Tualatin build cooling (P3+Voodoo3) \ VOGONS

Tualatin build cooling (P3+Voodoo3)

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First post, by wbahnassi

Posted on 2025-10-08, 02:52

wbahnassi Offline

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Hello guys, I got me a nice ATX case that used to house a Pentium II Slot 1 mobo. I wanted to replace this with another mobo I have that holds a P3 1.2Ghz Tualatin CPU on it (socket 370). Unfortunately, the Tualatin heatsink/fan cooler I have (ThermalTake Volcano 7) came too high to fit in the ATX case (the PSU is located over that area).

I've replaced the cooler with one of those puny Intel aluminum heatsink/fan coolers, but the result is not cool (pun intended). With the TT cooler, the CPU temps remained in the 30 degrees Celsius range. Now it's reaching 50 degrees after some moderate Win2K usage.. so I'm looking for advice on low-profile coolers suitable for Tualatin 1.2Ghz (not Celeron).. or if delidding would be a good idea here?

I also have a Voodoo 3 2000 installed on the mobo, and for that, I added a small fan over the GPU's heatsink, and also installed a big fan on the case's front to bring in cool air into the case. Hopefully this would help a little with the toasty voltage regulator on the card, and keep the entire inner space of the case forcing the flow of fresh air.

Turbo XT 12MHz, 8-bit VGA, Dual 360K drives
Intel 386 DX-33, Speedstar 24X, SB 1.5, 1x CD
Intel 486 DX2-66, CL5428 VLB, SBPro 2, 2x CD
Intel Pentium 90, Matrox Millenium 2, SB16, 4x CD
HP Z400, Xeon 3.46GHz, YMF-744, Voodoo3, RTX2080Ti

Reply 1 of 5, by Paadam

Posted on 2025-10-08, 03:58

Paadam Offline

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You could replace fan on the TT with thinner version maybe?

Many 3Dfx and Pentium III-S stuff.
My amibay FS thread: www.amibay.com/showthread.php?88030-Man ... -370-dual)

Reply 2 of 5, by RetroPCCupboard

Posted on 2025-10-08, 04:02

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I havent tried it, but I have been looking at getting this one:

https://www.startech.com/en-gb/computer-parts … P4-sgvSxNk28mxy

I have read that the fan is noisy, so expect to replace it with a Noctua or similar. Just want it for the copper material and dense fin structure.

It does say that its for CPUs up to 1ghz, so maybe it isnt good enough for your usecase

BTW, could please let me know what software you use to check CPU temp.

Reply 3 of 5, by wbahnassi

Posted on 2025-10-08, 04:24

wbahnassi Offline

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Paadam wrote on 2025-10-08, 03:58:

You could replace fan on the TT with thinner version maybe?

This fan is the normal front-side case fan size. But I feel even if I find a fan half of this thickness, it won't be enough. It will have very little clearance between it and the PSU. It's the heatsink that is really quite high.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-10-08, 04:02:
I havent tried it, but I have been looking at getting this one: […]
Show full quote
I havent tried it, but I have been looking at getting this one:

https://www.startech.com/en-gb/computer-parts … P4-sgvSxNk28mxy

I have read that the fan is noisy, so expect to replace it with a Noctua or similar. Just want it for the copper material and dense fin structure.

It does say that its for CPUs up to 1ghz, so maybe it isnt good enough for your usecase

BTW, could please let me know what software you use to check CPU temp.

It's an interesting cooler. Definitely the heatsink is better than the puny Intel one I have currently.. Perhaps this with delidding could be enough?

For temperature measurement, I just go to the Health Monitor in the BIOS and check the numbers. It shows the CPU temperature and fan speeds and voltages. It's not as convenient as a realtime program that runs in Windows... but at least it seems trust-worthy.

Reply 4 of 5, by Ozzuneoj

Posted on 2025-10-08, 05:06

Ozzuneoj Offline

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If the case requires the PSU to be mounted sideways so that it covers the CPU cooler, it is possible that the PSU fan is actually fighting the CPU fan and creating heat issues that way. A PSU will almost always exhaust air out of the case, and a CPU fan blows down toward the CPU. If they are near each other, airflow will suffer quite a bit.

It kind of stinks that the fan on the intel cooler cannot be flipped around. Still, whichever cooler you end up using, you may get better temps by flipping the CPU fan around so that it is blowing out away from the cooler. Normally you wouldn't want to run one this way, but if there is an intake fan on the computer then you may get better airflow and lower temps with the PSU pulling all of the heat directly out of the case. A lot of OEM systems were actually built this way with a duct and an otherwise passively cooled Pentium II\III. It's worth a shot at least and costs nothing to do.

Also, it is worth mentioning that CPUs from this era don't change temperature quite as much under load as later chips, so if it's 50C in Windows it may still be fine under a gaming load. I don't think delidding would be helpful at all unless you are trying for extreme overclocking and are planning to use a different case with support for larger coolers.

EDIT: Alternatively, if there's a small gap between the PSU and the side panel you may be able to flip the PSU around as well so that it is at least not fighting against the CPU fan.