VOGONS


First post, by candle_86

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So I got a Dell Geforce2 MX 64mb SD-RAM MS-8826 ver 30b

It has no mounting holes for the Heatsink, but I also don't trust any GPU newer than about 1997 to run passive, so I took an old S370 cooler and mounted it with what I had on hand.

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Yes those are rubber bands, 🤣 Wanted something non conductive, and I'm all out of large Zip ties, so rubber bands. 🤣

Reply 1 of 14, by gerwin

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Be warned: Rubber bands disintegrate and melt away after a few years. Sometimes faster when they are in the sun or getting hot.
I would prefer using plastic coated binding wire/coil wire, when in a hurry.

--> ISA Soundcard Overview // Doom MBF 2.04 // SetMul

Reply 2 of 14, by obobskivich

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As an MX, it should not need a heatsink at all. It was very common for GeForce 2 MX cards to not have heatsinks, especially the Dell OEM variants. No need to rubber-band something to it, and risk that falling into the system or whatever else (as gerwin points out, rubber bands are not a good method of attachment here). The chronological age of the card means nothing as far as "does it need a heatsink or not."

If you're really committed to having a sink on there, it doesn't need to be anywhere near that large. Even the heatsink for GeForce 2 Ultra isn't that large. 😊

Reply 3 of 14, by candle_86

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its what was handy, and I know it will likely work fine without a Heatsink, but it gives me peace of mind, its a temporary fix, next friday I'm buying some heavy duty heat resistance zip ties, this is temporary for my peace of mind, 2 weeks shouldn't cause a fail.

I don't need a Thermaltake Volcano on my K6-3 but I put one on it 🤣.

Reply 4 of 14, by filipetolhuizen

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An Akasa chipset heatsink should do it. It comes with thermal glue. I use one in my old Audigy 2 ZS as these cards tend to overheat. Worked like a charm.

Reply 5 of 14, by obobskivich

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candle_86 wrote:

its what was handy, and I know it will likely work fine without a Heatsink, but it gives me peace of mind, its a temporary fix, next friday I'm buying some heavy duty heat resistance zip ties, this is temporary for my peace of mind, 2 weeks shouldn't cause a fail.

I don't need a Thermaltake Volcano on my K6-3 but I put one on it 🤣.

The bigger thing I'd be worried about in the long-term, assuming you can securely attach the heatsink (and the zipties should accomplish that), is warping the card from the weight and/or tensions of the zipties/rubberbands/whatever.

Reply 7 of 14, by candle_86

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what thermal adhesive has the holding power to keep that S370 cooler attached 🤣

Reply 8 of 14, by shamino

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candle_86 wrote:

what thermal adhesive has the holding power to keep that S370 cooler attached 🤣

Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive is strong stuff. I'm sure it would hold.
The Geforce2 MX chip has plenty of surface area so it should be no problem.

Reply 9 of 14, by firage

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Cool, man. Rubber bands are one better than bubble gum. 😀

My big-red-switch 486

Reply 10 of 14, by candle_86

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hey it overclocks now, got the core from 175 to 225, granted on a K6-3 it means nothing but still 🤣

Reply 11 of 14, by shamino

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candle_86 wrote:

hey it overclocks now, got the core from 175 to 225, granted on a K6-3 it means nothing but still 🤣

It might not even matter with a faster CPU. The limitation on these cards was really the RAM speed. 225MHz is pretty good though, I think more often people took them to about 200-210MHz or so, but it didn't accomplish much because the RAM is what was usually holding them back.

I remember the big controversy about Creative Labs' version of the Geforce2 MX that advertised DDR memory. It was 64-bit DDR, so the more common 128-bit SDR cards were actually a bit faster.

Reply 12 of 14, by candle_86

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Yea 64bit DDR vs 128bit SDR, that was Nvidia's requirement for these cards, and SDR at the same speed as DDR has lower latancy, its just double pumped, but when the bus width is reduced you get the same speed, 166mhz SDR 128bit = 333mhz DDR 64bit.

Reply 14 of 14, by obobskivich

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rick6 wrote:

Why not drill mounting holes on the heatsink? That should be an aluminium heatsink so any small drill will do the job. Get a couple os screws for a few cents and call it a day!

My guess is the card itself probably doesn't have mount points - if I remember correctly my MX 200 was like that as well (and I've seen other MXs over the years like that); no sink and no mount points, so the only options if one wanted to add a sink were glue or something like what candle_86 has done. My MX 400 has mount holes, and normal chipset heatsinks can be clipped onto it - it doesn't seem to make any difference though (the card runs fine with or without it). The MX 400 runs at 200MHz stock, just for a point of reference.