Not very likely.

‘Can’ and ‘should’ are also different questions.

You shouldn’t.

But a large passive in the air stream of another fan would probably work.

Thanks. It did have a small fan on the heat sink but it was very noisy. I found another used one that is not so noisy, so I have that on there now.

What about the case? There is plenty of room in the case with a spot for a fan at the front and one at the back. Those fans have also been removed due to being old and noisy. There is no back plate for the motherboard either so the case has openings. It is a large case with plenty of room inside. Do I have to put a fan or fans in the case? Not sure what I have to hand right now, so if I can get away with not doing so that would be great. This isn't the original case for this board, I never saw the original case but I have a feeling it was smaller than this one.

Some OEMs did use the "power supply with shroud as fan" method with some of the K6 line. It was adequately if barely.
I would suggest a regular heatsink/fan if possible. It won't even require a large one.

I usually opt for positive pressure airflow, intake front and exhaust at the rear.
But different cases call for different solutions, and these old components don't pump out the heat like modern stuff.

I will have a look around to see if I can at least find one for the back to pull air out.

Got a pic of this setup?

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-11-14, 22:07:

Got a pic of this setup?

Not yet. Almost got it all put together. Will probably post a pic later. It is nothing super special. I just like cleaning up old parts and trying to put them all together.

rick12373 wrote on 2022-11-14, 21:35:

Can a AMD K6-2/450 be used with just a heat sink and no fan?

Yes, in the correct situation it can. I have a Compaq that shipped with a 380Mhz and I swapped it to a 533Mhz running around 450Mhz and it has never had a fan. The heatsink is only about a half-inch thick, and not copper. This is a small mini tower, and OEM-designed. I've never taken any measurements. Perhaps I should install a CPU fan. Right now the only fan in the system is in the PSU. But it sure seems to run just fine, even under heavy load. They're not expensive CPUs. Try it.