Here is the Xiaomi Mi 9 of miracles: the genesis of the “refusal” that approaches the current “tops”

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A Xiaomi Mi 9 purchased on the second-hand market for the equivalent of one hundred dollars some applications for settings and overclocking, two additional batteries and a lot of work behind the scenes, especially to design the heat dissipation system that otherwise would have made the smartphone unusable, let alone for the gaming.

It’s the curious DIY project of the YouTube channel Geekerwanwith which a product that for many would have been electronic waste ended up being the protagonist of the technological news, thanks to unthinkable performances and efficiency under stress even greater than a very recent Xiaomi 12 Pro (we reviewed it here).

  • BOOST FOR BATTERY, CPU, GPU AND DISPLAY (75 HZ)
  • 40 MM FAN
  • BENCHMARK AND COMPARISON WITH XIAOMI 12 PRO
  • CAN THERE BE A SIMILAR SMARTPHONE?

ALMOST 10,000MAH OF BATTERY AND 43% FASTER GPU

 

First of all, action was taken on drums, an aspect on which Xiaomi Mi 9 was already sinning at launch and which is perhaps the most inadequate of all today. 3,300 mAh were not many in 2019, at the exit, and they are very few today, especially for the project of a gaming “beast”. So Geekerwan found two more batteries to connect them in parallel, so as to obtain a capacity of 9,900 mAh. For the next step, CPU and GPU overclocking, we did not intervene – obviously – on the hardware but on the software.

There CPU Snapdragon 855 of Xiaomi Mi 9 was forced, by intervening on the kernel, to run constantly at 2.84 GHz of maximum frequency while on GPU Adreno 640 was a real run overclock which brought it to 840 from the “standard” 585 MHz, with a frequency increase of more than 40%. The third software intervention on the hardware concerned the display: Xiaomi Mi 9 has a 6.39-inch Super AMOLED that does not go beyond the “standard” 60 Hz in 2019.

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Through a kernel, Geekerwan has increased the refresh rate to 81 Hz, but the best compromise between stability and color accuracy was reached at 75 Hz. The transformation of Xiaomi Mi 9 at this point could be said to be complete, if only the CPU consistently maxed out, 43% faster GPU and higher display refresh rate all weighed on one thing: heat dissipation.

THE PROBLEM OF HEAT DISSIPATION

Performance and heat, as we know, are enemies, and there is no way to bring peace if not by accepting that one – heat – is a direct consequence of the other – performance. So Geekerwan faced the most complex problem to solve, designing from scratch a dissipation system capable of making ends meet. In its original metal and glass casing, moreover, Xiaomi Mi 9 immediately complained overheating , going into protection.

So we preferred to compromise on the rear cameras, which have been removed, to place one on the SoC 40 mm aluminum fan. But another problem arose, the 5 volt power supply. Smartphone batteries operate at a maximum of 4.2 volts and only when fully charged, then the voltage gradually drops with discharge to 3.5 volts or even lower levels. With a direct connection, therefore, the fan speed would have been a direct consequence of the battery voltage, and in any case, even when fully charged, it would never have turned at maximum.

So a DC-DC converter which supplies 5 volts to the heatsink in order to make it go to the maximum regardless of the state of charge of the batteries. If necessary, why do I go through two physical switches you can turn off the fan or run it at a slower speed. Finally, a rear case was 3D printed that could protect all the new components of the Xiaomi Mi 9 custom and at the same time ensure an adequate flow of fresh air to the heatsink. But seeing as it had to be designed from scratch, Geekerwan structured it to be designed to be hooked up to an Xbox controller.

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IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS AND HIGHER EFFICIENCY THAN XIAOMI 12 PRO

Upon completion of the project, Geekerwan did a few benchmark who have numerically quantified the work done. The Xiaomi Mi 9 from custom gaming showed the 40% increase in terms of GPU on the field, bringing the performance of the Adreno 650 of a Redmi K40 close to 3DMark without the system going to trouble, thanks to the huge fan. Genshin Impact on a standard Xiaomi Mi 9 it runs on average at 39 fps, while on the custom Mi 9 one was held average of 50 fps.

 

Incredible also the average consumption: 6.5 watts measured at 50 fps, against the 6.8 watts consumed by the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 of a very recent Xiaomi 12 Pro in Ultra mode.

Xiaomi MI 9 74.67 x 157.5 x 7.61 mm
6.39 inches – 2340×1080 px
Xiaomi 12 Pro 74.6 x 163.6 x 8.16 mm
6.73 inches – 3200×1440 px

 

CAN THERE BE A XIAOMI ’90 PRO ‘?

Geekerwan’s experiment, besides being interesting, proves how much unused power there is in our smartphones but also there reason so producers don’t exploit it. The smartphones that arrive on the market are the result of compromise choices, of a balance between performance and all the other aspects that must then meet the favor of the public, therefore dimensions, aesthetics and wear of components over time. A smartphone devoted exclusively to performance like the Xiaomi Mi 90 Proas Geekerwan dubbed it, it can only exist as a single piece, in short.

  • Xiaomi MI 9 is available online from Amazon at 369 euros.
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Xiaomi MI 9 is available onto 229 euros. (updated February 27, 2022, 11:47 pm)