Nintendo 64 Fan Mod Instructions

Hello all,

Recently I was playing my Nintendo 64 and decided to install a cooling fan and apply thermal paste between the CPU, GPU, RAM and heatsink.

I thought I should create this guide as I could not find anything similar online.

This modification is rather simple if you have experience with soldering, hot glue guns and opening Nintendo consoles. It does not involve modifying the plastic casing.

You will need:

• A Nintendo 64
• A small 40MM cooling fan with a suitable length of wire. Prepare the ends for soldering.
• A soldering iron
• A hot glue gun and glue

Method:

1. Strip the Nintendo 64 to its motherboard.
2. To supply the fan with 12v I have chosen a capacitor marked '33 EHA 7F7' which is located on the top right of the motherboard. The right leg of the capacitor supplies the 12v you need to power the fan. A wide range of places can be used for ground.
3. Thread the red fan cable through a suitable location on the lower RF shield and solder it to the right leg of the aforementioned capacitor. Secure it down with hot glue. Now would be a good time to test the fan to see if it comes on when the console is switched on and switches off when the console is turned off.
4. Carefully reassemble your Nintendo 64 so that you have screwed in both RF shields and the heatsink. It would be a good idea to re-apply thermal grease between the heatsink and the RF shield.
5. The next step would be mounting the fan inside the Nintendo 64. I chose to mount the fan in the middle of the heatsink so that warm air is blown out of the ventilation slots in the middle of the console's case. Make sure the fan is positioned in such a way that air is blowing out of the case.
6. To mount the fan I created standoffs with hot glue on which the fan would sit. I made the fan flush with the top of the heatsink.
7. Once you've got the fan flush with the heat sink make sure it all fits properly by fitting the top case.
8. Once you are satisfied that that the fan fits you can now secure the fan in place with hot glue.
9. Assemble and test with a marathon of Resident Evil 2!

View attachment 11580

View attachment 11581

View attachment 11583

To conclude, I think that this mod is worthwhile doing if you have the parts lying around. My Nintendo 64 now feels a lot cooler, especially around the Expansion Pak!

Feel free to follow this guide and post back with your experiences, questions or any criticisms of this method.

Nintendo64fx

(PS - Why are the attached photographs so bloody big?)