ACA-1231 Cooling mini project.

[som99]

Well my ACA-1231/42 runs really hot, not to hot to make it a problem, but it's hot enough to make the underside of the table the Amiga stands on get warm to the touch and it gets to hot to keep your finger on the piece of aluminium for a while, so I run my A1200 with the trapdoor open.

So I decided to make a new cooler plate, bigger, thinner and maybe I can keep the trapddor closed. Also keeping it cooler will save some years on the chip

I went and bought a piece of copper (I think it had been used in an old mac), nearly double heat transfer properties of aluminium I could use thinner copper then the aluminium that was on the ACA-1231.

So all and all, I decided to make the copper plate as big as possible to tackle the thinner size and make it transfer heat from the CPU a lot better then the original alu cooling.

Here is the copper and the ACA-1231



Then I started working with it and besides one more needed hole it will fit good.
Some sandpaper and brushing up will also be needed


Now to the problem.

What is the aluminium plate seated with? I do not dare to pry to much since the pins of the CPU moves also, and pull is not an option, anyone have any tips how I should remove it without breaking anything.

Any solvant or something that would work good or should I use a thin knife and do it that way?

I plan to use artic silver thermal compound instead of heatpads and such when i put the copper piece on there.

Any thoughts?

Edit: The angle of the last picture makes it look as the size is a bit off, but it is not. Also it just was put there fast so no centering ^^

Edit: Got the heatsink off, a bit of heat and a razorblade knife did the trick.
Some kind of thermal pad/tape was used.


CPU cleaned.


The new bigger heatsink attached, I used ArticSilver 5 thermal paste which is quite a lot better then the heat pad/tape that was used originally.


Now only a bit of sandpapering making it look nicer and it's done

It's been running the same demo over and over as used before I removed the original heatsink so compare how how it gets.

Tho I have somewhat some kind of proof of that it was going to hot before, before a few Demos was quitted or froze without explanation, the same demos run without issues now.
So I guess it had some heat problems before.

By the feel of it now ive nearly halved the temperature of the poor 030. Copper instead of aluminium and a lot bigger does a lot, also using good thermal paste (and the right amount) instead of the heat pats/tape does help So job well done for today, only cosmetics left

[Iggy]

Neat idea.
A large copper plate.

Good thinking.passive cooler that will fit without raising the height of the machine

[som99]

Neat idea.
A larger .
Good thinking.passive cooler that will fit without raising the height of the machine

Thanks,  that was my plan, slimmer and more area and no need to have the trapdoor removed, I am at work atm but when I get home I'll make a new attempt to remove the original heatsink, if all goes well I'm a happy camper

[Lurch]

Very interested in how this turns out I have one and found it does get really hot. The heat goes through the rest of the wedge really quickly and the indi aga starts to get hot.

Also plan on fitting my fast ata (once I get my motherboard back) LOL.

[paul1981]

If the aluminium heat sink is getting hot, then that basically means that it's doing its job correctly and efficiently....the heat you feel is a good indication of this. Personally I'd be leaving it as is.
Jens hangs around EAB a lot, so you could post a question on there, or just e-mail him and ask him if you really want to know how it's attached.

You might want to mount a small fan at the side of the trapdoor (just to the right) to blow air across the ACA card and into the main part of the case. You can have an even larger fan if you mount it resting on the floppy connector and angle it down towards the trapdoor (you have to cut a tab on the interior of the 1200 upper case though for that). That's currently how I keep my Apollo 060 cool, and the case all at the same time (just the one fan).

[som99]

If the aluminium heat sink is getting hot, then that basically means that it's doing its job correctly and efficiently....the heat you feel is a good indication of this. Personally I'd be leaving it as is.

The heat transfer works yes but due to the temperature of the heatsink the cooling is insufficient for me to feel safe years to come, if the heatsink is to hot for the touch then you can imagine the temperature  of the poor 030 cpu.
The ultimate scenario is a heatsink which has good contact with the CPU and is large enough to be quite cool, even if the heat is no problem im planning on keeping my Amigas for years to come and running it cool will extend the CPU's life.

I like to take care of my hardware and doing my own solutions is fun

So I feel I want it to run cooler and a bigger heatsink that can passively keep it cool.

Jens hangs around EAB a lot, so you could post a question on there, or just e-mail him and ask him if you really want to know how it's attached.

Thanks, ive solved it tho so no need to ask him anymore, ill continue to post new pics when I got time tho

You might want to mount a small fan at the side of the trapdoor (just to the right) to blow air across the ACA card and into the main part of the case. You can have an even larger fan if you mount it resting on the floppy connector and angle it down towards the trapdoor (you have to cut a tab on the interior of the 1200 upper case though for that). That's currently how I keep my Apollo 060 cool, and the case all at the same time (just the one fan).

I was thinking of doing that, but I do not want more fans inside my Amiga, god know I have enough fans already, building a new heatsink is more fun and something I do not do every day

[NovaCoder]

Hiya,

Interesting project but you should always run without the trapdoor fitted in my opinion as it improves air-flow.

My old Blizzard 030 also used to get very hot but it didn't seem to mind and never gave me any trouble.

[som99]

Hiya,

Interesting project but you should always run without the trapdoor fitted in my opinion as it improves air-flow.

My old Blizzard 030 also used to get very hot but it didn't seem to mind and never gave me any trouble.

Thanks tho with the new heatsink and my current airflow I hope I can be able to have the trapdoor closed

I have no trouble with the heat either but I feel more comfortable if it runs cooler since the miggy is running many hours a day and sometimes it runs 24/7, also planning on running web and mail server from it, so keeping it cool will feel better

Also it's fun to build stuff

[som99]

Update. Fitted and done.

Got the heatsink off, a bit of heat and a razorblade knife did the trick.
Some kind of thermal pad/tape was used.


CPU cleaned.


The new bigger heatsink attached, I used ArticSilver 5 thermal paste which is quite a lot better then the heat pad/tape that was used originally.


Now only a bit of sandpapering making it look nicer and it's done

It's been running the same demo over and over as used before I removed the original heatsink so compare how how it gets.

Tho I have somewhat some kind of proof of that it was going to hot before, before a few Demos was quitted or froze without explanation, the same demos run without issues now.
So I guess it had some heat problems before.

By the feel of it now ive nearly halved the temperature of the poor 030. Copper instead of aluminium and a lot bigger does a lot, also using good thermal paste (and the right amount) instead of the heat pats/tape does help So job well done for today, only cosmetics left

[Djole]

I am not sure you used a good material for your new heatsink. Some1 correct me if I am wrong but copper will corrode very fast and it will not conduct temperature from your cpu that good.

[Cosmos Amiga]

The 68030 installed is a @16 overclocked at @42 : I'm right ?

[SpeedGeek]

I tried adding a small heat sink to my A3000D a few years ago when the 68030 was overclocked to 30 MHz. It did not help very much because the RP package does not provide very good heat transfer. For that reason, I would recommend a small cooling fan attached to the CPU rather than a larger heat sink, which will in fact restrict the air flow.

[som99]

The 68030 installed is a @16 overclocked at @42 : I'm right ?

You tell me, seems the last part of part number has been removed with acid or something, can't read it (as you see on the picture it's unreadable). I guessed it was the 20MHz one, can you find the mask for this cpu and verify?

I am not sure you used a good material for your new heatsink. Some1 correct me if I am wrong but copper will corrode very fast and it will not conduct temperature from your cpu that good.

I do not think it will corrode very fast at all. Im not mixing metals and I cleaned the surface good to avoid corrosion, I wont see enough corrosion to make a difference in my ACA-1231's lifetime.
The copper plate used to be a heatsink for an old mac and had no corrosion from the years inside the mac.

I tried adding a small heat sink to my A3000D a few years ago when the 68030 was overclocked to 30 MHz. It did not help very much because the RP package does not provide very good heat transfer. For that reason, I would recommend a small cooling fan attached to the CPU rather than a larger heat sink, which will in fact restrict the air flow.

Well, this was an experiment to see if I could avoid using a extra fan, and so far a few hours of testing has been done and the CPU is cooler then before so it seems like it's doing its job and is transferring heat from the CPU a lot better then before.
So ill cross my fingers and hope no extra fan will be needed, I guess not since ive been running heavy demos for quite a while now and before it was to hot to touch and now its a lot better

But thanks for your input