I saw a similar post on another blog recently (although I can’t remember which blog, sorry) so I decided to take a trip down memory lane and share one of my earlier computer “mods”.
Jump back to December of 2000 (wow, it’s hard to believe this was seven years ago)… I was running an AMD Athlon Slot A 500 MHz processor using a GlobalWin VOS32 heatsink. I had removed the front casing of the processor which gave me access to the debugging connector. I purchased a Tweak Device 2, also known as a Golden Fingers Device), which allowed you to overclock your processor using the debug connector.
Like every overclocker, I was constantly looking for better cooling, so I decided to take an Alpha K7125 heatsink and modify it for better cooling.
Here we see the backplate of the Athlon that needed to be removed…
This was a very risky procedure, especially considering I couldn’t afford to replace the processor if I it broke.
Here we have the Alpha K7125, which was originally designed to mount with the processor’s backplate in place. Mounting the processor’s core and memory directly to the heatsink would, in theory, result in better heat transfer and lower temperatures.
I took two fins from the GlobalWin heatsink and affixed those on the Alpha heatsink to bridge the gap of the memory chips on the Athlon processor.
I didn’t have any plastic washers to place between the mounting screws and the PCB, so I cut a few pieces of cardboard and used that (yes, I’m ghetto).
And here we have the finished product. Surprisingly enough, I didn’t kill the processor and it worked like a champ! I don’t recall exact numbers, but I think I only netted a few degrees cooler drop in processor temperature.
I ended up taking the 500 MHz processor up to a maximum of 800 MHz…. very impressive for that time!
