00:00Hashtag A4988 vs TMC2209, which stepper driver is quieter?
00:06If your printer sounds like a small robot arguing with itself, the stepper driver is the reason
00:11and I went through the current listings to find where the actually good deals are.
00:15We're talking A4988 vs TMC2209, which one is quieter, and what each board costs you today.
00:22Links for everything are down below.
00:25Starting with the budget classic, the stepstick that combines an A4988 and DRV8825 with a
00:31heatsink, and it fits SKR version 1.3 and version 1.4, GTR version 1.0, ramps 1.4 and
00:381.6,
00:39plus MKS Gen version 1.4 boards.
00:4275 cents.
00:44Over 4,500 sold, which tells you how many machines are running on this thing right now.
00:50It won't be silent, but it is the cheapest way to keep a stepper alive,
00:54and the included heatsink is a nice touch for long prints.
00:57Next is the one that actually changes how a machine sounds, the TMC2208 stepstick.
01:04This is the quiet one, with the spread cycle and stealth chop style micro-stepping that turns
01:08a whining A4988 into something you'd barely hear over the fans.
01:12Drop in footprint for A4988 and DRV8825 slots, and it works with SKY version 1.2 boards.
01:20$1.58, rating just under 5, and it's the sweet spot if you're swapping drivers on a board that
01:25only has room for one module. Now the standard stepstick A4988 with the DRV8825 option and a
01:33heatsink, 98 cents, nearly 4,400 units sold. This is the no-name, do-the-job version, and it lands
01:40in
01:40a lot of kits for a reason, the pins line up, the headers are already there, and you don't have
01:44to
01:44think about it. If you're building a machine from scratch and not chasing silence, this is the
01:50sensible pick that leaves your budget for filament. Then there's the fancy one, BigTreeTech TMC2130
01:56version 3.0 on SPI. This one talks to your board over SPI instead of UART, so the board configures
02:04it directly, meaning real closed-loop style control, higher current, and stall guard for detecting jams
02:09before you crash into them. It's silent, it fits SKR 2 and 3, SKR version 1.4, and Octopus version
02:161.1
02:17boards. $6.52, and a perfect 5 rating. You pay for a smarter communication protocol and you get it.
02:26Skipped, TMC2209 pricing comparison table add when script needs hard numbers on the board side.
