Hardware Dockable cases and thermals

[Rahkeesh]

So I'm thinking about getting the Mumba blade grip case, which just barely fits into an official dock. Skull n' Co's case is also similar. These cases are known to be a tight enough fit in the official dock that you have to push them down with some force to make the USB-C connect. My main concern is whether the official dock is designed so that the space between the Switch and sides is important for dissipating heat, because these cases will pretty much remove that space. The Switch already gets hot to the touch when pulled out of a dock after a play session, especially with some mild overclocking. I know you can get more open 3rd party docks or reshell an official, but I'd like to know whether my concern is legit in the first place before going through those troubles. Any experience with these style cases or expert opinion is welcome.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

So I'm thinking about getting the Mumba blade grip case, which just barely fits into an official dock. Skull n' Co's case is also similar. These cases are known to be a tight enough fit in the official dock that you have to push them down with some force to make the USB-C connect. My main concern is whether the official dock is designed so that the space between the Switch and sides is important for dissipating heat, because these cases will pretty much remove that space. The Switch already gets hot to the touch when pulled out of a dock after a play session, especially with some mild overclocking. I know you can get more open 3rd party docks or reshell an official, but I'd like to know whether my concern is legit in the first place before going through those troubles. Any experience with these style cases or expert opinion is welcome.

I have the Skull n Co Gripcase and it's too tight of a fit for me to be comfortable docking it with the case on. Might be a bit tighter because I have a glass screen protector on. But if I didn't, there would be a high chance of the dock scratching up my Switch screen badly, since that's already a risk without the extra thickness.
I tried it a couple of times though, and while it got warm, it's hard to tell if it got any warmer than normal.

The case does act as an insulator though, any case does. It's pretty certain that it will have some effect on thermals, even if it's only like 1-2C.
You can tell when you use any device that gets warm and has a case on, that if you take the case off it feels warmer underneath. That means the case is insulating the heat and preventing it from escaping as effectively.

The difference can be pretty big with glass-backed phones, as glass is a very good conductor of heat. The Switch is all plastic though, so the difference will be much smaller. Whether it's big enough to be a cause for concern is hard to tell unless you have temperature probes you can shove into the dock and the Switch's cooling vent.

I feel much safer using the GripCase with their JumpGate dock. It doesn't cover up the sides, so even though the case itself adds some insulation, you don't have the dock adding even more insulation.
I haven't really been using the official dock much since I got the JumpGate.

I also modded my official dock with this 3D printed part:
Which does help a little, just not sure how much.
And i have this fan for my dock which should help a little as well, and looks almost seamless fitted to the dock: https://www.ebay.com/itm/External-C...264438?hash=item46a35987f6:g:o4MAAOSwjONd5dkB
So there are things you can do to improve the dock cooling if you're worried about that.

 

[Rahkeesh]

Thanks for your input on the Skull m Co. Great insight.

Looking more closely at the Mumba blade case, it appears that the thickest part in the dockable space is the rubber surrounding the bottom intake vents. This means that there should be some actual space between most of the Switch body and dock, although trapping heat behind the plastic could be an issue. The bigger problem though is that this seems to imply that the rubber surrounding the intake vents pushed against the plastic dock will form a kind of light seal that might inhibit air intake. Maybe the fans just have to work a bit harder and its fine, its probably not an airtight seal, but its enough to put me off from the idea, especially with overclocking in the mix.

I guess the takeaway is that whatever alternative dock or case combo you are looking into, remember that intake vents are on the lower back of the unit, so make sure those don't end up suffocated. This is probably the most important thermal function of the free space in the official dock.

Edit: I'm kind of dumb, the official dock has a hole in it around where the intake vents are, which leads to the cable space behind the backplate. So if you do line up the vents, which you need to do to dock, then they should be able to pull air from the outside. This also helps explain why the fit is so difficult towards the bottm, as these cutouts are slightly raised off the back of the docking interior, along with three padded strips that support the Switch. If anything its unofficial docks you need to watch out here, for example while the Insignia dock is more open on the sides and upper back, it is lacking these vent cutouts.