Another SteamDeck cooling mod

[pani_alex]

Hi, i am working on a cooling mod, i wanted to see if taking out the fan and installing a standard one on the inteka, have better results.

 

But from the first time i opened the steam deck, i noticed that the air intake is far too restricted to let enough air throw (since to be sucking air also from all the holes and button gabs), so i take the original fan off and cut a hole to install a noctua NF-A6x25 5V PWM, since there is no slim version in that size and the 4cm seems too small. And yes, the intake is way to restricted, i was heavily thermo throttling. So i continued with what i was planning and cut a little more the back  cover all over the board and more or less 1cm on the left, the difference is amazing, i get average -15C

 

So for the ones that wanna improve the cooling, it maybe enough tu cut the back cover and race between 5 and 10mm the cover to allow more air getting in (but needs to be tested and im not gonna resolder the fan for it)

 

Right now i am having a problem where if set the fan option off, it thermo throttles every now and then, but it is not the cpu, the temps are ok,  i think that because i have not the back cover smaching the shield anymore, there is not good contact with the vrms or something. But when the fan option is on, it works ok full load at full clock for hours.

Anyway its not a problem since i was planning to change the heat shield with a copper one and also make one for the ram, so it's not even finished and its already performing better

But i do not have yet the parts for that so i will post an update on it

Also cut the fan on 2 sides, since there is about 1cm that has no use and i needed a way to allow side airflow without raising even more the fan

 

Don't worry about the hot glue and the cardboard, i just couldn't wait to see if it works and make a test model, i will be printing something once i know everything works ok

 

will update more pics from the inside, just wanted to post it now and forgot to take more pics when i was working on it

 

first cut

[pani_alex]

I have some, pictures for update, cant tell if the ram heat plate is making something or afecting in performance but less(temp) is better so its good.

Replaced the original heat plate and it is definitely doing something, the temps get down instantly when i close a game, and i hit 3.499Mhz at full cpu load all time

 

My conclusion is that with a better general heatsink and less air restriction, the steam deck could have a much better thermos, no needing to make such a horrible modding, so the main problem is not enough intake airflow and poor heat dissipation

 

memory heatsink

 

back plate

 

I used a 1mm copper plate 100*150, also where the screw near the fan plug is, make it bigger so that the plate goes throw the and to hold it used a washer so that the plage res on the original Heatpipe and help to increase dissipation area

 

the vertical cut on the bottom near the charger chip is to allow pas for a m.2 extension, it worrks no problem, but just a few hours of use. 

 

I will be printing the cover soon if i'm happy with the performance and there are no problems soon. Don't pay too much attention to the finish, i don't have access to a real workshop so all its made in my apartment

 

I noticed that my pictures are not being shown, do i need to have more posts or is there another problem?

 

[pani_alex]

I made i think the last cooling update to my steam deck, it works amazing, temps stay under 60 C under full load with mid to low fan, so its cool and quiet.

The m.2 heatsink is screwed to the copper plate (only the top part, without the bottom part that squishes the ssd) and the copper plate touches the heatpipe so is near ideal head transmision, but im sure it could be better.

It will be interesting if some cooler company make some steam deck heatsink alternative with the back cover ready to install using a round heatpipe, if its shorter and wider will be interestingly slimmer. A better memory and other components cooling will be nice to, for the ones that make more heat, adding a little heatpipe its also a nice feature, well i have not messed the temps, but i like having parts well cooled.

i was also amazed how good this normal fan works as a laptop fan pushing air from the sides.

Now i am ready to print the part for the back cover to make it less crappy

[pani_alex]

i must to mention that i was having problems with the m.2 extension, while downloading, the steam deck was going slower until it stop responding, i suppose it was the wifi causing interference, because the flap came with the shield on one side, so i added normal kitchen aluminium fold on the other side and put duct tape over it to avoid short circuit, and It work stable since the update before this one

[pani_alex]

update, I find the magic of plugins with Decki and install Fantastic, while playing light games set the fan to run at 1000 rpm when it reaches 40C (under that, off) and its super silent (i set it first at 250 rpm but it moves to less air that i doesn't make any sense), it runs for a few seconds and turns off again.

Playing more heavy games, in this case, Planet crafter, it stays under 60C.

That is all on battery.

And while charging i must to set the fan on 1400 rpm and most of the time under 60C with peaks to 62C.

The problem with this fan is that it is too noisy while it lies on the table, I have to put a small towel under it to suppress the noise, on hands, I can't hear it.

 

I think even a 1cm heatsink and fan will work great (that was the original plan, just couldn't find any shortes heatsink that convince me, also don't knew another reputable 5v pwm brand fan). But must to take in mind that where the fan is right now, it blows air for the stock heatsink and on the sides for the custom ones.

 

funny thing, on full blast it goes under 40C on heavy games, but it also is winter on here, about 19C in my room

[FoolofCheese]

looking at the photo labeled "memory heatsink" in particular 

first interesting approach for a cooling solution

what thickness copper did you use for the heat spreader? it looks like there is still a bit of clearance under the heatsink mounting bracket, is that correct? is there some clearance under the heat pipe also? it looks like you had some room for a thermal pad. 

did you remove the factory fan permanently? or is it removed temporarily for fitting the mods? 

did you happen to test the additional memory cooling on its own? or was it part of a larger mod? 

obviously the carboard is prototyping, what are you think for your final material? assuming you don't have a long list of additional mods 

 

[pani_alex]

sorry, i dident recive any notification, gona check that

 

On 2/25/2023 at 3:31 PM, FoolofCheese said:

what thickness copper did you use for the heat spreader?

the copper thickness is 1mm

 

On 2/25/2023 at 3:31 PM, FoolofCheese said:

it looks like there is still a bit of clearance under the heatsink mounting bracket, is that correct?

yes, there is the memory, i cant remember if i put thin 0.5mm thermal pad or thermal paste, 1mm copper plate and it still have room under the cpu mounting arms. Its also hold in place squished by the top plate

 

On 2/25/2023 at 3:31 PM, FoolofCheese said:

is there some clearance under the heat pipe also? it looks like you had some room for a thermal pad. 

yes, i use a thick thermal pad

 

On 2/25/2023 at 3:31 PM, FoolofCheese said:

did you remove the factory fan permanently? or is it removed temporarily for fitting the mods? 

i didn't find the connector to buy so i cut the cable colder it to the new fan like Alex from LTT did, but let enough length just in case i wanna go back, but you can also get a new one, so it's not a big problem anyway

 

On 2/25/2023 at 3:31 PM, FoolofCheese said:

did you happen to test the additional memory cooling on its own? or was it part of a larger mod? 

i don't get the question, but if you are asking for temps, do not know how to test it, just assume, but remember seeing somewhere that runs cooler

 

On 2/25/2023 at 3:31 PM, FoolofCheese said:

obviously the carboard is prototyping, what are you think for your final material? assuming you don't have a long list of additional mods 

Im gonna do a 3d printed back plate, but PLA can not handle any heat so i chose ASA and still can not find out how to print it with my ender 3, also have some other things want to print with ASA on the waiting list. I printed small things but once it's large it doesn't stick anymore on the bed 

 

--

 

I must to mention that that cooler may be too much, and if you get a 20mm height cooler or even a 10mm should still make a big difference, my ssd heatsink will never get hot, the air from the stock heatsink is much more hotter. i was looking for a smaller one but didn't find it and only this one convince me, i also find out something interesting about the cooler, if it doesn't have walls, it also blows air to the sides, so it can cool everything 360 around and below. The difference width between the handle and the center is 20mm so finding something equal or less than that will be ideal

 

I am also tainted to solder the copper plate below the ssd heatsink the heatpipe to have better temps transfer and avoid having [heatpipe, thermal pad, cooper plate, thermal pad, ssd heatsink] and instead only one thermal pad or paste. It also makes the fan work less, because i noticed that when its colder, sometimes the fan doesn't spin for a very long time