NovaStar XA50 Pro: Cabinet Heat Design Checklist

Hampus Niskala |27/10, 2026

NovaStar's 5G receiving cards do a lot more work than a classic 1G card. The XA50 Pro handles a 5 Gbit/s link and up to 512 × 1024 pixels, and that means more heat in a smaller space. For LED cabinet designers and service teams, cooling isn't optional: it has to be part of the cabinet design. This checklist sums up NovaStar's guidelines.

Where the heat comes from

Component	Power (at 25 °C ambient)	Max chip temperature	How it's cooled
FPGA (main processor)	5 W	85 °C	Thermal pad to an aluminium plate or the cabinet shell
PHY (5G network chip, on the HUB board)	2.5 W	85 °C	Contact with the shell plus its own aluminium heat-sink fin
SDRAM	0.5 W	85 °C	Cooled together with the receiving card

Remember that the air inside a closed cabinet is always warmer than the room. A card that's fine on the bench can overheat inside the cabinet.

Design rules for the cabinet

Aluminium heat-spreading plate: at least 3.0 mm thick and larger than 250 × 250 mm. If the cabinet itself is thick, large aluminium, it can do this job and a separate plate may not be needed.
Thermal pad: design for a gap of 1.5–3 mm between chip and plate. Thinner pads conduct heat better.
PHY heat-sink fin: sized to the PHY chip, with matching screw holes on the HUB board.
Orientation: mount the card so the FPGA side faces the cabinet's cooling surface. Check the DDR connector orientation on the HUB board.

What happens if cooling fails

If the heat path is broken, the chips pass 85 °C quickly. With thermal parts missing, they can go above 90 °C and be permanently damaged. Before that, the card's protection may kick in and the screen can show abnormal images.

Service and part replacement

Refit every thermal pad and heat-sink block after replacing a card or HUB board.
Never let the FPGA touch bare metal. Always use thermal interface material in between.
Never power on a cabinet without its thermal parts in place, not even for a quick test.
Check the card orientation before closing the cabinet.

Pre-power-on checklist

Thermal pads in the right places and in full contact
Aluminium plate and PHY fin firmly fixed
Heat path continuous all the way to the cabinet shell
Card orientation correct
After power-on: watch the card and cabinet temperatures in operation

Designing a new 5G cabinet? NovaStar can review the cooling design if you provide the cooling method and the expected internal and ambient temperatures. Contact us and we'll help you get in touch.

Building with NovaStar 5G

A 5G system needs more than the receiving card: a 5G controller such as the CX40 Pro, or 5G fiber converters like the CVT8-5GS, and the right cable. Read our guide to cabling for NovaStar 5G.

Pixel Pitchers ships NovaStar from Sweden: order in-stock items by 14:00 CET for same-day UPS Express, with delivery in 1–2 days across the EU and no import duties.

Source: NovaStar COEX Wiki, 5G Receiving Card (XA50 Pro) Heat Dissipation & Part-Replacement Guidelines.