N64 overclock fans

[Rajveer]

Hi everybody. I have an old grey n64 which I was able to easily overclock until the unit died on me, probably because of the cooling. So Im gonna get a coloured N64 for cheap and overclock this. Using my old n64 and a friends busted up slimline ps2, I cut the ps2 heatsink into half and made sure they fit on the cpu and gpu/audio chip. Im adding switches too so I can test the 3.0x setting, however for this setting Im going to add 2 fans both ontop of the heatsink section: one pointing down onto the heatsinks and another (from the ps2 slimline CPU, points air towards the side of the fan) towards the jumper pack to stop it from overheating since ive heard it gets a little hot!

My question is how do I attach these fans to the PCB and what resistors e.t.c I use?

The first fan is taken from a PCI cooler (Buss-Cool) so im assuming it runs on 12v?

The PS2 fan runs on an 8.3 or 8.5v supply with 0.1A.

Cheers    

[ido8bit]

12V is available at pin 6 of the power supply connector, but it is only at 800mA.  
I suggest that you check how much current the N64 itself draws from the 12V line before tapping into it though.  The N64 may draw more current than expected when overclocked.

For testing run your fans from a PC power supply.  Check the current that the N64 draws when running at the fastest speed you plan to use.  Your two fans will probably draw around 200mA.  If the N64 alone draws more than 600mA from the 12V supply you won't be able to run your fans from it.  

[Rajveer]

Cheers for the reply ido8bit

The PS2 fan for the jumper pak alone takes 310mA...not leaving alot of space to power the bigger fan let alone the actual N64 if theres only 800mA lol. I want the 3.0x multiplier to work so I cant get rid of these fans either...doesnt sound like the supply for the N64 will benefit me. I heard in another post somebody used a "molex wall plug in"...is this just a wall socket adapter with a molex connection on the end??

Any more ideas of how to power the fans?

[ido8bit]

Assuming that the N64 mainboard will only draw more current when running at 3.0x I don't think it will be stable running from the stock power supply, especially considering the draw of the cooling fans.  

The only viable option I can think off is to give up on the stock power supply and run it from a small computer supply.  Any ATX supply (or indeed some of the older power supplies with oddball connectors) would provide ample current at 3.3V and 12V to run the N64 along with the cooling fans and any peripherals.   Indeed if you use a CD64/V64/etc you should be able to do away with it's power supply.  

Of course you will have to make your own cable to run from the power supply to the N64.  An added benefit would be that moving the power supply away from the N64 will remove a heat source.  

[Guest]

I used my own circuit, with the fans powered by its own 12V DC supply. I COULD modify my N64 so that it draws power from this source, but its too much hassle and Im happy with my work  

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[atom]

Thats nice clean work my friend but your fans arent going to do jack unless you have a heatsink on your chips.

[Drewman21]

Would it be possible without any problems to remove all the RF and metal shielding in the N64 and use thermal tape and heatsinks on the chips?  I would think that it would run cooler without all that metal and those crappy heatsinks they have now.  Would there be too much interfearance to the N64, or from it for it to be possible?

Drewman21

[Aidan]

From my recent memories of the N64, the 12v line is not used for very much beyond video and audio output. The rest of the system runs off the 3.3V line. In any case, the N64 appeared happy to run off substantially less than 12V on the 12V rail. Just as long as you don't drop the 12V rail to below about 7v, you should be fine.

[Vertigo]

Would it be possible without any problems to remove all the RF and metal shielding in the N64 and use thermal tape and heatsinks on the chips?  I would think that it would run cooler without all that metal and those crappy heatsinks they have now.  Would there be too much interfearance to the N64, or from it for it to be possible?

I'd like to know the answer to this too, the heat issue anyway. You'd still need the SF shielding most likely, but that's quite lightweight and you can always drill holes and fix fans above them.
The inside of the N64 looks so horrid and unprofessional with that great big wedge of metal hanging off the top. I have two and both of them have drill marks where the spacker in charge of making holes wasn't able to hold the damn thing still while he drilled. And then there are the three or four other little metal plates all clipped or screwed into each other too. It's all just so damn ugly in there.

[atom]

Yeah... throw out the shielding, use thermal paste to put some heatsinks on. It wont work as good without pressure pushing down on them, but will work better then the shield imo.

[Vertigo]

I'm talking specifically about the massive chunk of metal they've called a heatsink, that screws directly into the little heatsinks on each ship. I'm keeping the RF shield.

[Rajveer]

nonononono...you NEED heatsinks on those chips. RF Shielding isn't necessary but you NEED A heatsink (preferably a better heatsink with new thermal paste/tape...I cut one into two from a broken slimline ps2 and put each end on the processor and the graphics chip). DO NOT try to turn it on without the heatsinks on the processors as you may blow the chips

[Aidan]

DO NOT try to turn it on without the heatsinks on the processors as you may blow the chips

Whilst the reality engine and MIPS processor do need some cooling, they don't produce that much heat. I have run an N64 happily for over 20 minutes with no heatsinks. The basic issue is that it's an enclosed space with limited ventilation. Hence, heat dissipation needs a little bit of help.

(Heck, the whole N64 doesn't take more than about 6W of power when it's running...)

[Scias]

Honestly, I had a big computer case fan with LEDS on it, a pentium 2 fan, all the LEDs (they are wired to the 3.3v) I put in the console lit up, with the system overclocked, AND played perfect dark, and the whole thing worked just fine, no lie.  I'd say your good with a standard cpu fan (probably a thin one from a 486 cpu or something, depending on where you want to mount it) cause most cpu fans I've found are 12v, some 9v.  They don't draw many amps at all, so you should be able to just wire the fan to the 12v lead at the on/off switch and boom, it'll work.  I also just bought two little radioshack transistor heatsinks and stuck them together with a heatsink adhesive, and put them on the processor.  It stays ice cold with good heatsinks and good air circulation.

For reference here's my N64

[Nos9]

Hey Guys,

Me and the gang who tend to play alot of smash brothers, were finding that the expansion pack was was heating up the console, causing responce time troubles and annoyance, so i did a cooling mode.

I took an unused xbox graphics chip cooler and fan from an old faulty version 1.0 xbox board, and added it to the stock heatsink system on the n64. The cooler from the xbox works like a treat, though i had to get the dremel out and cut some of the layers of metal back a little, that were from the heat absorbtion assemble for the memory expansions slot, so that the heatsink sat flat on top.

The cooling mode has improved my nintendo 64 gamming performance by 100% & the nose level is unnoticable. Perfect dark runs really well, much better than it did when i used to play it years back, and smash bothers seems better as well, since in the past it was sometimes a better idea to put the original memory unit back in than to risk controller responce slow down.

I was tempted to do the cpu overclocking, but i don't think its going to make to many possitive changes to my games, and since the cooling mod my N64 is has been much better. I can have the flap closed, and the expansion unit gets to a slight warm tempeture, even when i playing perfect dark for more than hour, where as before it would be hot to touch if it was not for the plastic red cover.

By the way, Nintendo did put a good cooling system in the console, it just needs a small 40mm fan to keep a cool air flow cooling the heatsinks down, as the expansion pack heats the console up more than it can handle without the fan. While you could just add a fan, a heat sink with fins to catch the air flow like what i have used, would be better than just blowing cool air in to the case. Don't worrie about heat compound between the stock heatinks and the cpy, gpu & ram, as they are fine, all is need is something to cool the heatsinks, which is all of the aluminume you see, once you take the cover off.





Long Live the Nintendo 64
Nos9



 

[Nos9]

By the way, i soldered the fan wires to a capacitor supplying nearly 12VDC located on the motherboard, by soldering the positive wire to the possitive capacitor contact, and the negative wire to the negative contact on the capacitor. Get a multi meter and check the voltages on the capcitors before just soldering wires on any where.

Nos9

[Guest]

I'm just a guest here, planning to over clock my N64,
I want to put a fan and heat sink on aswel.

The fan looks nicely connected in the picture but i notice that the fan isnt turning yet the (rather nice) LED is on..  


Scias says he connected it to the POwer sitch, could you show me how. I have little experiance and untill my gamebit arives i cant really examine the innards..

[Scias]

I just worked on my 64 last night and spruced it up a bit.  I'll dissasemble it again and take some pics.  Really simple though, solder once, solder twice, you're done.

[Scias]

Ok, when you open up your 64 and take off all the shielding etc.  Take the board off, flip it over, and look underneath where the switch is and this is a side view of what you'll see.  The wire is where to solder the positive lead of the fan.  The negative lead can go alot of places.  The easiest thing to do would be to wrap the exposed negative wire around one of the screws on the board and tighten it.  

Wire

Mounting the fan is another issue all together.  I mounted mine on the shielding mounts and put three washers in between so the fan could clear the heatsinks I put on the gpu and ram.  I really liked the way someone else mounted their fans somewhere on these forums.

Fan mount

With a fan sitting directly over some good heatsinks like my setup, the surface temp of my processor was 78.3 Far.  The ram was 83.5 Far.  and the gpu was 78.5 Far.  after a nice long game of 12 player rockets in the facility on perfect dark.  This mod is well worth it if you want to oc your system.

*EDIT*  I have also never had a single problem with RF interference or anything else of the sort without the shielding on.  Just FYI.

[Guest]

Excellent, thats just what i needed to know,
i'm over clocking purely for PD multiplayer.

Gambe bit arrives in a few days folloewd by purple N64 and expansion pak... those things still cost a bit.