Extra cooling for hotter ICs

[RickNel]

Running some tests over a few hours with the IIsi case open, I found that the CPU and the two LSI system chips seemed to get steadily warmer, quite hot to touch after about 4 hours. In principle. cooler chips should give better performance and live longer.

I'm thinking about sticking some little generic finny heatsinks on the top if the chips with thermal paste, to help heat dissipation.

Is this a good idea or not? What experience have people had?

Rick

 

[Byrd]

If the parts haven't died now, chances are they're not going anytime soon But if concerned, some cheap stick on heatsinks wouldn't hurt. Adhesive thermal paste is good, but hard to remove if you ever need to. I find covering the heatsink in a thin layer of normal heatsink goop, wiping away a two of the corners slightly and dabbing a tiny bit of superglue makes them stick on well and they can be removed with a small amount of force if the need arises.

 

[tecneeq]

Those cool down my DSL router, which had the tendency to crash in the summer.

http://dx.com/p/aluminum-cooler-heat-sink-chipset-for-ram-memory-w-type-8-piece-set-35816

Can't beat the price, since it includes shipping. I have ordered many small parts there over the years, without problems.

 

[RickNel]

Thanks - good info

 

[uniserver]

I added a couple on my OC'd IIsi, it helps.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19375

 

[RickNel]

Looking to source suitable heatsinks, I found these ones with their own thermal adhesive tape. Tape shouldn't be hard to remove, if required, with normal cleaning solvent.

For $2 including postage, hard to go wrong! Since my IIsi has been running for >20years without them, it can wait a few more weeks till they arrive from China.

Also looked at your mod with heatsinks, Uniserver. Can you still fit a NuBus card over the top of those? I'm not overclocking (yet) so I'm thinking I'll go for low-profile heatsinks about the height of the RAM sticks.

Rick

 

[uniserver]

Can you still fit a NuBus card over the top of those?

yes.

 

[CelGen]

I harvested a pile of 1x1cm sticky-backed heatsinks off a pile of telco gear a while back. Keep them ona sheet of wax paper. Really handy for when you need to headsink something and all you gotta do is drop one of these on the part.

 

[tecneeq]

The tape on the ones i received from dx.com is made by 3M and once you stick it on, it better was the right position. I wonder if it's generic tape or something special with better heat conduction property.

dx.com also has heatsinks made of copper, for a higher price of course. Might be interesting when you need to conduct heat away at a faster rate.

BTW, the ebay link says in the fineprint, they don't ship to Germany, UK, USA and other failed nations like Lybia, Kazakhstan and Liberia. :lol: