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Advice--best P4 heatsink

Chuck(G)

Chuck(G)

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Jan 11, 2007
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Location
Pacific Northwest, USA
All of the sudden, one of my systems just quit working. Turns out that the stock Intel heatsink plastic retainer clips decided to quit.

CPU is running at 3.00 GHz. This is an industrial PC with ISA slots, so replacement with a newer motherboard isn't really an option.

I don't want to invite another failure because of cr*ppy plastic, so I'm open to suggestions as to what a solid substitute might be.

I realize that P4 is yesterday's CPU, but this is what I have.
 
While avoiding plastic also shun aluminum, but I guess you knew that.

A P4 with Isa slots? I didn't suspect they existed. Socket 478 or 775? I have an HP lga 775 box with quite an impressive cooling system. But that's specific to the HP Mobo. Includes plastic ducting. Pretty well made.

I bought a cheap Rosewill 2 pipe heatsink that I want to adapt for my Athlon XP board. The Masscool aluminum h/s isn't sufficient. If I leave the side door off and blow a fan at it, it makes a significant difference though.

I want to say 775 heatsinks are available on Newegg.
 
Yup, it's an Advantech AIMB-742. Has ISA slots, dual Gbit ethernet and even a place for a CF card. A regular kitchen-sink of a motherboard.

I was thinking about trying to hack a socket 775 cooler--478 coolers are generally inferior for the price.
 
I opted for the big Dell heat-pipe passive unit. If it gets too warm, I can add a fan. I've got room--it's a 4U case.

In the meanwhile, I'll bodge the stock Intel one with a couple of cable ties and a bracket. Should do for now.
 
Zalman made a super chunky copper fin cooler for socket 478/754/939/940 called the CNPS7000B-CU

https://www.ebay.com/c/1603909614

It's a bit awkward to install, but it has metal retainers that clamp to the PGA478 retainer shell. I've used it with 3.2 GHz Pentium 4s and it keeps them plenty cool.
 
While waiting for the Dell unit, I've taken some stainless steel wire and sheet brass and bodged a couple of brackets onto the old fan assembly. Held down to the retention bracket with zip ties. Nothing fancy, but it works for now.

I've seen a number of old P4 boards with broken retention brackets as well, which is another reason I opted for the Dell server heatsink--bolts right to the PCB. I've seen this also on old Socket AM2 boards.

Plastic is going to kill us off. Two days earlier, my portable induction cooker started shedding bits of itself. Fortunately, that was ABS and I repaired that--for now--with good old black ABS cement.
 
Plastic isn't always a bad thing. It's cheap ultra mass produced plastic that's the problem I'm guessing. To go off topic a bit, the upper intake manifold on my hooptie is plastic. It carries air and coolant. It's not a matter of if but when it'll fail, and potentially hydrolocking the engine. But at 175k it's still doing it's job. Later models use aluminum. But aluminum can also fatigue and crack. Can't expect everything to be made of cast iron or steel. There's a lot of engineering in these boards. Can't expect too much.
 
It's materials choice that is so often short sighted. I used to own a Volvo 940 turbo-brick. Great car; good mileage and lots of room, particularly if you put the rear seats down. It had two weaknesses--lead-free solder in the electronics (that could be repaired) and use of plastic everywhere. After about 20 years, the plastic just cracked and broke if you looked cross-eyed at it. At about the same time the turbo was leaking and wiring insulation was starting to develop issues. It was a matter of pouring a bunch of cash into the thing and dealing with the plastic or getting rid of it. I chose the latter.

On the Intel heatsink assembly, the clips retaining the heatsink to the board look to be unreinforced PA6 or PDM. Said plastic does not age well when used at elevated temperatures. A couple of spring clips would have been more robust and lasted indefinitely--and probably would have been cheaper to manufacture.

Ask any museum curator about the long-term suitability of plastics.
 
Plastic isn't going to last forever, that's a given. But it varies in durability, longevity. Here I am staring at any number of plastic vintage puter items. Some I'm afraid to look at, as the gesture may be taken the wrong way. Other pieces, while yellowed, are as sturdy as ever. All were at least semi mass produced in injection molds. The plastics in my 98 Pontiac are holding up well. The vinyl dashboard not so well. But I've taken no steps to preserve it either. And it isn't horrible. I'm sure agents to diminish harmful uv or ir were inserted at the time of manufacture.

I'm at least attempting to utilize items as old as your p4 board. But I would imagine if you filed a complaint w/the manufacturer regarding the putrid condition of your heatsink retention mechanism, you'd be confronted by a great deal of laughter as a best case scenario. Nothing lasts forever. Look at these bodies. Who made all that?? I want to know where to complain.

I happen to like plastic, in some applications. It's pretty. Around 15 years ago I started collecting these Gundam plastic model kits. Oh they look so nice. I haven't assembled not 1. They just sit in boxes. Colored plastic really is beautiful. And me saying I like them belies that fact that all along my intention was to burn out the originals in lost wax molds. One of these decades.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Ask any museum curator about the long-term suitability of plastics.
Click to expand...

We know.
Esp 20+ year old things with plastic tabs holding it together.
We did battery mitigation before I got here, I don't want to tell
them they have to do it for SMD electrolytics as well otherwise
there will be zero chance of restoring things after the traces
near them have rotted.
 
Chuck(G) said:
It's materials choice that is so often short sighted. I used to own a Volvo 940 turbo-brick. Great car; good mileage and lots of room, particularly if you put the rear seats down. It had two weaknesses--lead-free solder in the electronics (that could be repaired) and use of plastic everywhere. After about 20 years, the plastic just cracked and broke if you looked cross-eyed at it. At about the same time the turbo was leaking and wiring insulation was starting to develop issues. It was a matter of pouring a bunch of cash into the thing and dealing with the plastic or getting rid of it. I chose the latter.

On the Intel heatsink assembly, the clips retaining the heatsink to the board look to be unreinforced PA6 or PDM. Said plastic does not age well when used at elevated temperatures. A couple of spring clips would have been more robust and lasted indefinitely--and probably would have been cheaper to manufacture.

Ask any museum curator about the long-term suitability of plastics.
Click to expand...

I ordered two dozen replacement clips for LGA775 era heatsinks that had broken bits off ebay for $5.55 shipped last year.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/8Pcs-set-F...LGA-775-CPU-Heatsink-Cooling-Fan/133430344418
 
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