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Do 486 DX2/DX4 really need a fan?

SpidersWeb said:
Either way, I'm still saying a 486 processor should be cooled with an alloy chipset heatsink ($2 on aliexpress, woo) and a small fan!
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Surprisingly, Frys still sells 486 cooling fans and heatsinks. Though they're a bit more than $2.

http://frys.com/product/2062338?site=sr

I think a chipset cooler would work also, you'd just have to figure out some way to attach it.
 
vwestlife said:
IBM did at least add a piece of plastic covering up the vents below the drives on the XT so that the air intake would have to flow past the motherboard and cards.
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I wondered where that idea came from. No doubt everyone is aware that back in the day 5150 owners would cover up the holes with black tape.
But with full-height floppy disks a lot of air will enter those openings, making that effort somewhat pointless.

I did some thermal tests last week on my fully-populated 5150 and found CPU/FPU surface temperatures were not changed with or without with the tape, and with or without the cover I have for the drive openings. So, I added a fan...
 

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GiGaBiTe said:
Surprisingly, Frys still sells 486 cooling fans and heatsinks. Though they're a bit more than $2.

http://frys.com/product/2062338?site=sr

I think a chipset cooler would work also, you'd just have to figure out some way to attach it.
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In-store only :( otherwise I would've got a few.

As for attachment, provided the part wasn't too heavy I was going to use thermal transfer glue - not sure what the correct term is but you can buy it new. I used similar stuff to attach heatsinks to the voltage regulators on my video card a few years back. I haven't had any 486 systems arrive were the heat-sink was properly mounted or clipped in to place - always stuck on.
 
My cds 524s 486dx2/66 heatsink is clipped on. Apart from that and another system with overdrive cpu all the other 486s up to dx2/66s I have had no heat sinks at all.
 
Chuck(G) said:
So who runs the intel A80486-DX50 (the one with the 50MHz FSB) without a heatsink? :)
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I pulled a DX50 from a combo VLB-PCI motherboard a while back that had no heatsink. In contrast, on the DX50 processor complex for the PS/2 95 the CPU has a glued-on heatsink. Of course, the PS/2 95 has a much better airflow than the AT or even the ATX form factors ever did.

That 50MHz bus was difficult, quite difficult, with all but the best motherboards of the day. The Pentium motherboards only got there (and above) thanks to 3.3V signalling (DX50 has a 5V bus).
 
I'm surprised that you found a -50 without a heatsink. Unless my memory is faulty, that bugger ran hot as a two-buck pistol and Intel had heading issues with it. Perhaps the -50 you saw wasn't being run at full speed.
 
Chuck(G) said:
I'm surprised that you found a -50 without a heatsink. Unless my memory is faulty, that bugger ran hot as a two-buck pistol and Intel had heading issues with it. Perhaps the -50 you saw wasn't being run at full speed.
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As the combo VLB/PCI motherboard was not installed in a case, it is also possible that any heatsink might have been removed. It would be a rare person who would spend the extra $$$ on the DX50 and then underclock it; I'll have to see if I can relocate the motherboard and see what clock speed it's set to (the motherboard had some trace damage, or I wouldn't have removed the DX50). It might have been running at 40MHz for that matter, especially since it was so difficult at the time to get VLB cards to successfully run at 50MHz.

FWIW, I have some Evergreen Systems industrial-type SBC's with AMD 3 volt 468DX2/66's that have no heatsinks, and one of the 5x86's I have (an 'ADZ variant) does not have the 'HEATSINK AND FAN REQD' printed on it like my one 'ADW has.
 
I was wondering about the 5V 80486s--3.3V changes the game considerably. The STMicro 80486s did have a "Heat sink required" on the package displayed very prominently.
 
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