Aftermarket coolers for Slot 1 Pentium IIs/IIIs

[WhitetailAni]

As some of you may know, I have a Slot 1 Pentium III 500 MHz.

The cooler sucks. It's one of the ones that has the little heatsink and tiny whiny fan. Temps in the BIOS are 53C.

I've read that it's possible to remove them, but if any part of it breaks (I think breaking one of the "4 pins" was a common occurance), the cooler is useless and you need a new one.

Are there any used aftermarket coolers for Slot 1 P2/P3s for a decent price that any knows of? While under load, temps hit 75C and the fan gets even louder.

Also, has someone been crazy enough to rig up an AIO for it with an 80mm radiator or something?

[Applefreak]

7 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

As some of you may know, I have a Slot 1 Pentium III 500 MHz.

The cooler sucks. It's one of the ones that has the little heatsink and tiny whiny fan. Temps in the BIOS are 53C.

I've read that it's possible to remove them, but if any part of it breaks (I think breaking one of the "4 pins" was a common occurance), the cooler is useless and you need a new one.

Are there any used aftermarket coolers for Slot 1 P2/P3s for a decent price that any knows of? While under load, temps hit 75C and the fan gets even louder.

Also, has someone been crazy enough to rig up an AIO for it with an 80mm radiator or something?

First you want to replace the thermal paste on your processor. Even new the paste was crap. Then there are 2 types, 1 is soldered on and 1 has an actual socket with a lever on it. The cooler itself is held down by 4 screws. There used to be aftermarket coolers that would work without the plastic shroud. You can mess around and create your adapter plate to mount a better cooler on top if you like but be careful, those old Pentiums didn't have a heatspreader. Applying too much pressure or mounting the cooler at an angle will kill the processor. You can also just replace the fan with a new one like from Noctua or Noiseblocker. The temps you are describing are not that far out of where those system used to operate under full load. Some of the stock heatsinks weren't even copper, they used brass with some aluminium foil for better contact. You can try with a thermal adhesive pad and a AMD stock cooler or something similiar in size to improve those temps. Also make sure you have ample airflow, those old motherboards themselves were really hot. Replacing the Northbridge and Southbridge heatsinks or adding one is recommended.

[WhitetailAni]

20 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

Replacing the Northbridge and Southbridge heatsinks or adding one is recommended.

I don't think the south bridge has one, but the north bridge definitely does.

I can't replace it though since it's directly under the CPU.

20 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

Also make sure you have ample airflow, those old motherboards themselves were really hot.

That's sorted. Case has 80mm fan in the front, and I stuck a 92mm fan in the back.

Plus the PSU has one fan on the bottom and one in the rear.

21 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

You can also just replace the fan with a new one like from Noctua or Noiseblocker.

I don't think I can. It's 30mm I believe and doesn't have a frame.

21 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

You can try with a thermal adhesive pad and a AMD stock cooler or something similiar in size to improve those temps.

if I can find a waterblock with the correct mounting, I may just make an "AIO" for it for fun.

Stick an 80mm fan on the back, mount an 80mm radiator, get a block, stick the pump on the floor, and boom. Water cooling a P3.

 

Thanks for the info!

[WhitetailAni]

@Applefreak Here's a picture of it:

Spoiler

What do I do from here? I don't see a lever anywhere on it.