N64 heatsink and fan...Thoughts?

[NR1224]

Hey all, I have a little question to ask. I am busy at work on my own N64p, and have put together what hopefully will become my cooling setup.

I have absolutely no idea how to post a pic, so if it doesn't work ill also describe...


http://img164.imageshack.us/content.php ... 007zr2.jpg

First, I reused the original heatsink that came attached to the N64 motherboard and cut down both sides of it. It still has all 3 aluminum pads screwed to the bottom, but very little on either side(of the heatsink, no the pads). I want to install a small fan on the front of it to suck the heat off, b/c I'm worried that by cutting off that much aluminum from either side, my N64 will overheat.
I bought a small chipset fan that fits nicely, however, it is a 3 post fan. So my real questions are as follows
1. Which of the wires is +, and which is ground, and what is the leftover wire for?
2. Can i run the fan by itself off a separate battery? Which is to say, can I run the fan off of its own dedicated battery pack, preferably using AA's?
3. Words of advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post, and thanks in advance for the help!! [/img]

[Mario]

Your N64 will be fine with that fan and heatsink.

1. Use the red wire for + and the black one for -. I think the third wire is for RPM detection.
2. You can run it from a different battery, but then you'd have two batteries to charge. Is is a 5v fan? You can power it from the N64s 5v regulator.

[NR1224]

thanks for the quick reply, anyways, after some testing i honestly didn't find the N64 getting that hot. My idea was to simply have a switch that controlled the fan in the event that it got to hot, or i needed it. But if what your saying is correct, can I do the same thing(the switch), and simply run the whole system off the main battery? Sorry I'm a bit of a n00b, but how would i go about attaching it to the 5v regulator?

ohhh, and also, on the fan it says DC 12v and .12 amps. Will i need another piece of hardware between the power supply and the fan?

[NR1224]

bump

[robm]

I don't know what battery you're planning on using, but as long as it's between 7.2ish and 12ish you don't need to run any kind of hardware between the battery and the fan. There's no real point in trying to run the fan off of a switch, or running it off of a separate battery, as it won't pull any real significant power.

Don't run it off of a 5v regulator. Which brings me to my question: what are you using a 5v regulator for?