Cooling for A1200

[irishmike]

@fragment

Cool.  I was just curious :-)

[MrZammler]

Have my 030/1200 running 24/7 (web server) and under load. No need for heatsink/fans at all  :-D

[irishmike]

@MrZammler

Perhaps I should raise it a bit for better airflow... the main thing I think I am "smelling" overheating or perhaps there is a lot of dust inside?

@everyone

I am not saying this to offend anyone, but the person who owned my A1200 prior to me was obviously a smoker and there is the fun yellow stuff on the electronics that I have been carefully cleaning off with denatured alchohol on parts I can see, Maybe a good cleaning on the rest would be in order.  The unit produces NOT a "burning electronics" smell, but a "hot smell". (hard to describe) after it has been on for as little as 2 hours.

[AmigaMance]

Is your '030 really getting that hot? None of the 68030 Amigas I use have ever had any cooling on the CPU, and have been running 10 years plus. They run from 33MHz to 40MHz.

 Well, a 68030 at 50mhz produce much more heat and i can tell you that it does need cooling. At least at the summer.

[irishmike]

so the question becomes:  Is my Blizzard 1230 MKIV card at 50 mhz?   I do not know the answer to this.

Is there a way to tell easily without taking the whole machine apart.

Just a little background on me:  I have been a PC and Macintosh Technician for over 18 years.  I know that back in the Macintosh LC days, they did at least have a fan pulling air through the case even on the older non-PPC processor.

IMHO:  It is better to cool a chip that theorhetically does not require being cooled than to be sorry later because it fails... especially at the prices for the accellerators :-)

[doctorq]

Sorry, but as I see it, for a PC and Macintosh technician it should be more than easy to find out if it is a 50 MHz or not.

Anyway, to find out trough software, just download WhichAmiga from Aminet.

[irishmike]

@doctorq

Yeah, just because I am a technician does not mean I want to open up my box and look at the processor and cross reference the part number and etc ;-)  I imagine that sysinfo would also tell me the processor speed?

The speed according to SYSINFO is indeed 50 Mhz, actually running at 48.40... so cooling seems to be in order IMO.

[doctorq]

irishmike wrote:
@doctorq

Yeah, just because I am a technician does not mean I want to open up my box and look at the processor and cross reference the part number and etc ;-)  I imagine that sysinfo would also tell me the processor speed?

The speed according to SYSINFO is indeed 50 Mhz, actually running at 48.40... so cooling seems to be in order IMO.

Correct, but I would at least think that a technician looks over the hardware he is installing, assuming you installed the Blizzard 1230 yourself. The writing on the CPU is clearly visable, so hard to miss.

Anyway, seems like you found out eventually.

[irishmike]

@doctorq

Ahhh, you assumed I installed the Accelerator card.   I actually bought the A1200 as it sits.

[KThunder]

  i ran an 030 50 for a long time with no heatsink or anything and never had a problem. cpus back then were designed to run without anything. a cpu that needed a heatsink or fan was considered "ineffecient"
  an overclocked cpu or a early revision is a different story though. with a normal 030 50 you shouldnt be able to put your finger on the cpu it will get hot. if there are no system stability problems i would say just leave it or get a stickon heatsink.

[amipal]

@irishmike

so the question becomes: Is my Blizzard 1230 MKIV card at 50 mhz? I do not know the answer to this.

I believe the Blizzard 1230 MkIV was only supplied with a 0 Mhz part. Check the CPU - if it's got a gold top, it should be 50 Mhz.

[rare_j]

I didn't think my A1200 with Blizzard 1230IV needed any cooling, but it locked up after being on for a long time (12 hrs +), and when I touched the cpu it was so hot it burnt my finger.
So now I have a quiet 40mm fan behind the keyboard, blowing air under the keyboard onto the back of the 1230IV board. Not very efficient, but efficient enough as now the chip is only warm to the touch.

[weirdami]

@irishmike

The most cheapest solution is to save the caps from jugs of milk. When you have 4 of them, you're set.

[motrucker]

You're a technician? Then what I would suggest is getting a couple of the newest type thermistors, and hook them up so you know temp things are running at! Don't guess.
At todays prices they're really cheap, and you can get a small LCD module to recieve the output. Cheap peace of mind.....

Add.) The Logisys FP206 is a good controller - costs under $30.00, has LCD, and will display temps from thermistors and allow setting fan speeds.
I first saw this in the March issue of CPU magazine....