I want to upgrade the CPU in my Dell Optiplex GX1. I purchased a PIII 650MHz Slot 1 Coppermine (SL3XK). It came with a flimsy-looking heatsink (compared to the nice sink on the stock PII Deschutes) but no fan. Do I need to pick up a fan for the heatsink before installing this CPU? Or do these Coppermines run as cool as Deschutes? Thanks in advance for any advice.
Definitely should use a fan!
Yea, only go fanless, if its a pin style heatsink or one of those super large one thats twice the size of the slot 1 cpu, and even then have a case fan blow on that somehow.
I have a Slot 1 P3 450 that has a pretty flimsy looking/feeling (I assume stock) heatsink compared to my S1 P2s, and it's never had an issue, but any faster chips I've seen/owned tend to have either very large sinks (like what AlphaWing mentiond) or fans. I think a fan is probably warranted.
Thanks all. I will put this project on hold until I can source a fan that fits in the case.
My PIII Coppermine 750 Slot1 on baby-AT mobo:
Big big heatsink!
With 12cm fan combo vga+cpu cooling!
After half an hour of usage it gets really hot, but the Voodoo3 3000 (made to run fanless) gets MUCH hotter! So I don't think if the CPU really needs the fan. i added it just in case....
Core i7-13700 | 32G DDR4 | Biostar B760M | Nvidia RTX 3060 | 32" AOC 75Hz IPS + 17" DEC CRT 1024x768 @ 85Hz
Win11 + Virtualization => Emudeck @consoles | pcem @DOS~Win95 | Virtualbox @Win98SE & softGPU | VMware @2K&XP | ΕΧΟDΟS
Yea like Georgeman's PIII that is the type of oversized heatsink I'm talking about, and mounting a case fan exactly as so.
The Pin style heatsinks are smaller, but also safe to do the same thing with, they usually come from scrapped oem IBM's.
Keep in mind that the 12cm fans, even the silent ones with low rpm, move much more air than let's say a 4cm 4000rpm mini-fan.
During usage the cpu cooler is slightly warm to touch and the Voodoo heatsink is warm but touchable for long period of time, so I guess under 45°C and the cpu under 40. 😉
Core i7-13700 | 32G DDR4 | Biostar B760M | Nvidia RTX 3060 | 32" AOC 75Hz IPS + 17" DEC CRT 1024x768 @ 85Hz
Win11 + Virtualization => Emudeck @consoles | pcem @DOS~Win95 | Virtualbox @Win98SE & softGPU | VMware @2K&XP | ΕΧΟDΟS
Its very hard to find PCI slot brackets that let you mount fans above the PCI cards anymore.
1coolpc used to sell custom fabed ones, but that store doesn't exist now.
Zalman used to have a fan bracket of similar style, but its been discontinued.
Antec sells a modern version with a 60 to 100mm fan called the Antec spot cooler, but its bracket is part of the fan mold so it can't be swapped out when the fan starts to go bad, it also has 5 annoying bright blue led lights on it.
The last alternative is to make your own like you did and get it to mount somehow, or find a case with fan mounts in the correct place on the side panel.
This is what I mean by a PCI slot bracket.
This is in my soyo Pentium II system with the soft multipliers so I can easily downclock it to 75mhz.
That is not an antec spot cool either, it just happens to be an antec 92mm branded fan I put on it.
AlphaWing,
What's the make/model of that PCI slot bracket you're using with that Antec fan?
Also, I found these still available:
Expansion Slot Side Fan Mounting Kit
Zalman CNPS6000-AlCu (Includes the now-discontinued FB123 slot bracket)
Thats one of those 1coolpc custom brackets. Company does not exist anymore 🙁
Was an online PC fan\heatsink seller before places like newegg existed.
That middle one looks to be a flimsier type of it, but 20$ is way to much. Those brackets sold with 2 60mm Fans on them for less then that.
Several years ago I got some slot-1 processors that came with very lightweight passive heatsinks which resembled folded up tinfoil. I wonder if that's the heatsink you have.
It had to be the cheapest heatsink ever, I couldn't believe they were serious. These were all over ebay, and I think a bunch are still floating around. I remember one of the tinfoil CPUs had an identifying mark that I traced to some brand like Compaq, or whoever it was. It definitely wasn't a retail setup.
My guess is that these came out of systems that originally had a bunch of airflow going past the processor. I could imagine them being used in rackmount servers, which can be like a wind tunnel. Tons of obsolete server parts get liquidated on ebay so I think this may be likely.
I wonder how many people bought them for a conventional PC without doing anything to cool them. I wonder how well they handled that.
Luckily they were SECC-2 style so it was easy to swap some heatsink/fan assemblies from less interesting CPUs.
I've seen the pin-style passive heatsinks in an IBM Intellistation. The only active cooling they had was a ducted exhaust fan, so it wasn't entirely passive but they didn't need much help apparently. I never measured how hot they actually get though.
I have a P2-400 (old SECC1 style) with a thick passive heatsink on it. After stressing it for a couple hours, I burned myself when I powered down and grabbed it. The heatsink turned into a skillet. It was a shock to realize how hot it had been running.
Overall I'm not comfortable with fanless setups. A little airflow goes a long way. Undervolting/clocking changes things though.
On my test bench I use a fan like this:
When I use a S370 adapter to use Coppermine B processors I can't fit my decent S370 coolers properly. There are usually caps or other components in the way or you get stuck against the memory sticks.
Here are my best S370 coolers:
The two on the right are Dr. Thermal. The two on the left from Arkua and ThermoEngine. An online shop in Australia had all of these in stock last year. So I got one model each 😀
Main problem is the fan speed. The two on the left run at 7000 or 5000 rpm. Incredible loud. You can get an idea from this video:
I use a lowprofile s370 cooler when I use an adapter to avoid that usually sticks out less then most normal Slot 1 coolers.
Cooljag makes the best ones but star-tech has a easy to obtain and still forsale knock off of their skived s370 low profile coolers that does work.
As for the slot 1 cooler in question is it this one??
Cause if it is. Do not use it passive, its junk, and tin-foil grade like Shamino says.
Came off a Dell if I remember that had a 92mm Fan in-front of it with ducting.
Would not ever use it passive.
I have the Socket 370 version of that sink from a Dell - and yes it is total junk. It isn't even suitable (imho) for a Pentium MMX or some chipsets; it just gets too hot. If I remember right the original system had a high RPM (like 4000+ RPMs) fan forcing air through it; it was fairly loud for what it was. 😒
I got this Cooler Master for Slot 1. Works really well and it's incredible easy and quick to change CPUs...
The fastest Slot 1 CPU I have is a PIII 600 Katmai and that cooler works very well with it.
Going through a S370 adapter the fastest CPU I got is a PIII 900E.
wrote:I use a lowprofile s370 cooler when I use an adapter to avoid that usually sticks out less then most normal Slot 1 coolers.
Cooljag makes the best ones but star-tech has a easy to obtain and still forsale knock off of their skived s370 low profile coolers that does work.
Links please 😊
From StarTech do you mean this one:
http://www.startech.com/Computer-Parts/Fans/P … ctor~FANP1003LD
I use this for Socket 7, works very well. But it's too weak for S370 I found.
Or did you mean this one:
http://www.startech.com/Computer-Parts/Fans/6 … et-A~FANDURONTB
That is a nice slot 1 cooler.
I hate changing them always a pain. Try to avoid it if I can.
And neither of those
Its this one
http://www.startech.com/Computer-Parts/Fans/6 … ervers~FAN3701U
Look at the gallery 360 pic for the actual correct picture of it.
A real socket 370 cooljag is alot better still, but they can be hard to find now.
This is what they looked like.
http://www.ukgamer.com/images/reviews/jac311c … l_top_large.gif
Just a warning neither fit on Socket 7. If you try it you will likely break the plastic clip on the socket especially if its a Cyrix CPU with its raised heatspreader.
