm/pressure changes from a gap where a component would normally be.
I was wondering, can we remove the shield and adding thermal pads directly from the Cooler and RAM to the aluminium back cover be better? I assume multiple layers of heat transfer is less efficient.
The reflectivity of the metal interferes with your measurements, that is one of the reasons why the results weren't what you expected them to be.
I was thinking the same thing, plus that the clock of the tegra wasn’t looked at. It might be set up to run to the temp, so you could be cooling it but its ramping up to put out more heat anyways
Could sticking a temp probe to the plate where the CPU is and include 3 more probes spaced at equal distances from the center of the CPU (to calculate dissipation efficiency through the metal mass of the plate) give a more accurate reading than just the temp gun?
Thanks for the feedback! I haven’t thought about the reflectivity of the metal finish altering the results
@@MachoNachoProductions you're welcome. It's something I picked up from some videos on the Gamers Nexus channel. They are incredibly thorough when it comes to testing stuff out.
@@MachoNachoProductions Yeah you will get a more accurate reading off a black surface than a reflective surface. Watch this video for better way to test. ruclips.net/video/VgWuGA8cExo/видео.html
Try to test the range of the wifi and Bluetooth signals with an unmodded switch to this fully modded metal case. Somehow it feels like it took a hit on how far you need to be from a wifi source while handheld, and controller connectivity while playing in docked mode.
Will do! I should have tested that in the video. Totally slipped my mind 😅
I was thinking the same thing
but N online sucks anyways and my switch is modded so I never really use wifi
I may use BT though for some gaming buds but I don't think I really need to much range for that one anyways
@@MachoNachoProductions If it doesn't have a significant hit, maybe you should keep your eye out on a Steam Deck version.
It's not going to affect signal performance... the area directly under the backplate is a giant piece of aluminum already.
I was just thinking about how cool in all metal Nintendo switch would be. Get out of my head
how COOL it would be....
Lol, great minds think alike 😁
@@MachoNachoProductions also you might be able to use an IR camera like a phone one from FLIR
Same here bro. Ideally, a rusted steel brown color switch. :) Brown is one of my favorite colors
Colored CO2 Lazer engraved one would be sweet
I sincerely respect that you're open to changing your testing methodology and didn't present it as conclusive fact!
It seems you already know the results aren't very comparable between the plastic and metal shell, due to many factors. When you tested the single pad versus many pads, THAT was data was conclusive within the subset of metal backplates. You absolutely gave us meaningful data within that! I would've loved to see you try no pad, one pad, and many pad with each the metal and plastic backplate, maybe even different single pads, though that can become a rabbit hole of work.
Also, using physical, thermistor probes (as I'm sure many others have suggested) will control for the surface reflectivity of metal versus plastic, but introduce its own issues, like surface conductivity and contact surface area.
Aluminum dissipates heat to air more effectively than plastic or copper, but copper conducts heat within itself better than aluminum.
Here's the requisite GamersNexus-style comment that surface and exhaust temperatures tell you absolutely nothing about the temperature of the SoC or other electronic components. You would need to open up the switch and install thermocouples on the actual chips to get useful data. The surface and exhaust temps are only useful for determining if the Switch might be too hot to physically play, e.g. the shell is so hot that you cannot comfortably play it portably. One possible proxy might be to run before and after performance tests on games with unlocked frame rates like Hyrule Legends - a hotter switch might thermal throttle more, reducing performance. Another possible proxy would be fan noise - a hotter switch should run it's fans faster, leading to more noise.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Was hoping there would be a way to measure temps that wasn’t super invasive. Will definitely want to look into that more. Thank you for the detailed comment 😁
There are some uses of surface temperatures though? A hotter surface temp (with all other factors being the same) means that more heat is being removed from the Switch.
But this is assuming the fan speed isn't changing or the processor isn't clocking higher due to the change.
Personally, I think Nintendo probably dialed the Switch SOC to be fine with the standard casing in most cases so it probably wouldnt clock higher in standard cases.
If it's really hot outside it may dissipate heat faster since the outside is probably cooler than the inside
@@shanez1215 not really, it can also mean that more heat is being trapped inside and heats up the surface of the back technically so quite the opposite
@@MachoNachoProductions maybe you can boot into atmosphere custom firmware, and measure the temperature of SOC? You can run custom firmware in dual boot so you don't need to taint your system firmware with potentially bankable actions
@@MachoNachoProductions This is a great GamersNexus video on the issue with surface temps: ruclips.net/video/v55u3Xrjf-c/видео.html
The TL;DW is basically the first 3 sentences of my original comment.
By homebrewing the switch and setting the fan speed to a constant you can track the soc temperature itself. also when using a laser temperature sensor you should put black tape on reflective surfaces
transgender is a lie
Quick tip, you can't measure infrared waves (radiant heat) on a piece of shiny metal, because of it's reflective properties. Try painting on some matte black patches where you plan on measuring, or even just some scotch tape will help
Thank you so much for the insight! Very much appreciated
The best way to accomplish accurate temperature measurement is going to be to mod the switch, boot Atmosphere, install Tesla (to allow overlays in-game), and install the Status Monitor Overlay. You can then bring up the Status Monitor Overlay in any game, allowing you to view the SoC, PCB, and skin temperatures individually. You are not going to get more accurate measurements outside of manually installing temperature probes but that is difficult to do correctly and depending on how you do it, the system's built in sensors may still give you more accuracy. Honestly, you really probably shouldn't even be mentioning temperature testing results unless you really know what you're doing or are using the system's own built in sensors as this type of testing is not straight forward or intuitive and therefore giving some random measurement taken by a thermal camera or infrared monitor is not only pointless but also likely counterproductive.
I installed an aluminum housing as well, except I used K5-Pro to thermally bridge the SoC heatsink and battery to the rear housing (Arctic MX-6 between SoC die and heatsink). Replaced the original battery with an extended capacity battery and soldered a hwfly core rp2040 modchip to the Tegra SoC. Set up Hekate and Atmosphere with some other packages such as sys-clk so that I could overclock the switch. Joycons also got aluminum shells and extended capacity batteries, plus hall effect thumbsticks and LED button mods. The results are pretty great I must say. Soldering the mod chip to the SMDs on the SoC was a little nerve racking because of the scale of it (extremely tiny. Limited visibility even with good lighting and magnification.), but it was doable and the results were worth it. I chose the silver aluminum shells instead of one of the anodized colors because I wanted it to be immediately visually obvious that the Switch was metal. It was a fun project and it turned out really cool.
One of the Nyko metal kickstand replacements would look great on this. I have one on my Switch and have wanted an all aluminum Switch ever since.
thanks never knew that existed but when I watched the video I was thinking what about the kick stand
too bad the top and bottom are still black tho
I wonder how much it is for the kick stand, metal back and metal joycon housings alltogether
@@andreamitchell4758 Idk where you can buy them now. But I got mine from Gamestop shortly after the Switch launch for about $15. They come in a bare metal or black finish.
You always manage to get the best looking thumbnails!
Thank you 😁
In other tutorials I have seen, MUCH more thermal compound was used and they reported that the back got very hot. And they added thermal compound under the heatpipe, over the heatpipe, then again between the shield and the backplate. Also, they did a max overclock. They said Nintendo underclocked these tegra chips because of the thermals inside the plastic.
I would have liked to see matching aluminum kick stand, and screws that matched the finish of the switch, but looks awesome otherwise.
Can't seem to find aluminum backplates for the switch anywhere currently. How much was the backplate when it was in stock on amazon?
multimeters come with a thermometer wire. its a very thin wire used to measure temperatures in electronics. you can remove the backplate, place the wire on the area you want to measure and close the backplate with the wire still inside and proceed to take measurements with the multimeter.
Nice, I wonder if I can buy one fore my fluke multimeter 🤔
Thanks Tito! Any idea where I can get these backplates now? Amazon is sold out of most of them and I can’t find them for sale anywhere else. Thanks
Duuuuude, I've been waiting for something like this! I hope Boxy Pixel releases a less expensive version.
I also was really hoping boxy pixel would make one
It always confuses me how the metal shell doesn't short everything on the PCB
@@ellaquin simple, it doesn’t touch anything, plus in the video you can see it has what looks to be a heat shield which is probably grounded anyways
Boxy pixel less expensive in the same sentence doesn’t make sense
@@JoeyV104imagain a frosted glass nintendo switch, with RGB lights that can illuminate it
Your best bet would be to open it up, remove the copper sticker and mount the heatpipe to the chip properly with better paste, if you pop off the random shield and use a thermal pad on the VRAM then put it back. Do what you already did with the pads, but use the overclocking homebrew, even if you don't OC it, it gives you access to the SoC internal sensors so you can get direct chip readings.
Do the shells on the Amazon link have the Nintendo Switch engravings like in your video?
The Amazon listing shows them with an empty back.
I’m confused with the links.
One says front shell and the other back shell but both links are for front shell??
Also did he buy just the same single thermal pad and just cut it? and what size is the bigger one? would this be fine just to put on my oem shell or pointless? I know there wasn’t a huge difference in temps but i still want to do it so it transfers the heat a little better.
Does this affect the connection of controllers or wireless connections? Also just how safe is the case? Id be worried about a static shock shorting something isn't aluminum a conductor? Very cool looking best case I have seen for the switch, really like it.
Is there another link where you can purchase 1? I don’t see it on their website.
Another thing you could test for are games where you get a lot of framerate drops and stuff like that. Some areas in Breath of the Wild (like that one forest) always made the game run poorly. You can see if the thermals help smooth that out.
It might be better to use the frames as a reference. If the metallic case dissipate the heat better, it’s likely that the the TEGRA chip would run at higher frequencies and therefore increasing the throughput.
I would solder a thin semi lattice of copper across the inside of the plate that converge at the pad. Pull heat away from the pad faster and into the metal shell and the switch's natural airflow
SO a thing that needs to be talked about with metal mods like this is that you might lose wifi/bluetooth signal at certain angles with the Switch since the antenna's were designed with plastic in mind. So you might lose effective range with your controllers or lose wi-fi signal more often. Not sure how bad it would be with aluminum though.
That is probably the only thing that is keeping me from buying the shell upgrade
Didn't even think about this and blown away. Yeah plastic back stays now. I've always just thought put a hole in back plate around the size of fan over fan area screen it in. Then boom extra ventilation.
Looking to re-shell a well loved gen 1 switch. Any sources for Canada? The USA Amazon store is empty. 🙁
Did you find any sellers ?
No way I am searching for that brand name LOL 😆
I’m excited to see this metal shell Tito!
It’s pretty awesome! I think you’ll like it!
@@MachoNachoProductions it was awesome! I really enjoyed the video. I was surprised how easy the installation was.
Your videos are FANTASTIC! Superb editing and content.
Thank you so much! Glad you are enjoying the videos 😁
This is what I wanted. Great vid idea 👍
Thank you Khamron! Glad you enjoyed it!
Hey Tito, wondering if you had any idea if there was going to be a backplate/front plate set for the OLED released? I know there’s a very slight size difference so I’m sure this OG Switch set wouldn’t work for it.
According to the links, $235 for this? NO WAY! I was very excited for this. :(
Just the rear shell is around $75. I think it you’re right everything all together is pretty pricey 😬
@@MachoNachoProductionsI'll keep an eye out, but that's way too expensive for shells, no matter how nice they are.
That is so sleek! I want one!
The accuracy of an IR thermometer depends on the emissivity of the material you are measuring. Emissivity is always between 0 and 1. Most materials have a high emissivity, ~0.95, but bare metal can have a significantly lower emissivity and depends on the metal, any coating, and the surface finish. An IR thermometer can't read temperatures off uncoated metals with a shiny finish, instead the metal will reflect the heat from the surroundings like a mirror. Despite this you probably are getting accurate results in this case though because anodizing gives aluminum a high emissivity despite having a bright and shiny finish.
Awesome! Thanks for the insight!
I'm so jealous!!!! Like from Spain!!
Suggestions to maximize cooling if you want to take it to an EXTREME:
Remove backplate and RF shield.
Lap smooth the surface of the RF shield that is above the Tegra SOC area. Might want to lap the underside as well.
Replace the original "pink/red goo" thermal paste that goes between the copper heat pipe and the RF shield with a high grade non-electrically-conductive thermal compound.
Reinstall the RF shield.
Apply high grade thermal compound on the lapped area of the RF shield.
Place a copper plate that is the appropriate size/shape/thickness over the thermal compound. The copper plate needs to be lapped smooth on both sides.
Apply thermal compound on the top side of the lapped copper plate.
Take the anodized aluminum backplate and lap smooth the underside area that lines up with the SOC.
Apply the extra thermal pads like you did in that one part of the video (battery, etc)
Install the aluminum backplate.
Check temps.
transgender is a lie
You are the channel I was exactly looking for! Thx for the cool content
Does the metal shell interfere with the wifi and Bluetooth signals?
I haven’t noticed anything, but one thing I haven’t tried yet is playing with the joycons removed. But WiFi and joycons attached work perfectly.
I'm not sure if there was already a comment about this, but FWIW one missing important measurement was the ambient room temperature, more specifically the Switch when it's sleeping/not playing.
Definitely looks cool as hell! I believe there have been tests done that show that OEM RF shield, is just that and RF shield. It doesn’t work as a heat sink or anything like that. So there’s probably not a lot of heat to even transfer to that backplate if it’s not really being transferred to that RF shield. Maybe some newer testing has been done though. Not too sure.
It’s sold out on Amazon. Can’t seem to find anywhere else selling it.
when you tested the temps without any backplate on it ran cooler because the fan had nothing blocking/restricting the airflow for cooling it, if there was a grill over the area over the cooling fan, the switch would run cooler
If you have a softmodded switch you can view the temperature of the Tegra soc, you can also see fan percentage.
Wow that looks great! I was hoping Boxy Pixel would make one, but I think this would make due. Now I just have to pick between black or silver!
There's mods for hacked switch consoles that will display the temperature of the SOC. But the switch has to not only be the old fat model, but it has to be an older version of the old model. I have the mod installed on my switch. After a bunch of testing, I leave my backplate off the switch, as it keeps the SOC about 5c cooler. Also, my switch is only ever played in docked mode, and I have a mini-dock, to allow air to get to the system better....ALSO, I even took the thin aluminum that's covering the motherboard and SOC, and applied thermal paste in the area where it may touch the heatsink that's above the SOC. But I also have an overclocking utility on my switch, that lets me run the CPU and GPU at max speeds, at all times. So most people's switch's won't be as warm as mine, along with the fact that I literally never play it in hand-held mode, I'm 100% fine with the risks of leaving the plastic back-plate off.
Also, reflective metal can't really be used with an IR temp probe. It throws off the results. At the very least, put a piece of black tape over the spot you want to measure.
As for the game, I'd suggest going to the kokiri forest, where you get the Master Sword. That area has a lot of slow-down, and taxes the system. Then, just let it sit there for about 15 minutes ( for every test ), to make sure the temps have stabilized ( with the switch and it's heatsink being so small, 5 minutes might be enough ). And don't touch the system. The heat from your hands could have been warming up the back plate, even if you ignore the " don't use IR on shiny metal without tape " thing.
There may not be enough contact between that thin aluminum plate and the SOC for it to then transfer any meaningful amount of heat to the thermal pad, and then to the back-plate, which is also why I suggest you not touch the system with your hands.
I'd love to test this myself, but it looks like all the shells are sold-out. Hopefully they will come back in stock soon, and I can order one. I've been wanting a metal shell for the switch for a long time, and would look for them every once in a while. Once I get one, I'm definitely going to use he mod that lets you read the temps of the thermocouple built into the switch, and compare how the temps are with the plastic cover, Metal cover, and no cover, all with a thermal pad in-between, just as you did.
Awesome! Thank you so much for the very insightful response! Very much appreciated! I do have an old model switch, pretty close to launch (about a month after). Again appreciate the info 😁
Yeah this is by far the easiest way to check temps, using Tesla sysinfo overlay. Think some digital foundry switch overclocking videos even showed it off.
@@MachoNachoProductions Oh yeah, That switch will be old enough to run hacked firmware on it. Depending on what firmware you have on it, you may be able to run custom firmware, and then use the Tesla Sysinfo overlay.
@@FoxbatStargazer Thanks for naming the program that reads the temps. I haven't played my switch in a while, and forgot the name of it.
wow! this is much more cooler than the OLED white version.
Why didn't they make the kick stand aluminium?
guessing the copper heat pipe takes most of the heat away before it gets to the backplate.
regardless off what back you have on.
The real question now is if they will ever restock these on Amazon or anywhere for that matter.
I got mine through AliExpress. It's not cheap, but the quality is at least good. You can get the front plate too, but keep in mind installing that means completely disassembling your switch and rebuilding it into the new frame.
@@nathanfisher1535 Hy there. How long did it take to ship to you? I live in Austria and i´m not sure if i should order it . What about the Quality and the fitting.
Its a stunning look. I try to get my hands on a switch with a broken screen so that i can get a laminated panel and can change the front too. This is really awesome.
That’s a good idea!
Will you do a follow up now knowing about the temperature measurement issue?
Isn't there a sticker on ir thermometers that tell you about reflective surfaces? Maybe the manual?
Hi, thermodynamics guy here. The aluminum panel should dissipate heat more, and that means the direct area would be higher temperature than the plastic, but that temperature would spread very quickly to the surrounding area, so a reading of the surrounding area is what you wanted, as it should be higher. Also of note, you had no temp pad between the heat sink and the plastic backing. Everything needs to be equal to compare.
Thank you for the insight! 😁
That looks very cool! If you end of getting the front metal face plate, do a quick video on that as well.
Inferred temperature readers are not accurate I work in the hvac field I would have used a thermal camera. I had to replace my joycon rails because they where worn out and would not let one of them connect or charge why I had it opened I replaced the thermal paste with artic Mx-6 and I was mad cause I wanted to use my thermal camera on it before and after to see if there was any difference in temps. I want to get the metal back for my switch that’s about 3 years old and I will film the temperature tests. I also use a temp probe that I can put inside the switch to watch the temps over time
I love this channel!
my first thought was: okay would it run cooler.. but then i was thinking: wouldn't the metal heat up the whole body of the switch? in handheld it would be warm to the touch maybe but what about docked mode? wouldn't it be somewhat hotter?
Aluminium housing for the dock would complement this setup. 💎
I hope that the N3DSXL will get one of these eventually, or at least some high quality aftermarket plastic shells
The emissivity (think of it like shiny metal reflecting light, most metals reflect some IR) of the metal makes it harder to get an accurate reading. The back should be hotter. Put a piece of black tape on the back and then measure it's, that should be more accurate. But realistically you're trying to transfer heat through the heat shield through the cooling solution through the SOC. Is it helping? Yeah probably a little bit. Does it make any sort of different? Probably not. It most likely doesn't hurt, so leave it in. I've done similar things with laptops before, it doesn't make a huge difference but every little bit helps.
Thanks for the video, this was awesome to see!
It would be interesting to see connectivity tests with a full aluminum shell, so we can see how it affects Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections.
Personally, I think I could sacrifice wireless for something like this...
It would be cool to have wireless charging on the switch, unfortunately, the metal shell prevents wireless charging. (I'm looking at you Google Pixel 5...)
I will definitely plan to do that!
Damn that be lookin’ good. I’m definitely ordering me some for my switch’s. Hopefully they’ll make a switch lite one!
Try to test it in doc mode during playing Zelda BOTH and apex legends, better if you use doc + charging mode. Switch normally gets less hot when normally playing without charging or doc. So there is no significant changes that time and the effect of atmosphere is also considerable. Better if you test it in a room where no air conditioner is working or no fan. And as the heat spreads the whole area it takes a very little time for a metal to dissipate heat.
I’m glad that I came to this video early enough for the product not to be sold out 😂
Nice! I hope you’re able to grab one! They’re very cool 😁
I was wondering, can we remove the shield and adding thermal pads directly from the Cooler and RAM to the aluminium back cover be better? I assume multiple layers of heat transfer is less efficient.
Are there any replacement shells for the nds lite or 3ds? ive been looking for some high quality shells to replace my consoles with because they are using crappy aftermarket shells
This thing looks super cool
if you plan to do more thermal testing of various devices, I would suggest a CAT S60 phone. You can find them on used on auction sites for decent prices, and it includes a thermal camera.
Lowkey REALLY makes me want a alluminum N2DSXL, maybe with a nice upgrade kit for the speakers.
I have the Boxy Pixel joycons and just got the OLED switch. I really want a variant of this backplate, and potentially frontplate for the OLED.
Where to get this from? Cant find any source at all
Are there any mods to fix the crappy connection for the joycons to the side of the console. My joycons are always losing their electrical connection to the switch. I've already replaced the plastic button mechanism and that locks up tight. The joycon connection is just intermittent.
There could be some dust/link accumulating there. I know that can become an issue sometimes.
Hope to see one last video with total metal switch, also the support tap need to be metal it doesn't look natural.
Is there any metal case for 3ds or 2ds?
Is the back plates no longer available? the listings don't have a purchase option.
Does the kickstand seem like it will hold up to supporting a metal shell? That's my only concern at this point because the stand always seemed kinda flimsy to me.
I think the aluminum front shell appeals to me more for functionality based on what I've heard about the plastic becoming brittle with time and heat
Hello Tito, first of all thank you so much for your amazing work and content in the retro gaming community. Really like your channel. This was probably already mentioned by other viewers but here's my two cents: I think you should use an infrared camera to compare temperature and how the heat is spread across both shells. I'd advise you to paint the shells with non reflective paint, so that the results are comparable. It can be tricky to set up the emissivity parameters but some cameras have pre-defined parameters. One other thing to keep in mind is that the Nintendo switch has a fan which controls the air flow, so comparing temperature should also be compared with fan (air) speed to compare apples with apples. Hope to see more content related to this topic, keep up the good work!!
Thank you so much for the suggestions! They are very helpful! I will def look into getting a thermal camera 😁
Is there still a joycon "wiggle" if you the backplate and joycons changed to aluminum?
Question to the people saying "not to temp on reflective surfaces". Wouldnt the read be more likely to register a higher temp if thats the case? And if that is indeed happening, is it possible the case is effectively transferring heat and that the spot temp could actually be much lower? Curious.
I will never get over your intro
Would like to see a FLIR image of the temperatures before and after the mod. Love the idea of the fully metal switch but out in the sun or hot weather would put a damper on performance as the heat around the switch would warm up the components and your hands while in portable mode.
I can measure temps directly from the Soc on the switch so if the shell was available still i could test it out.
I can say that with my switch docked and overclocked at 17850/921Mhz it doesn't go above 62°C playing Xenoblade. Switch has no problem staying cool until the thermal paste underneath the Shield plate and CPU cooler dries up.
Its max temp is 80°C and it starts to throttle at 81-82°C
For the best emp measuring you should probably use sys-monitor or whatever it’s called if it can run homebrew
Ohh jeeeeee, I will receive my switch over the post literally tomorrow. And now all I can think about is suit it up into nice \m/etal shell
Nice!
Taking the temperature of the screen would be a better indicator of cooling (as the aluminium rear frame of the LCD will be soaking less heat if more heat is being soaked by the back cover. Fan noise would also be a good measurement as less fan noise means the cooling is better.
Awesome! Makes sense! Thanks for the tips 😁
a con might be the weight since a plastic switch is heavy enough to give my wrists fatigue when playing
great video ..love the look of ur switch
Thank you! I’m so happy with the results 😁
The best way to conduct the heat test is to mod your switch ,install CFW and run a homebrew to overclock it
those homebrew apps also show you internal temps
A metal one for the newer switch coming out would be dope!
Nice! How about the bezel? Can that one also be swapped?
If im not mistaken, I think if you hack the switch there is software that tracks heat Temps and stuff like you can do with a pc.
Is it possible you can make an aluminum shell for the NDS phat or the NDS lite?
Hello, Tito, there is a recent video from Gamers Nexus on the PS5 thermals that is a masterclass on how to measure temperature on consoles
The only good way to measure would be via thermocouple.
Awesome! I will definitely check that out!
I like this. it's an easy mod to do. Just need thermal paste or pads and you're good. Thermal camera and external sensors won't tell us much. The best thing you can do is thermal coupling. Gamers Nexus just did a video on the PS5 explaining why these tests aren't conclusive regarding Austin Evans tests.
Awesome, but it just kill wireless signals lol. I wonder if they could be mounted externally
That’s very clean. Neat
Glad you like it!
it will work but how well is the caveat
more thermal mass will pull more heat from the system but without anyway to throw away that heat your just delaying the outcome
this might make a switch stay cool internally for say a few more hours but then when the case can soak any more heat with minimal being transfered to the enviroment it will resume thermal throttling and your left with a ripping hot case which in addition to extending the heat up time now has a extended cooldown time
Are there apps for the switch to test for thermal throttling? That's one way to know if the chip is really getting cooled
A thermal camera would be the best thing you could do to make the test more accurate
Hey they make metal kickstands as well would match fine and it even has a storage area for 2 sd cards
Will they make a design like this for the switch OLED. I would love to see something like that.