Radical P2 Cooling Tweak

All you Planet RIVA regulars will remember how I have been writing about over-clocking the P2 300 S-Spec # SL2W8 for some time now. Lately, I have noticed some people writing about their over-clocked processors going bad after a while, or crashing after heating up.

I have also noticed that Intel has re-designed their P2 cases so the metal face plate that acts as a heat-sink now has two little areas which drop to just above the L2 cache. Why would Intel have that plate with all the CPU heat radiating through it drop just above the L2 cache, yet not touching it? Well, what if when you over-clock, the L2 cache gets just hot enough to cause problems?

I had an idea, and decided that I wanted to get my CPU out of that hot box and get as much cool air blowing across the L2 and processor circuit board as possible. In addition, I actually am cooling the back-side of the processor chip and the L2 cache as well.

Here is what I did:

1) Removed the P2 from its case following the instructions at overclockers.com.

2) Next, I took two P2 heat-sinks and removed any protrusions meant to fit into the metal plate on the P2 case ( I used a Dermal cut-off blade). I had to remove a few fins to make room for nuts and bolts.

3) Next, I determined where the four holes on the corners of the P2 would match up with the heat-sinks. After marking the spots on the heat-sinks, I then drilled the holes in the them. I made sure that I moved the heat-sinks up enough to allow for the slot to plug into the Slot 1 slot on the motherboard.

4) Next, I sandwiched the CPU between the two heat-sinks, sliding the bolts through them all ( I used small bolts, and found it safest to insulate the portion going through the CPU holes with thin layer of Teflon tape. I did not attempt to enlarge the holes or screw too large of a bolt through the CPU holes). Then I dropped a flat washer followed by a small spring and finally a nut. I tightened the nuts just enough to have the springs holding the heat-inks firm against the CPU front and back.

Now I have no more “Intel Hot Box” slowly roasting the CPU and L2 cache. In addition, the main power supply fan is blowing right through the sandwich to cool the L2 cache even more. Of course, I don’t recommend that you should try this. It will void any warranty your CPU has. But if you do insist on trying it, you do so at your own risk. Be careful, it is easy to ruin a processor with a careless slip of a screwdriver or bolt.

P2 top (L2 on sides), bottom and sandwiched between sinks

Dan Eisendrath
AKA Pakman
www.planetriva.com