DC cooling mod

[somosantos]

I must say Im glad I stumbled acros this forum.
Ecen though I was well aware of the beauties that Ben Heck creates, it hadnt occurred to me to asks a question here.

While most mods here are impressive, I want to try something else.
What Id like to do, is a functional mod. Googling has only brought up paintjobs for the dreamcast, or Led mods.

I lack the technical knowledge and therefor have searched intensively, but it seems noone but me was interested.
The main irritation with the DC has always been the fan noise, and the overheating. The fact that its both at the same time, suggests the fan is very much a necessity.

So passive cooling, with a large heatsink on both sides of the DC is a dream?
Or can it be done, a silent and heat-free DC?

[Kyo]

well, for one you could swap the fan. I don't know about passive cooling, since I've never actually owned a dreamcast, but I'm sure some people who tinkered with it will be able to help you out.

[somosantos]

OK,

but swapping the existing fan with a fan that is the same size, but better quality, would that make a difference to the noise?

Plus, I see all these mods making game systems "flatter" (as in the laptop form factor". I thought, well why not keep the shape boxy, only have some cooling fins on it. Would resemble the old ps2.

But still, if I could only make it cooler and quiter, that would make my day already.
I realize were dealing with archaic pc parts here.

[jjhammerstein]

http://randomprojectman.blogspot.com/20 ... tem-i.html

[somosantos]

Thanks for that one.

If Im going to cut up the case, I could go for recasing the DC entirely.
That way I can put in any fan I want.

The only thing holding back that idea for me , was the pop up cd loader. (more specifically the tab that sends a signal to the cpu that the lid is in fact closed. How do people with their portable dc's deal with that?

I remember reading somewhere that putting it in a larger case would not help with the overheating, in fact it might influence the airflow adversely.

Any experiences?

[DK]

Thanks for that one.

If Im going to cut up the case, I could go for recasing the DC entirely.
That way I can put in any fan I want.

The only thing holding back that idea for me , was the pop up cd loader. (more specifically the tab that sends a signal to the cpu that the lid is in fact closed. How do people with their portable dc's deal with that?

I remember reading somewhere that putting it in a larger case would not help with the overheating, in fact it might influence the airflow adversely.

Any experiences?

The tab is just a switch. Just cut the switch off and solder the 2 wires togeather and the DC will think the lid is always closed. Or you could add a switch.

[somosantos]

cool.

when a dc thinks the lid is closed all the time, you just push the start button when you dont want your fingers sliced off.
right?

I just have to figure out how to have a heatsink make firm contact with the overheating parts of the DC.

cheers

[DK]

cool.

when a dc thinks the lid is closed all the time, you just push the start button when you dont want your fingers sliced off.
right?

I just have to figure out how to have a heatsink make firm contact with the overheating parts of the DC.

cheers

Thermal paste/adhesive and don't worry, a DC disc isn't sharp enough to remove a fingertip.

[somosantos]

After reading up, there seem to have been a few models of dreamcast with different ways of cooling?
I wouldnt think a DC with a heatpipe would heat up a lot more, but apparently it does - the rev1 is better.
Is the rev0 also the one that plays region-free (after a boot disk- power up)?

edit: my question was suppposed to be:
if Im going to be cooling stuff on the DC, I probably should be concentrating on the area where the heatpipe is located, right?
would it be a good idea to put a ninja scythe right on there, and be done with it (apart from putting it in a fitting enclosure ofcourse)?

[rikitheshadow]

Now I cant really say i know a thing or two about the Dreamcast, but Sony got away with passive cooling on most of their stuff, Dreamcast equivilent to a PSone right(Processing Power Wise)? Please don't get mad at me, I've never owned or played one. They never had any fans in any model of PSone units. Heck not even the N64 had any fans for the unit. I'd say if the Dreamcast units where not in short supply, id say test it with a passive air cooler versus a fan cooled sync. OR research a small quite DC fan unit, there is bound to be one out there.

Now if the Dreamcast is equivilant to like a PS2, ehhh, i can tell you right now that the fan they had in the older model, not the slimline, was mainly to avoid the AC to DC converter that was built into the unit. Judging by the placement, i've torn open mine a few times to clean in between and all around the mobo.

[jleemero]

Dreamcast is a lot closer to PS2 than a PS1.
And I'm sure some will want to argue that it's better than a PS2... Silly fanboys and their... Logic...

[rikitheshadow]

I would personally like to try it out, but I've just haven't worked up the patience to go buy one off ebay and find good games for it. Let alone controllers and their little pocket do-hickys. Sorry to the dreamcast fans, just read my post above.

[somosantos]

Well, imo the DC is sumthing between the ps1 and ps2. Wether that affects cooling is uncertain.

I always thought a cooling fan that is larger and slower, sounds quiter than one that is small and turns fast.
Id love to use one of these http://images.wikio.com/images/s/81/zal ... 700-cu.jpg - but I wouldnt know where to put it.
The contact plate for the heatpipes that were in the original DC was under the unit, wasnt it?

As for passive cooling, randomprojectman (see above) was nice enough to answer me; that cutting off the wires to the fan, would effectively stop the DC. It detects wether a fan is spinning as a failsafe to overheating.