N64 Overclock: Heatsink- Part 4

Okay, first off, I would like to say that not everything goes according to plan. There were several times throughout the course of this mod that I was forced to alter my plan and do something else. I will do my best to explain why I wanted to do certain things, and why not all of them worked. That being said, I did successfully mount a pretty awesome heatsink in the N64, and it works great. So if you are interested in how I did that, keep reading.

Some general points to cover. 

-First, if you plan on using a fan, plan the airflow through the N64. If the fins on the heatsink are going the wrong way, you might not get good enough airflow across the heatsink. So make sure you are going to be able to get air where you want air. It's pretty cramped in the case, so it's worth coming up with a good plan before you buy anything or cut anything.I wanted one piece of heatsink to cover the CPU, RCP and onboard memory. 

-Secondly, I wanted the heatsink to directly contact those chips, but that ended up not being easy (the chips aren't all at the same height). Because I thought I was going to be able to go straight the tops of the chips to the bottom of the case, the piece of heatsink I started with was 60 x 150 x 25 mm, (L,W,H) and made of aluminum. (you can find it here) This ended up being almost too tall. To properly cover tall three chips on the mobo you are going to have cut the heatsink some way, because you can't go straight from the bottom of the memory chip to the CPU without running into the power switch (or your overclocking switches). So I opted to just trace the bottom edge of the original heatsink onto the new one.

Like this.

 Right here (already) I made my first mistake. I decided to drill holes through the heatsink so that I could screw through it into the original heatblocks, which ended up not being possible due to the fins from the heatsink contacting the screws. If you have some magic way to drill through heatsink fins without breaking drill bits (maybe a drill press?) more power to you. I didn't, so the next pictures show me drilling holes that I couldn't use.

At least I put them in the right places.

It *looks* like a good plan.

Before I drilled any holes, I decided to cut the heatsink profile. I decided it only needed to be cut on the one side, and that the other side wouldn't hit anything. To cut it, I used a jigsaw with a metal bit. Historically, I don't get along very well with jigsaws. Additionally, the fins made the cutting super hard. I got the the job done, but it wasn't pretty, and I cut my self a couple times (from holding the aluminum, not the blade). So if you see any blood in the following pictures, don't freak out. Also, obviously, you aren't going to be able to turn the jigsaw blade in solid aluminum, so plan accordingly (aka: straight cuts).

Looking okay so far.

 My jigsaw cut kinda crooked, because the blade may have not been perfectly straight, so I used a dremel to clean the angles up. I suggest having a couple cutting blades and a good grinding bit.

it looks innocent, but it's just waiting to eat 4 hours of your time and one of your fingers

 I spent the majority of the time trimming the heatsink in various places so that it would fit in the case. The basic profile fit, but it contacted several places (mostly on the top half of the case) preventing it from being mounted. I'll try to list all the places to watch out for.


First, the heatsink was hitting the plastic Expansion/Jumper Pack slot, so I actually just cut that off the case (because I knew it wouldn't hit the actual Expansion Pack). Plus, I needed better airflow to the Expansion Pack.

Just like that.

Secondly, because I had my heatsink shifted left (not centered) I had to trim down 4 of the fins on the left. I just made angled cuts, and it fit.

Seen here on the left.

Thirdly, the plastic from the "Reset" button on the 64 hangs down farther than you probably noticed (that button gets ignored most of the time). I had to cut a cubic section out of 4 fins on the right side of the heatsink. You can see this in the previous picture, and will probably notice it in later pictures as well.

Then, I recommend taking a break from cutting aluminum. I took a minute or two to solder in a switch for the case fan. I did this pretty quicky, just clipping the positive wire, stripping it, and then soldering in the switch right there.

Clip

Strip

Switch.

Once again, the heatshrink got hot prematurely (due to proximity to the solder) and was a waste. I then made a corresponding hole in the top of the case (to the left of the power switch), complete with the little counter hole to keep the switch from spinning. 

as seen here

and here.

Back to the heatsink. I mentioned earlier that I had difficulty drilling holes for screws due to the fins. I very much did.

I actually broke this drill bit twice.

As good as the holes looked, due to the fins, my own error, and other factors they were pretty much completely worthless, and didn't even match up very well.

stupid.

So, I came up with a new method for keeping the heat blocks,

pictured here (the big silver squares)

Pressed against the new heatsink. Once again, I'm sure there are many ways to do this, and feel free to do whatever you can do best. I chose to learn a new skill- drill and tap threads into the heatblocks,

with this handy kit

and then run screws through the heatsink into the blocks. This actually worked out pretty well. I was able to put the screws through the heatsink between the fins, and they held very firmly. In the end, it looked like this.

notice the smaller holes.

don't forget to thermal paste between the blocks and the heatsink.

This method worked very well, and added a lot of strength to the setup. Obviously, don't forget to remove the heatblocks from the mobo when drilling into them- wouldn't want to accidentally drill into a chip.

I obviously skipped putting the shielding back on the top half, but I could have easily slipped it in there if I wanted to. Personally, I felt it was unnecessary, would make cleaning harder, and might hinder heat transfer. So I left it off.


 So, just to point out, the only screws holding the heatsink assembly to the mobo are two screws going into metal feet that are soldered into the mobo, on either side of the onboard memory. Not as good as I would have liked, but it was very solid, and offered plenty of pressure against the chips.




With the heatsink mounted, it looked like this.

cool, but messy

 I cleaned and thermal pasted everything, and then made sure the case fit on (it did). So, here are some more shots of the final product.

close fit against the Expansion Pack

finally justified the transparent case.

Why weren't they shipped this way?

 So, the final (final) step of my N64 project is mounting the case fan. I'll admit, it's already pseudo mounted, but I want to clean it up a bit before doing a post on it. So, hold tight, and it will probably be posted by the end of the week.


One last thought, save any pieces of the case that you cut off or don't use. You may want to convert those pieces to ABS plastic cement using Acetone, but I'll cover that later. For now, don't throw away any plastic you cut off the case.