Expansion Pack Mod- N64 Overclock Part 2

Okay, first things first. All that is accomplished in this post is the addition of an aluminum heatsink to an N64 Expansion Pack. Why would you want to do this? Well, have you ever had your N64 lockup on you? Have you ever noticed severe slowdown during a 4-player match of Smash Bros? I have, and as it turns out, the memory in the Expansion Pack is to blame. In general, the default Jumper Pack does not have over-heating issues, but the Expansion Pack can. 

So if you use an Expansion Pack, and have had your N64 lock up on you, get laggy without correlation to CPU lag, or if you plan on overclocking your 64, you might want to consider this mod.

I started off with my 3rd party Expansion Pack (EP from now on). I used a 3rd party one because you can disasseble it with a phillips head screw driver. This goes pretty quick.

took the goofy red cover off

The cuts in the metal are from an earlier attempt to cool the EP

Back plate off

first layer of aluminum shielding off

Once the EP is fully dissembled, you need to start considering a few things. First off, how important is it that you are able to easily remove the EP in the future? I wanted to be able to do this, so I decided to keep the EP memory chip attatched to the front half of it's plastic shell so that it could be pried out.

Once again, ignore the little cuts

The heatsink I used is a 40X40mm wide-long, either 10 or 8mm tall, and made of aluminum. They were rated for 1watt LED lightbulbs, whatever that means.

and they came in a pack of 5 for cheap

I then checked to make sure that the heatsink would not contact any plastic while seated on the memory chip.

looks good.

 So then we have to decide how we are going to secure the memory chip to the plastic shell.

since putting the shielding back on won't work.

 I ultimately decided to mount the chip to the shell with the original screws, and to fashion some washers from the old shielding to help hold the chip down. I also decided that the little plastic columns (that the screws get screwed into) would need to be shaved down a little to insure a snug fit.

Because they are currently higher than the chip.

 So I took them out to the workbench and just ground them down a little with my dremel.

Nothing too technical

One thing, I shaved my columns a little more than I should have, and it resulted in a slightly (not too bad) tilted shell that wasn't perfectly parallel to the chip. Didn't create any problems, but I thought I'd let you know.

Pretty obvious what's going on here.

To make the washers, I took the one layer of shielding with the holes in it, and clipped off chunks around the smaller holes (not the holes that the screws originally went through)

Just used wire cutters- not hard to cut.

 With these, I then mounted the chip back into shell, and then bent the extra metal over the edge of the chip for added strength (to keep the metal from folding the other way).

Looked like this.

and then I clipped the inside corners a bit but you don't need to do that.

So, now that I had a way of getting the chip in and out of the N64, I set about properly seating the heatsink. I used Dynex thermal paste I got from BestBuy. Everybody talks like the only thermal paste to buy is Artic Silver 3 or 5, but I wasn't feeling like ordering that online.

Should do just fine.

 So, the only trick to putting on thermal paste is getting an even, smooth coat so that there are no air bubbles between the chip and the heatsink. Air is not very heat conductive so bubbles can cause hot spots on the chip and fry it. Don't be paranoid over it, though. I started with one drop of thermal paste on one side of the chip, and spread it across to the other side.

You don't need much.

Obviously not a perfect coat- still not worried.

 All in all, just remember that this chip used to only have that stupid shielding to conduct heat. Really anything you do should be a drastic improvement, so don't sweat this.

The beauty of this blog (for you anyways) is that you get to learn from my mistakes- you don't have to suffer through them and waste the time I did. With that in mind, I'm skipping my initial attempt to secure the heatsink to the chip, except to say that it involved hair-width copper wire being weaved across the chip and through the molecule sized holes on the side of the chip (not the large ones the plastic goes through). unfortunately, I mounted the heatsink too low (close to the 64), and when I tried to put it in the 64, it was pushed up, ripping my copper weave. So don't do that.

Instead, I ended up using two small nylon zip-ties. I figured that if the EP got hot enough to melt the nylon zip-ties, the heatsink obviously wasn't doing it's job and wouldn't be worth keeping on the chip anyways. You can be creative in how you do this. Just remember that you need to keep the heatsink pressed against the chip pretty solid-like. If you don't, the thermal paste will get hot and the heatsink will slide right off (especially since the EP's chip is vertical when in the 64). Like I said, I used two zip ties attached to each other, going around the whole setup.

boom, done.

 This was much easier, and took less than 5 minutes, as opposed to the hour spent on the failed method. Ultimately, the zip ties worked better, because they are easy to tighten and adjust.

 Also, don't be like me and forget that the plastic from the shell is supposed to go through those holes on the side of the chip. I had to slide my nylon ties around a little to get them to fit on the chip properly.

dur.

I mounted the chip/heatsink combo back into the plastic shell without much problem. Looked like this.

I've seen worse.

 And then it was done. That's it. It obviously isn't as strong without both halves of the shell, so be careful adding/removing it from you N64.

It all fits in there, shockingly.

We now have one overclocked N64 with a modified Expansion Pack.

 Even the old Jumper Pack cover fits on top. Obviously, I wouldn't put it on while playing though, you need to let that heat escape.

AKA: pointless picture.

I put the 64 through it's paces, playing various CPU intensive games in HI-RES mode (Perfect Dark, Sarge's Heroes 2, Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer). Then I did it all again overclocked. Not going to lie, the heatsink got toasty, but that's a good thing. A hot heatsink can only mean that heat is being transferred away from the chip, which is the whole point.

Cooling the heatsink is another issue. I am planning on installing a case fan to cool the 64, but that will be covered in part 3.

I kinda rushed through this post, so if there are any questions, typos, anything, please let me know either by commenting or emailing me at e.dakotalee@gmail.com. And just remember that you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.

Thanks again!