I recently set up a Raspberry Pi 4 to act as a mini smart home controller. It was running fine with just a fan and case, but when I added a 7-inch touchscreen display on top, I noticed it started getting really hot, even though the fan is still running. I measured the temperature with the built-in sensors, and it’s hitting close to 80°C after about 30 minutes of use, which seems too high for comfort. I’ve tried increasing the fan speed and even removing the case’s top cover to improve airflow, but the temps only dropped a little. Has anyone experienced overheating when adding a touchscreen to their Pi? Is it normal for the extra hardware to cause that much heat, or could I have missed a cooling step? Would adding a heat sink or switching to a different case design help significantly, or is this just a limitation of the Pi and touchscreen combo?

On 01/27/2026 at 7:20 PM, TechWhiz42 said:

I recently set up a Raspberry Pi 4 to act as a mini smart home controller. It was running fine with just a fan and case, but when I added a 7-inch touchscreen display on top, I noticed it started getting really hot, even though the fan is still running. I measured the temperature with the built-in sensors, and it’s hitting close to 80°C after about 30 minutes of use, which seems too high for comfort. I’ve tried increasing the fan speed and even removing the case’s top cover to improve airflow, but the temps only dropped a little. Has anyone experienced overheating when adding a touchscreen to their Pi? Is it normal for the extra hardware to cause that much heat, or could I have missed a cooling step? Would adding a heat sink or switching to a different case design help significantly, or is this just a limitation of the Pi and touchscreen combo?

Yeah, adding that 7-inch touchscreen definitely adds some extra heat load, especially since it sits right on top of the Pi and can trap heat. I had a similar setup and found that just upping the fan speed wasn’t enough. Installing a good quality heat sink on the CPU and the main chips made a noticeable difference. Also, some folks swap out the case for one with better ventilation or even a small active cooling setup with a fan blowing directly on the screen’s back.

One thing to consider is that the touchscreen’s power draw can cause the Pi’s voltage regulator to heat up too, so better cooling around that area helps. If you haven’t already, you might want to check if the touchscreen firmware or Pi’s config can reduce brightness or power usage, which can also lower temps a bit. Otherwise, 80°C isn’t catastrophic but definitely on the warm side for long-term use.