Using a fan is better.. that way you don't need to worry about removing the heatsinks later without causing damage

All of this is preventive maintenance rather then necessity so there isn't a "correct" answer.
Personally I just have a fan pointing at my V2's but if you already have the heatsinks I'd just go with them, add one to the RAMDAC if it makes you sleep better at night as it wont hurt.

This is what I did for cooling both Voodoo 2 and Fire GL 1000 Pro in my 200Mhz MMX build.
Cheap chinese fan holder
92mm Zephyr Silentium fans powered via 7V mod to reduce rpm
Cards rearranged to allow decent space in between them
There is maybe 1-1,5cm clearance btw the fan intakes and metal sheet cover of the AT case
Should work fine

assasincz wrote:

This is what I did for cooling both Voodoo 2 and Fire GL 1000 Pro in my 200Mhz MMX build. Cheap chinese fan holder 92mm Zephyr S […]
Show full quote

This is what I did for cooling both Voodoo 2 and Fire GL 1000 Pro in my 200Mhz MMX build.
Cheap chinese fan holder
92mm Zephyr Silentium fans powered via 7V mod to reduce rpm
Cards rearranged to allow decent space in between them
There is maybe 1-1,5cm clearance btw the fan intakes and metal sheet cover of the AT case
Should work fine

024.jpg

I would like to do this too, do you leave the side panel off when your PC is running? or does your case have side holes for intake?

I suppose if the case does not have side holes, it would still pull air from any open holes around the case, most likely back and front.

I have just a noctua fan blowing to between SLI cards and the chips dont even get too hot to touch anymore even without any heatsinks on the chips. They were very hot before I installed the fan.

I had overheating problems running a V2 in conjunction with a P3. The card would crap out after a few minutes of play. I solved the problem by mounting a fan in the case blowing cold air onto the video cards. I also underclocked the V2 in software.

svfn wrote:

assasincz wrote:

This is what I did for cooling both Voodoo 2 and Fire GL 1000 Pro in my 200Mhz MMX build. Cheap chinese fan holder 92mm Zephyr S […]
Show full quote

This is what I did for cooling both Voodoo 2 and Fire GL 1000 Pro in my 200Mhz MMX build.
Cheap chinese fan holder
92mm Zephyr Silentium fans powered via 7V mod to reduce rpm
Cards rearranged to allow decent space in between them
There is maybe 1-1,5cm clearance btw the fan intakes and metal sheet cover of the AT case
Should work fine

024.jpg

I would like to do this too, do you leave the side panel off when your PC is running? or does your case have side holes for intake?

I suppose if the case does not have side holes, it would still pull air from any open holes around the case, most likely back and front.

No the case is closed during use, there is ca 1cm clearance so it just stirs the air that is inside the case anyways...I would hate to deserate my lovely AT case with sidevents though...

Yeah I am reluctant to alter my V2 with heatsinks or replace it on the V3. Currently running with side panel open but I will add a side case fan via PCI bracket later, in addition to front intake fan, there's no mount for exhaust on my old cases, hopefully that's enough to cool it. Pretty impressive that most cards back then run without active cooling in OEM desktops that are cramped and only relying on PSU fan 😲

Would heatsinks only go on the 3DFx Chips or on all the RAM chips as well?

I would just put a fan to blow on the card(s) if possible, you will probably find out that it is more effective in terms of cooling and don't need to glue anything to the chips. If you still want to use heatsinks, just get those that come with double sided thermal tape (and are appropriately sized of course) and stick one on each 3DFX chip... I wouldn't bother with the memory chips.

Thanks again..

I am setting up two small fans to be placed on top of the cards. I have the fans connected together and a Y cable for the connections to the MOBO, but am trying to figure out the best way to attach the fans on top of the cards so they stay there.

Smack2k wrote:

Thanks again..

I am setting up two small fans to be placed on top of the cards. I have the fans connected together and a Y cable for the connections to the MOBO, but am trying to figure out the best way to attach the fans on top of the cards so they stay there.

I'm not so sure I understand where you are planning to put those fans. The fan holder mentioned above is an excellent option if you want to put them on the side.

I ended up making a mount for the two fans to sit on top of the Voodoo2 Cards. The final look is similar to the photos above with the fan holder..

Next step is better cable management in the system....its a p3 machine, but I may get a newer case just to manage the cables better!

It’s kind of “jimmy” but you could buy a couple of these brackets and bolt then together and then bend the end so it wraps around the end of the video cards and then attach a fan to the end of the bracket.

This will give you cooling coming from the front to back of the video cards.
Or if you can find some thin fans and there is room enough in your cases side you could just use one bracket.

Large heat sinks will also help disparate heat.

This is my ideal Voodoo 2 cooling setup:

Parts used:

- Radeon 9600XT
- Zalman ZM80D-HP
- Zalman ZM-OP1
- a couple of cheap heatsinks

The big fan cools both cards very well and since it's running only on 5 volts, it's very quiet.
It also looks pretty good in my opinion. 😎