should i watercool my n64

[Guest_bmxfelon420]

I was thinking about it, and i still have an 80mm radiator laying around, and i could concievably watercool my n64.  Now i was going to use this to watercool my xp2200 rig(the radiator is leftover from my main rig, which now has a heatercore) but i might just get a heatercore for that to, which would leave the 80mm unit spare.  What im thinking is get a piece of MDF and screw it to the bottom of the n64 (maybe aluminum, i have a piece sitting around) Then mount the radiator and pump to the side of the n64.  Id have my friend design a waterblock in solidworks that mounts in the same way the stock cooling does, and run the hoses out the back to the radiator and pump.  Id power the pump with a 12v power brick from radio shack. Unless i used an ac pump, in which case it would use AC power Id probably use a t line to fill it.  Id connect a small extension cord to the metal plate, and plug the pump and n64 into it, so they would use a single plug.  Heres a few problems i have

-I need to get the screwdriver to take it apart (need it for my gamecube too)
-I want to overclock it, but i also wanted to overclock the GPU and maybe figure out if there is some kind of volt mod for the cpu and gpu, i mean ill be watercooled so it shouldnt be too much heat
-could i have a link to an OC guide, for reference?


Id appreciate any help you can give, i hope to do this soon.  I know i can find a pump for 20 dollars, and the block will be cheap.  

Also, another thing i wanted to know was are the gamecube's fans 12v?  And they are 40mm?  I was going to get 2 led fans and wire them together, one on either side.

[Jemsic]

This sounds like one of the most complicated mods I've ever heard!  I really wish you good luck!  But the N64 never got really hot, nor did it have a loud fan.  If you know how to do all that stuff, I would suggest water-cooling a dreamcast because the fan is so loud, and the dreamcast heats up like a stove.

[zydocx]

Hey.
I have OC'ed my n64, and i have written a guide about it. It's written in Dansih, but u gan find guides in english on other sites. Can't remember what the link is, but something about Epicgames?

U can se my guide and maybe you can use the pictures?

My N64 oc guide


I think watercooling is a bit "overkill" because the n64 dont get very hot, even if the overclocking is "on". The defaul heatsink if enough, but if you want to overclock the 64 it may be nice looking if we talk about casemodding.

I replaced my cpu and gpu heatsinks with some nice-looking form Revoltech, and that was not because of a heat problem, but because of the casemodding effect.

You can se some pictures here:

My N64 casemod - not finish yet -

If u want the skrews out you can make your own skrewdriver with a normal skrewdriver and a Dremel. I have written a guide for this, but its also in danish

Srewdriver mod

hope u can use some of it.

And sorry for my english... its not so good

[Guest_bmxfelon420]

cool, ill check it out, thanks for the replies.  I know its overkill, but considering i have a radiator already, can get a pump for 15-20 dollars, and can have a block designed to fit right on there, id say its worth a shot.

Another idea i had was to measure the expansion pak, im guessing 40mm wide or so, take the case off, strip it to the bare pcb with the chip on it and put a regular heatsink on with some thermal tape and screw as big of a fan as fits on there.  It would be fed by the vents the n64 already has, id cut the extra plastic off the inside so it becomes just a plastic grate.  Id also have to cut the plastic right there where the expansion pak slides in, the part facing the cartridge.  Or are the memory chips on the other side?  If they are, i could remove the n64 logo and replace it with a fan.  That could be cool.  It'd require some more hacking of the plastic around the expansion pak, but i dont really care as long as it still plugs in and works.

Also, ill probably put a blue LED for the power, since i have an extra blue led, and the radiator will be blue.  Ill try to get blue coolant for the water too, but im not sure how hard that would be

And as for a screwdriver, i saw an interesting idea while browsing google.  What someone did was take those clear, hard plastic pens, take the pen part out, heat up the end until it was soft, shove it over the screw and hold it for a little bit, and voila! Instant screwdriver.  Im not sure how well it works, but i can give that a try before whipping my dremel out and making all kinds of metal dust.  

Ill update the thread when i make any sort of progress, maybe the watercooling wont work out, but i do have an extra pentium 3 heatsink or 3 that i could use.  They'd have to stick out the top of the case, but i dont have a problem with that.

[phreak97]

theres a huge heat sink in the n64 and plenty of space to work around it, you could just modify it and bolt the radiator onto that, i mean, i managed to get a n64 power source crammed inside there, you'll have plenty of room to move. then you wont have to worry about the aluminium or mdf on the bottom. really i think you'll be able to fit the whole rig inside if you cut the off bits of the heat sink that's already there. cut off the bits that raise toward the top of the case, and cut off the bits that extend past the left and right of the motherboard. now you have HEAPS of space to install your radiator onto the remaining block of metal, and you'll probably have room to have a reservoir and a pump on either side (dunno what size your pumps are) and you could incorperate the reservoir into the top half of the case so you dont have to open it for refills and such. (if you need it)

in the end though, people are right in saying it's not necesary.. i had a n64 running with half of that heat sink and it didnt matter in the slightest.

[Guest]

I have been bouncing between going for it and just having my friend machine me a heatsink with some sorta crazy design, and im leaning on the crazy design.

Im going to attempt a vcore mod on the cpu and gpu, if anyone has the pinouts for either of those.  What voltage do they run at.  I suppose a vmod would be hard if the psu didnt supply more than the chips currently use, but i can cross my fingers.  I bet if they are 5v, i can try 6v and see what happens.  Ill rip it apart later and see if theres a voltage regulator in there, if there is than that makes it so much easier.

[bmxfelon420]

whoops, forgot my name last post.  I still havent got my activation email, and i contacted lawrence about it but he hasnt replied yet.

anyways, i forgot to ask if theres a concrete way to overclock the GPU, or if doing that would speed the sync of the game up in a majority of games?  I plan on getting an expansion pak for perfect dark, which is the main reason i want to know.

[Scias]

I'd say go for it.  Not only would it look awesome, it would be interesting to see if there were some sort of performance difference.  The way I have my 64 setup my processor gpu and ram stay in the high 70's temp wise and the whole thing works wonderfully.  If you cool anything it should definitley be the expansion pack.  That thing gets hotter than everything else.

There was a thread about OCing the GPU.  If you over clocked it then the video output to the TV would increase past the 60Hz the tv can handle.  It said something like that, it's pretty recent if you browse.

[Segasonicfan]

That's hilarious.  Stupid Nintendo couldn't just throw in a fan or two so they slopped a ton of metal on the N64.  That would be an awesome little mod if you're just looking for something to do.  A nice fan would work just as well.

BTW, awesome mod Zenloc...you triggered the cooling power via the CPU clock speed?!?  You really know your stuff!

-Segasonicfan

[JB]

That's hilarious.  Stupid Nintendo couldn't just throw in a fan or two so they slopped a ton of metal on the N64.

Ummm, what's so stupid about using a passive heatsink when you don't need an active one, if you don't mind my asking?  

[Segasonicfan]

Ummm, what's so stupid about using a passive heatsink when you don't need an active one, if you don't mind my asking?

Because the passive heatsink doesn't keep the system cool enough.  As mentioned in this post even the extension cart gets damn hot and after hours playing my N64 I've noticed the passive heatsink is rediculously hot as well.  They could have greatly reduced the size of the system without the massive casing, improved the IC lifespan and made an all around better and more robust product by just adding a cooling fan.  Just my opinion.

-Segasonicfan

[FM-77]

But a fan would make the system noisy. Noise is never good.

[JB]

Ummm, what's so stupid about using a passive heatsink when you don't need an active one, if you don't mind my asking?

Because the passive heatsink doesn't keep the system cool enough.  As mentioned in this post even the extension cart gets damn hot

Actually, the expansion module is the ONLY part mentioned as getting hot in the thread.

The general tone of the thread is that the N64's stock cooling is not only adequate, but excessive.

and after hours playing my N64 I've noticed the passive heatsink is rediculously hot as well. 

If the system's stable, it's not too hot.

They could have greatly reduced the size of the system without the massive casing, improved the IC lifespan and made an all around better and more robust product by just adding a cooling fan.  Just my opinion.

It's not exactly large as it is.  
I doubt they cared about how long the ICs lasted as long as they weren't blowing up within the system's lifespan, though I personally haven't heard of a lot of N64s dying.

All a fan does is add moving parts and noise.

[Scias]

I don't understand the attitude on a lot of these console mod threads.  

Why do it?  Is often the question.

Cause you can and you want to and it brings you joy.  Otherwise why do any console mod?  Where's the support from the modding community?

[Segasonicfan]

Actually, the expansion module is the ONLY part mentioned as getting hot in the thread.

'mentioned in the thread.'  You're an idiot if you don't think the N64 gets hot.

It's not exactly large as it is

It's one of the largest heatsink in gaming console history, don't be rediculous.

If the system's stable, it's not too hot.

I doubt they cared about how long the ICs lasted as long as they weren't blowing up within the system's lifespan, though I personally haven't heard of a lot of N64s dying.

Of course they didn't care, they just wanted to make it stable.  and while there aren't many N64's dying now (mostly due to the fact it's not a complicated disc based system), it will not be a system lasting 20+ years.  

All a fan does is add moving parts and noise

...and a longer lifespan.  and a small fan adds very very little noise.  I don't know if you're a N64 fanboy or what, but defending the heat stablilty of an N64 seems kind of silly too me.  It's well-known for being a console that gets very very hot and has a massive heat sink.  I'm not going to say anymore about this subject.

-Segasonicfan

[NFG]

Keep it civil, please.

[Guest]

still waiting to buy a goofy screwdriver, i have some other things to buy first before i get it.  I dont want to mutilate a flathead, unless i find a cheap enough one when i go to menards tomorrow.  Ill start modding it up then, i will put a p3 heatsink, since my radiator will be used for another project.  Ill put an led fan on there probably, and i do have an extra ramsink or two for the expansion pak.

[Epicenter]

There's a nice simple 80mm radiator-equipped liquid cooling set called the 'Silent Stream' you might look into. You could use some thermal epoxy and/or your own mounting solution-- it contains a waterblock with a pump and reservoir integrated into it, hoses preattached and filled with coolant, running to a small 80mm radiator with fan. It would probably all fit acceptably into the N64, and the fan could probably run on <7 volts for near-silent (or silent!) operation as the N64's CPU does not emit much heat-- just enough to heat up a sink with nothing but passive convection to cool it. The Silent Stream is rated for >75W CPUs, after all-- Athlon XPs, 64s .. so on and so forth.

There's some other nice options like one I believe Cooler Master makes ... there's also the very cheap 'WC-201' (or was it 202) set from Kingwin and some other company you could use, but you'd need the external unit with the pump, reservoir and controls (it was meant to go in a 5.25" computer bay front panel.)

As for improvement, you should see no performance gain at the same clockrate. But you might achieve more stability at the very high end of the overclocking spectrum..

Good luck, this ought to be interesting.