Dreamcast Fan Replacement

The metal plate that sits between the GD-ROM and the main board acts as a heat sync for the GPU and CPU. Were you to remove it, then place heat syncs on both the GPU and CPU, you might be able to get away with a fanless design. You'd probably want to measure your operating temperatures before making the modifications so you can get a baseline of what the temperatures should be.

 

Thanks for the input. Since the GDEMU kind of hovers above the GPU and CPU, then I'm thinking that if I want to heatsink them to the case itself, I'm more or less stuck doing 3 layers of casing, with the GPU and CPU heatsinks being part of the middle layer (probably connected to the 4 "walls"). That sounds like it could be tricky, hopefully I can get a coworker with more experience machining stuff to help out. For now I'll do some experimenting with the cooling and see how bad the temperatures get.

 

I was asked to share a quick guide on installing this mod.

I had to cut a small section out of the metal plate for the gdrom drive.

Then install the fan adapter.

But before screwing it down I placed in the fan by securing it to one side peg.

After the mount is screwed down I rotated the fan and popped it on the second peg.
The fan connects to an adapter I made by cutting off the power lead from the old fan and soldiering a fan header to it along with a 10k resister across the 5v and tach lines.

I connected the fan and placed the lead behind the ribbon cable from the front ports.

Power it on to test.


Looking good. All that's left is to replace the old latch.
Remove the spring and the two screws.

Then place in the new latch

Then put the screws and the spring back.

Now you have an awesome quiet Dreamcast.

Thanks for reading.

 

That's awesome! I'm curious, why is your LED green in one pic and blue in the other?

 

It's a slow change RGB led, it will shift through just about every color. Its an awesome effect.

 

I finished performing this mod tonight and difference is absolutely stunning. This should be at the top of every Dreamcast owners "to-do" list. The console fan is hardly audible sitting only feet away. A huge thanks goes to Collingall for all the help and providing the final guide, and also to Nopileus, BuffaloWing, PearlJammzz for getting this going. I would also strongly suggest usel a Dremel with a metal grinding wheel for making the cuts to the GDROM tray. I initially tried doing it with a set of tinsnips and the general shape started getting being affected, which affects placement within the space.

 

Can we get source files for the fan adapter and the fixed latch?

That'd be so great!

 

In addition, are there any other fans that might work with this mod? I think the Noctua was worth it, but at around $15, it's a bit pricey.

 

They are both available in this thread. BuffaloWing posted the fan bracket and I posted the modified latch.

Realistlically any 5v 40mm X 10mm fan with a tach should work. The only issue that might come up is the fan speed, but I'm not certain.

 

As an alternative, maybe grinding the fan casing is perhaps a better way to go. It's easier to grind plastic than metal. Also, the fans are more easily replaceable in comparison to Dreamcast at this stage. If something goes wrong, I think most would agree that it's probably less painful to ruin a fan than the Dreamcast itself.

The fan I was using initially was about $11.00. It was relatively quiet, but probably not as quiet as the Noctua. If nothing else, it's much slimmer so no grinding/cutting is required.

 

I tried this today the mod is super hard maybe because fan was too thick or a 12 volt. in the end i didn't have a 10k resisotor so I put a 75 ohm one lol it worked with the screen and everything so I decided to make it look good and install it under the board when I assembled everything back nothing worked no fan or screen. I had to alter the fan to fit there was a corner of the usb-gd rom messing with it to the point it would not let the rom sit in place also the fan was powered off the 12 volt pad on the pico PSU ( as close as it looks nothing rubbed and the noise was night and day compared to the original
..... after messing with it a while I just put it back to stock lol the

 

The images for Collingall post aren't showing for me :/

 

This is a really great thread! I am trying a different approach though. Still unsure if it will work but seems sound on paper. I broke the first attempt because I didn't know how to dismantle the VA1 fan and some of the copper on the stator became frayed. But I take the metal fan from the VA0, heatsink and all. Then put the controller/stator combo from the VA1 into the VA0 fan assembly. They are a perfect fit and snap into place. It should have the tach signal then yea? Not sure if I'd need to use the VA1 magnet that loops around the fan. I doubt the controller is that anal.

Since I'm using the VA0 metal cover for holding the heatsinks one hole and this tiny nub of metal are switched in position compared to a VA1.
So I used a drill and tap set to position a hole and filed the nub flat so the VA1 GDROM can fit snugly. Apologies for rambling, super tired.

 

I think my imgur links are .webp images which may not load on all browsers, I did update them to all to .jpg images so they should show up now. If not I put a link in to a imgur album of the pictures
https://www.imgur.com/a/O7ZjU

 

The

they are all showing now, thanks.

 

That sounds interesting, do you have any pictures that you can share?

 

When I find a replacement va1 for cheap I plan to do just that!

 

For those that did the mod, does it look like it would be possible to just modify the 3d print file to avoid cutting into the gdrom tray?

Thanks

 

The space that it fits in places the bottom point of the fan against the shell, which makes moving the 3mm we need to clear the GDRom bracket not quite achievable. We almost need to find a thinner fan like the one Buffalo used when he first did that bracket.

On a side note I have a newer version of the latch that is a little bit easier to print. I will get that uploaded soon.

I also found the correct size plug for the existing fan header and I am considering making the fan adapter plug if people are interested in purchasing them. They will come with a standard fan header and the 10k resistor already in place.

 

how do you build a 555 timer I have a 5 volt fan but it does not have the yellow wire the console turns on ( dreamcast logo comes on and then I get a blank screen with the console still on ) I know its the fan because as soon as I put the OEM one back it works perfect.