I felt that it would make a good spare bedroom PC, and maybe double as a TV set.
Unfortunately this case is quite cramped inside and has relatively poor cooling, so the first mainboards I ran in it tended to run very hot (and hence LOUD). I even had a MSI RS480M2 IL self destruct in it!
So when I read about AOpen and their new M series mainboards that use low power (and heat) Laptop parts I thought I'd try one. I obtained a Pentium M 1.6 Banias and put it all together.
First glitch - the memory count was wrong, and Windows wouldn't even install!
Swapping my generic 1gb DDR400 chip for a 512mb DDR333 one solved this and Windows installed normally.
Second glitch - Windows would run slowly, and the Aopen hardware monitor program would crash Windows completely. I found that the CPU was thermal throttling down to 600mhz, so I did a little investigation. It seems that the AOpen supplied proprietary CPU cooler was not making good contact with the CPU core. Also, it seemed to be contacting the screw type fastener used to lock the CPU socket. So, off I went to my local garage where we discovered that A- the heatsink had a very poor finish, and B- it was Concave (about .002"/.051mm)
I temporarily installed a Zalman 7000AlCu cooler which fit and got Windows to run normally but seemed to exert a strong bending force upon the mainboard.
After the original cooler was ground flat, polished and grooved to clear the screw thing I installed it with Arctic Silver 5 and it worked! Sort of. The heatsink just didn't seem to get very warm while the CPU kernel temp was well over 60C.
I then got a great idea from some things I saw at my local computer discount outlet. I went and measured, and yup! An old P3 cooler was exactly the same width, but about a third longer.
I bought one for under $4, and had it suitably modified (took about an hour in an Auto shop)
THIS heatsink really works! The base is thicker, which increases the spring pressure somewhat, but mostly the alloy (AL 6063T5) seems to transfer heat very rapidly. It doesn't hurt that the fins are much deeper also. The tools used were a hacksaw, an air powered cut off tool and a polisher/ grinder. Oh, a drill too, for the holes. The lapping was done on a flat anvil with various grades of wet sandpaper. Here's the pics!
Note: Aluminum is a very easy metal to work with. There is no reason that this project couldn't be done with only a hacksaw, a drill, a file, a flat, machined surface and a collection of wet & dry sandpaper.
The AOpen heatsink was used as both a cutting and drilling template. (and fan donor)
Just use the 2 of the Aopen screws and springs. Installed height is 68mm.
Still, the fan ran nearly constantly, heatsink @ 38C CPU kernel @ 65-70C
The tiny 40mm fan actually doesn't sound bad, and isn't too loud.
Any 60mm wide heatsink should work. This one had 2 convenient grooves, one of which was 60mm from the end. We didn't have to saw the fins as a result.
Heatsink@ 48C / CPU@ 60C
Base is aprox 2mm thicker than AOpen unit, which increases spring tension slightly.
