Different heatsink/fan for MEGA 651?

I'm new here so go easy on me. I did search but found little info. I'm looking for a different/better heatsink for a MEGA 651. I know there is a problem finding a retension clip that fits.....but I found an older socket 7 heatsink that fits/works. It's all-copper with a 60mm fan on top blowing down. But I'd like something better/bigger. I have removed both drive cages, so I have some extra space for a taller heatsink.
Is anyone using a heatsink other than the stock aluminum model?

always read the stickies as your question may have already been answered before
in your case it has, here:
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=96148.0

Similar Messages

DIY heatsink/fan for MEGA.

Here's some new stuff I'm trying (MEGA 651). An unknown copper based, Alpha look-alike. I drilled four holes in it, to match the MB mount holes(used brass MB stand-offs, in place of the stock mounts). It uses a 15mm thick, 70mm fan, with a custom fan mount. Works good...also cools the NB passive heatsink.
I'm also trying a new HD mount, with side heatsinks, mounted in place of the optical drive. This Samsung runs very cool in this location.....usually about 32C.

Yeah it works well.....I have a stable idle temp of about 41C with this setup. I managed to fit a real Alpha 8942 into my previous 651, and I used an 80mm fan also. That setup does run cooler, and quieter. The 70mm fan with this setup is not the best.....I'm considering a fan change to an 80mm Sanyo Petit Ace.
But the heatsink itself works good...
Link to similar Alpha mod

Heatsink for Mega 651

Hi!
I got my hands on a 2:nd hand MSI Mega 651, which I want to complete as soon as possible. Only one problem. It came without any CPU heatsink. What kind of fittings is this? Specific for the Mega´s? The spacing of the holes look a lot like the Xeon standard. Is it the same? If not, where could I purchase a new heatsink? I can´t seem to get any here in Sweden.
Another question is if the 651 would work OK with a 3.06Ghz and a ti4600? Or would it be to much heat for a barebone?

the heatsink is a custom design for this barebones. you should try and contact the person you bought it off, it should have been supplied with it
check the cpu support list, mega 651 only supports P4 up to 533FSB (not prescott at all), celeron to 400fsb, read my mega 651 sticky above
if your seller cannot give you the heatsink, then you might try your local MSI office to see if they can

92mm fan for MEGA PSU..... more pictures.

Looks like to me that the big problem with the MEGA series involves heat. Since the only exhaust fan is the PSU fan, a size change to a 92mm model, would be a big improvement. There seems to be enough room at the rear of the case to mount a 92mm fan externally. You would remove the stock 80mm fan, remove the grills, enlarge the openings slightly, and mount the new fan on the outside....splicing the wires into the old wires that went to the 80mm fan.
I see nothing but inproved airflow with this mod....anybody tried it?
Read further...it's finished now.

Water cooling for a SFF?
Anybody reading my posts should know I'm using a 92mm fan on my PSU. I tested six different fans for performance at the MEGA PSU default voltage...here are the results.
I gathered up all the 92mm fans I have, and devised a method to test for maximum performance (CFM) at a low voltage (5V). I used a SFF with the 92mm fan alone cooling the PSU and CPU using duct-work.....no other fans running. I then noted the CPU idle temp with each fan. This happens to be the default voltage to the fan, using the PSU PWM fan control. The voltage remained the same during the idle testing. I also tested at max CPU usage......and found the results similar. The best fans at 5V were the best fans at the max.
Checking the rated currrent draw gave mixed results.....the fan that drew the most current, did not give the best performance.
The noise levels were as expected......the best performer (Delta) was the noisiest. The second best (Sunon) sounded the same as the others.
Here's the list of the ones tested.....listed from the worst performance at 5V to the best.
#6 Power Logic #PL92D12M 1.7W
#5 Evercool #EC9225M12BA 1.8W
#4 Young-Lin #DBF902512H 2.8W tie
#3 Top-Motor #DF1209BA 2.1W tie
#2 Sunon #KD1209PTB2 2.4W tie
#1 Delta #AFB0912H 2.5W winner
The Delta beat the others easily......it kept the CPU 2C cooler than the other fans, at a slightly higher noise level. Not much though.
The other five fans sounded similar at five volts....I couldn't tell them apart during a blind test. I could identify the Delta however.
So what good is this sort of test? :lol: .........I'm cooling this SFF using a single 92mm fan, driven by the default votage (5V) of the PSU. I needed slightly more airflow to cool the hard drive better than I was getting.
Using the Delta lowered my HD temp by almost 5C, keeps the CPU Temp low enough that the CPU fan stays off at an idle (28C ambient). The CPU fan only starts up at 50% CPU usage. So by using a more powerful/slightly noiser PSU fan, I have lowered the over-all noise level, and made the whole computer run cooler.
It's a win/win solution.... :D

Can you get new heatsink fans for the 4800se?

does anyone know if and where you can buy parts for the GeForce4 Ti4800se? My fan on this unit has stopped working altogrther. The card is only 7 months old. it looks like ive also lost the reciept for this product also
any help would be appreciated

I would use the Thermaltake heatsink and fan made of pure copper, their
made to fit all Geforce 4 Ti cards!
You can buy them here [http://www.newegg.com] model: GF 4 HP cooler
The H2O Guru
If You Build The Circuit, The Electrons Will Come!
Enermax 550 v1.2 EG651P-VE PSU
+3.3V=36A / +5V=36A / +12V=36A
+5V & +3.3v = 200Watts
nVidia MB Drivers v3.13
nVidia VGA Drivers v53.03

Which CPU heatsink/fan for Z77A-GD65? - if 90 C at 100% load is too high?

With stock Intel heat sink and keeping the CPU (i7 3770) load at 100% for hours, the CPU temp hovers around 89-90 C. My case has 2 x 120 mm fans in the front and 2 x 120 mm fans on the back of the case, . With the room temperature of 20-22 C, the typical idle CPU Temp is 30-32 C.
Two questions please.
1) Is keeping the CPU temperature at 90 C all day "safe"?
2) What after market heat-sink would would recommend for this MB, if the temperature should be dropped few degrees.
My observation for Z77A-GD65: There isn't much real-estate around the CPU for a large coolers and furthermore, my case cannot fit one of those tall cooler heat sinks with 120 mm fan on the fins.
I don't overclock, but run multiple CPU intensive simulations.
i7 3770,
Z77A-D65 MB,
Corsair 750TX PSU,
Corsair Veangeance LP 4 x 8GB RAM ( CML16GX3M2A1600C10)
using internal INTEL graphics and I have 5 x 1TB HDD's of various brand.

UPDATE:
Thank you again for the good suggestions.
I installed Arctic Freezer 13 CO cooler and the temp dropped about 25 C from 90C to 65C with 100% CPU load (my simulation program) for nearly 10 hours.
Tested on Prime95 => 71 C max after 10 hours. Before the upgrade, I dared not run prime95 because the temperature would quickly shoot up above 90C.
IntelBurnTest 2.54 Max Stress => 80 C max
The 92mm cooler fan clears barely above the low profile RAM. It may not fit on high profile RAM( those with high heat spread) Max RPM is about 2100. It's very quiet. I cannot tell apart the cooler fan noise over the case fan noise. After trying to get optimal fan speed using MB BIOS and MSI Control Center, I decided to turn off smart fan control and leave the fan speed at 100%. This "CO: Continuous Operation" fan is supposed to last a long time anyway.

Best Heatsink&Fan for P4 2.4C

Hi,
I am currently overclocking my 2.4c to 3.0ghz and have some (not many) stability issues, can anyone tell me which of these two hs&fan's they would recommend:
Vantec Aeroflow VP4-C7040
or
Thermaltake P4 Spark 7
Thanks

I totally agree with these guys. Super cool super quiet since it uses the theory of large thin fins and slow RPM large diamter fan. Even OC'ed to 3.46 I am running idle temps of 22C and load temps that NEVER exceed 50C.
check to see if it will fit inside your case. Some cases don't like it because the PSU is too close to the motherboard.
MR BREEZE
P4 3.0G 800FSB @ 3.45 G/230(924)FSB
MSI 875P Neo FIS2R Bios v1.5
Kingston HyperX3500 1GB Dual DDR433
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB @ 441/371
WD1200JB Primary Drive
Pioneer DVR-105 (unlocked firmware 1.33b)
2xWD2000JB on IDE in RAID-0
Antec TrueControl 550
Sandra MAX3! CPU: 11696
Sandra MAX3! Mem: 5565
3dMark2001SE: 20995
3dMark2003: 6848

Things to know before building a Mega 651 (and other things you should know afte

Okay, following hot on the heels of the "things to know" series on Mega 180 and 865, I thought I'd just chip in with this short post on what you should know before splashing out on a nice budget Mega 651
PROCESSOR SUPPORT:
The official list of supported CPUs can be found here:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/slim_pc/slm/pro_slm_cpu_support_detail.php?UID=431&kind=4
Basically the ageing SiS651 chipset does not support Celeron / P4 cpus above 533mhz, and does NOT support the newer "Prescott" core cpus
Celeron > 400Mhz FSB
P4 Northwood > 533mhz FSB (512kb L2 cache)
MEMORY:
Basically to add to what is listed in the 865 "things to know"; from my own experience of using MSI motherboards in the past, ALWAYS use good quality branded memory, as using cheaper "generic" types inevitably leads to major problems. I know for a fact that Crucial, Kingston and Samsung types work well in MSI motherboards, and you should be okay with other high-end brands like Corsair and Geil.
DRIVERS:
DON'T bother using MSI LiveUpdate! The drivers provided on the cd supplied will work, but if you wish to download the latest drivers, you will find them here:
http://download.sis.com/
Download and install the:
Chipset Software > SiS AGP (Gart) Driver
IGP Graphics Drivers > SiS650 and 740 series
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/dlac97-2.aspx?lineid=5&famid=12&series=8&Software=True
for Realtek AC97 Audio drivers
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads1-3.aspx?lineid=1&famid=3&series=16&Software=True
For Realtek Onboard Network interface
The modem drivers supplied on the CD should work, I really don't know much about them as I have never used them (sorry). Failing that, if you are connected to the internet, Windows Update should be able to find them for you.
OPERATING SYSTEM SUPPORT
MSI state that only Windows XP is supported on Mega 651 (and other Mega barebones). Other versions of Windows (98, ME, 2000) will work provided you have drivers for hardware devices, all of which are provided on the install CD or from the links supplied above.
You'll find that earlier versions of Windows won't have the drivers for the built-in card reader, so you may have to do a "google" search to get them. On my Mega 651, they are listed in Device Manager as "OEI-USB" devices.
If you haven't already got Windows XP then I suggest you consider upgrading at the earliest opportunity; Microsoft themselves no longer support Win 98 / ME and most new software is being designed to work only with Windows XP
Please note that MSI do NOT supply or support drivers for Linux; if you wish to attempt to install Linux on a Mega 651 (or other Mega PC model) you will need to obtain drivers yourself. The remote and LCD display functions will also not be available under Linux, unless some clever bod has developed drivers to do so.
MEGA RADIO AND LCD DISPLAY:
Download the Mega LiveUpdate for Mega 651 from here:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/software/swr/spt_swr_detail.php?UID=431&kind=4
This will update your MEGA Radio program, update the BlueBird HIFi module firmware and allow you to set a "greeting" displayed on the LCD display when you switch on HiFi mode. Apart from that the LCD display serves NO other purpose in PC mode.
After updating the firmware, you should power off your Mega 651, unplug the mains power cord for a few seconds then reconnect and restart for changes to take place.
OTHER MSI SOFTWARE:
If you REALLY must try out MSI Media Center III, it does work on the Mega 651, but I don't think the remote will work correctly.
Although PCAlert 4 has been reported to work on the Mega 651 - having read the numerous problems most users have, I don't advise installing it. If you do get it to work correctly, unlike on the Mega 180 and 865, it will not display temps or fan speeds on the LCD display, as this feature only works on the 180 and 865, as they use diferent LCD displays.
EXPANSION CARDS:
Same as with other Megas, you get 1 AGP and 1 PCI slot.
The AGP slot only supports up to 4x cards; a faster card will work, but only at 4x.
Space is limited, if you decide to fit a PCI TV tuner card, you will be limited as to which AGP card you can fit. A full length card is probably not recommended, and a model with a slimline (or even passive) heatsink would be best.
A better alternative would be to go for a VGA card with built in TV tuner, such as MSI TV5200-VTDF128 or an ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder card (ATI AIW is supported in WinXP MCE05)
ON-BOARD VGA
The SiS651 chipset is pretty old now, and the on-board SiS650 VGA is not up to playing any of the latest games, as it is only DirectX 7.0 compliant and does not support Hardware Texture & Lighting. However, it is adequate for playing back DVDs as it supports hardware acceleration (in PowerDVD for example), and general video output is decent. The maximum shared video memory size is 64mb.
The Mega 651 does NOT feature TV-out as standard. You can however either buy an AGP video card which includes TV-out feature, or the Mega TV-out card (availble in UK from www.dabs.com). Please note, this card is ONLY for Mega 651, and does NOT work with the 865 model. (The 180 does however, thanks to nforce2 chipset, support TV-out as standard)
ON-BOARD AUDIO
The Realtek ALC650 AC97 audio codec offers 5.1 surround sound (with suitable speakers of course ) as well as SP-DIF for digital output.
The sound quality is quite reasonable; i'm currently listening to MP3s through a set of Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers, and its certainly good enough for me.
There are three audio connectors on the rear, they default to:
GREEN - Front speakers
BLUE - Line In
PINK - Mic
To connect surround sound speakers correctly, you need to use the Realtek audio configuration tool (located in the Taskbar by the clock). Set the speaker config to 4 or 6 channel (5.1) and then click on the boxes to the right to configure the rear ports correctly
GREEN - Front speakers
BLUE - Rear Speakers
PINK - Subwoofer / Centre Speaker
NOTE: If you do decide you want to install a PCI soundcard, be aware that you will lose the Radio function in PC mode, and for audio output in Hi-Fi mode you will need to reconnect audio plugs from your soundcard to onboard sockets. The Hi-Fi mode and Radio only work with the onboard audio.
POWER SUPPLY
All the Mega series barebones come with a 200w PSU. Don't even think about upgrading to a higher output type, as the Mega PSU is a non-standard type. A standard ATX PSU will NOT physically fit inside the Mega case. Besides which, the Mega series have a special connector which powers the Bluebird hi-fi module and on-board sound when the PC is off. And there is a special Molex power connector for the CD/DVD drive, also for that to be used when PC is off.
WINDOWS XP MCE 2005
Media Center 2005 requires a DirectX 8.1 / 9.0 compliant video card with a minimum of 64mb RAM, 128mb RAM is recommended, however, for best performance. So you will need an AGP card, because SiS do not provide any MCE-compatible drivers. The TV@anywhere TV tuner (MS8606-10) and Mega TV Tuner (MS8606-40) are not supported by MCE05, because MCE2005 requires a TV card that will provide a direct MPEG2 stream, which a PVR card such as the Hauppage PVR MCE series can do (as a hardware card, MSIs card are software only and rely on drivers to do MPEG encoding), or a dedicated DVB-T card which receives an MPEG2 signal over the air.
MEGA 651 REMOTE
If you fit an MSI TV@anywhere card to your Mega 651, the Mega remote can be used to control the MSIPVS software, providing you use the remote receiver supplied with the TV@nywhere card. The Mega remote is designed to work natively with the MSI Media Center, and MSI Mega Radio programs only.
If you wish to program the remote to operate other programs within windows, then you will need a program called Girder, and the accompanying MSI plugin, kindly provided by nathan. please see his sticky thread for more info, about his plugin, and how to obtain Girder.
BROKEN HEATSINK MOUNTING CLIPS
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=96148.0
Phew, thats about it. If any other Mega 651 users think I've missed anything out, please feel free to tell me.
For other general hints and tips, look through the "things to know" posts regarding the 865 and 180.
MEGA 651 =

Quote
PROCESSOR SUPPORT:
The official list of supported CPUs can be found here:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/slim_pc/slm/pro_slm_cpu_support_detail.php?UID=431&kind=4
Basically the ageing SiS651 chipset does not support Celeron / P4 cpus above 533mhz, and does NOT support the newer "Prescott" core cpus
Celeron > 400Mhz FSB
P4 Northwood > 533mhz FSB (512kb L2 cache)
your processor is not supported. please start a new thread if you need help

Heatsinks/Fans affecting speed

I'm about to add an Athlon 2400+ cpu (retail box with heatsink/fan included) to my K7T Turbo2 motherboard. I won't be overclocking or anything, just running normally.
My question is, will using a different heatsink/fan, like a Thermaltake Volcano 10, for example, increase my performance at all?
I'd like to use the heatsink/fan included in the retail package to save money, but would using a better heatsink/fan make it run any faster?
- James

Hi,
Nope, as Wonk said....it will run just as fast

MEGA 865 CPU heatsink FAN FAILURE.

Got my Mega 865 less than six months ago, and the CPU heatsink fan is making annoying loud grinding noises.
Anyone know where I can get an adequate replacement FAST online in the USA? (I need it in
The fan is the 60mm x 60mm x 13mm near the AGP slot, Delta Electronics model AFB0612VHC and the specs are DC12V 0.36A 28cfm 3pin motherboard connector.
Is it worth contacting MSI Support? Can they FedEx me a fast replacement overnight? (If it's under warranty, great, if not, fine I'll pay for it.)
Otherwise, the MEGA865 is great, I liked it a lot.
Config:
ATI Radeon 9600 (fanless)
Hauppauge PVR250MCE
3.2 ghz Northwood
250 GB Maxtor
OEM NEC 2500A DVD RW black.
and
Windows Media Center 2005 (rocks)
Thanks for any help you can give.

Quote
Originally posted by aaaaa
Quote
Originally posted by Stu Online
if the unit is six months old, you should be able to claim one under warranty - MSI will probably suggest you contact your dealer first - though i doubt if dealers will have seperate heatsinks
I got the MEGA from newegg.
I'd rather MSI just mailed me a fan, not a whole heatsink. Bubble wrap one and drop it in a FedEx overnight envelop.
Even if it's under warranty, I'd totally pay for a new one if I could get it fast.
We're talking about a $15 item (+whatever FedEx overnight costs). I don't really care if I have to buy one myself. Unfortunately I looked on the web, and no one seems to sell this exact fan anywhere.
Wow I'm impressed. I phoned MSI USA support, was on hold for
Great job MSI support. I'm astonished it was this easy.

Mega 651:Why not 1 single receiver for all ?

I have a Mega 651 with Celron 2,6 Ghz. proc. in it.
Also Maxtor 120 Gb harddisk 7200 rpm.
I use the internal Sis VGA card.
With 512 DDR 2 ram
Included is 1 IR transmitter (gris color).
I bought also a MSI TV @nywhere Master card. With IR transmitter and IR receiving eye included.
Why am I NOT able to use the internal IR receiver eye that is build in the Mega 651 for controlling my TV from Intervideo MSIPVS??
Why do I need to place the add. IR receiver eye. The one that comes with my TV tuner card?
Is there no way I can control my TV with my IR control from my Mega 651 and with the INTERNAL IR eye in my Mega PC?
Pretty stupid.

This are the details from my MSI MEGA 651 deluxe
Technische Daten:
Prozessor Sockel
Intel Pentium 4 - Sockel 478 (keine CPU enthalten!) bis 2,8 GHZ FSB400 oder FSB533 auch alle Celeron Prozessoren
Chipsatz
SIS 651
Front Side Bus
@400/533MHz
Arbeitsspeicher
2xDDR DIMM (kein Speicher enthalten) PC266/333 max 2GB
Steckplätze
1xPCI,1xAGP (4x)
Erweiterungseinschübe gesamt
1 x von vorne zugänglich - 5.25" x 1/2H (keine Laufwerke enthalten)
1 x Intern - 3.5" x 1/3H
OnBoard Komponenten
Sound: Realtek ALC650 5.1 Sound
VGA-Grafik SIS 720 32MB shared
LAN-Kontroller 100mbit (dsl-fähig)
IEEE1394/Firewire und USB2.0 (6x)
Abmessungen/Format
202(B) x 151(H) x 320(T) mm
Front I/O:
• Mic-in/Head-Phone
• 2x USB
• IEEE 1394
• Optical SPDIF-in
• 6 in 1 Card Reader integriert
Rear I/O:
• COM / VGA / Parallel
• 2x PS2
• LAN on-Board
• 2x USB
• Optical SPDIF-out
• Speaker-out/Line-in/Mic-in (AC`97 Codec, 5.1ch)
• Modem
• PSU: 200W PFC
Hi-Fi Modus
Voll funktionsfähig auch ohne PC-Aufrüstung:
• FM/AM-Radio
• Audio-CD
• MP 3-CD
• Equalizer & CM

MEGA 651 fan advice again!

ok, ok,
I know, its every other question on this forum!
I've read it all through but I just need some simple advice.
I own an MEGA 651 and use it in a hot enviroment (Mallorca, Spain)
I have just bought a case fan that I intend to screw to the outside of the case.
The fan specs are: 80x80x25mm. 1800 rpm.
Now I have two questions......
Firstly, should I set it to blow air into the case, or suck hot air out of it?
Secondly, I read advice about swapping round the cpu fan. As I understand it, it ariginally blows air towards the CPU. So if I was to set it to blow air away from the cpu, then I guess I should build my case fat to blow out from the right hand side (as you look at PC)
Are you with me so far?
Or, should I mount it on the left side to blow air in, swap the cpu far around so its blown out then?
aaarrgghhh
I intend to screw it to the vent holes in the side of the case
Come on you techies, lend me your experience with this.
thanks in advance
Mallorcaben

i had same problem with the heat on the cpu so what i did to get round it was buy a connector from the three pin fan to the spare molex if u have one it now runs all the time and my temp stays at around 40/41

MEGA 651 - need a part for it

hi, just got a second hand MEGA 651 and noticed that the clip to hold the cpu cooler inplace is broken, how would i go about getting a replacement? Its one of the black thingys that are screwed down, i havent been able to test it yet but it looks like my cpu wont be compatable due to the fact i have got a P4 3.2ghz prescott.
Thanks.

Quote
i read on here somewhere before that they got in touch with MSI, who sent them a replacement clip free-of-charge
so it wasn't my imagination after all! there you go, a bargain Mega PC for £40

Replacement Chipset/Heatsink Fan (northbridge? for k7n2 delta-ilsr)

< i need a replacement heatsink and fan for this fan. that will fit! Reason: I want a new one that is quiter, and the original fan in it broke. I also need to be able to buy these part(s) online.

Me too. You can get them in copper or aluminium. I have the latter, and for more than year now it's been doing a fine job with minimum noise.
Check it out here:
http://www.pcabusers.com/reviews/iceberg/p1.html

Wiggy's Mega 651 Project

This is from another board I hang on (www.redflagdeals.com), decided I might share it here.
I bought one of these units and have been lurking on this thread (which has been quite informative and helpful) and now it's time to chime in with my bit.
Here's my basic config:
Mega 651, BIOS v1.1, MegaRadio v1.00.61
Celeron 2.7G
640MB RAM (1x512, 1x128)
NVIDIA GForce4 MX 4000 128MB w/tv out, passively cooled (fanless)
Maxtor 6E040L0 40G
MSI 8332 CD-ROM 32x12x40
external USB floppy
external USB wieless B adapter Microsoft MN-510
On the bench i'm using a standard MS keyboard, Synaptics glidepad and a 15" IBM monitor
Set up in the living room I'll be using a wireless RF BTC keyboard/thumb mouse and a 32" TV
The initial set up went fine. The machine booted without trouble and recognized all the bits of a basic, stripped down hardware config.
The only issues coming out of the gate were cooling the system and managing the tight, tight space.
MSI's PC Alert 4 isn't worth a damn, so I'm using Speedfan. Even just idling with the unit cover off I'm getting 42°C on the CPU and 56°C (and the little flame icon) on the hard drive.
I decided to focus on cooling the hard drive first because it's essentially turned the Mega into an Easy Bake Oven. I've attached one of those dual fan aluminum frame hard drive coolers to the bottom of the drive. To make space for what is now pretty much a double height hard drive I've removed the hard drive and floppy drive mounting brackets from under the CD-ROM mounting slot. That frees up a huge amount of room for the drive, cables and air circulation. You can even almost get your hands in there to work! I'm staying with the card reader so installing a floppy in that space is not an issue. I'll also stick with a single drive and just upgrade to a larger one if necessary.
To mount the hard drive I picked up a piece of 1/2" aluminium angle at the local Home Depot and cut two pieces to match the length of the drive. I marked and drilled these brackets to match the screw holes on the drive. This is pretty simple work that only requires a hacksaw, a drill and bit and a file to clean up the cut ends of the brackets. The brackets are mounted flush to the top of the drive. This lets the drive hang down from the CD-ROM mount rails without any other screws or hardware required. Because the brackets are made of thin-gauge aluminum there's still plenty of room to easily install the CD-ROM.
The difference from the installation of the hard drive cooling is dramatic. The CPU now idles at 36-37°C and the hard drive at about 35°C . Speedfan manages the fans with minimums set at 50/50/20. The drive cooler is dead silent.
The next step is to install a supplementary fan to exhaust the hot air from the drive fom the case. Using some heavy duty velcro I've attached a 50mm CPU cooling fan with a molex connector onto the right hand side of the blue bracket that holds the Mega's stock CPU cooling fan. This lines up neatly with the exhaust grill on the case. You need a power pigtail to extend the reach of the Mega's power connector. I tried a bunch of different fans looking for the one that runs the quietest. The difference from fan to fan cooling wise wasn't significant, so whispering counts the most here for me.
Once that's done the system temps drop again. The CPU idles at 33-34°C and the hard drive at anywhere from 27-31°C. Aside from the simple mods I've described here all the rest of the system cooling is stock. Note that I've not mentioned system board temps, but then they've generally stayed with one or two degrees of the CPU temp. I can hear the cooling fan for the first time, but it's not out of line. A higher end fan might run more quietly. I just picked from what I had to hand.
I want to add a fan to the video card, but that'll have to wait until I find something that fits properly and has a nice low profile so that it doesn't obstruct the PCI slot. I've got a couple fans that fit the bill except for the fact that heatsink butts up against one of the components of the video card which would be a no-no. So I either find a different fan or grind down a wee bit of one of those I have in hand.
All the PCI slot fans I've looked at are too wide to fit in comfortably and they end up costing you your PCI slot in any case, so I wouldn't consider them an option.
I may end up grabbing one of those laptop cooling pads with the multiple fans to sit the unit on, but I want to give the existing config a workout first.
These were pretty simple mods. They were easy to do with basic tools and materials and didn't cost much. They didn't involve cutting my case to bits or mounting extrusions on it so it still looks sleek and clean. The drive fan runs about $15 Cdn, $5 for the aluminum angle, $5 for the CPU cooler fan, $3 for the power pigtail cable, $5 for velcro. Cheaper if you've got some of these parts lying around.
That's a long enough post for now. I'll talk about some of the other bits in another post.

Okay. Got some pics that tie into my previous post.
Here's the Mega. I'm using an external USB floppy and USB wireless B adapter. Not much space inside the case, but this thing's got USB ports coming out of it's ying yang, so why not? That's the Compag SFF I'm retiring that the Mega is sitting on.
This pic shows the hard drive with a cooling fan installed. Fifteen bucks at CWO and the colour even matches the trim on the Mega's case! Too bad you can't see it once it's installed. Note the homemade mounting rails installed on both sides of the drive. They're cut from a piece of aluminum angle from Home Depot and have a couple of holes drilled in them to match the screw holes on the hdd.
Next up, here's the drive installed. The aluminum rails sit on top of the frame of the CD-ROM mounting bay. Note there are no screws to hold the hdd in place in the bay. Once you install the CD drive on top it'll hold the works firmly in place. The stock hdd & fdd mounting brackets have been removed from the case. The hdd and fan combo hang in the open space below, but there is still a ton of room down there for cables and air circulation.
Finally, here's a side shot showing the installation of a supplementary exhaust fan on the right hand side of the case. It's mounted using a velcro strip across the top of the fan and on the inside edge of the Mega's stock cpu fan holder. It lines up nicely with the existing grill on the Mega's case and draws hot air from the cpu's heatsink and the hdd and exhausts it. Note that you'll need a molex extension pigtail to be able to reach the Mega's power connector.
In this image you can also see the hdd and attached cooler fan in place. It doesn't show real clear here, but everything between the bottom of the orange hdd fan and the top of the RAM sticks is open space.
That's my work to date. Straight forward enough, cheap and makes a big difference to the operating temp of the system.

Different heatsink/fan for MEGA 651?

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