Noctua Fan mod cutting part of heatsink?

[Stu1872]

Has anyone had to cut into part of the lower metal heatsink where the fan gets screwed onto to do the Noctua fan mod on their Dreamcast.

Every image i have seen does not have the same shape of the metal part the board sits on. There is not one image that i have seen that the fan is screwed onto this part and as it sticks out it stops the fan from sliding down enough to screw into the new plastic shrowd i have bought to screw on a Noctua fan.

Nothings ever easy eh!

Pics to show what i am on about

[Stu1872]

After more investigating it appears that my Dreamcast is one of the earliest VA1 models with the same bottom plate as the VA0 models, supposed to be quite a rare combination.

My model allows you to connect the fan by screwing it into the bottom plate instead of using the 2 screw holes located on the top of the fan to connect to the fan duct. I suppose it makes it more secure rather than screwing the fan into plastic.

Looks like i will have to strip it all down to cut a check into the plate between the holes to allow enough space for the fan to sit in it.

[Stu1872]

I have successfully Installed my Noctua fan mod today.

I had to cut away part of the top cover in between the two holes that connect to the OEM fan. It's a tight fit but neat enough that the fan doesn't touch it. I am pretty happy with the result tbh.

I had to re-solder the fan connector back onto the board as it had become loose with me pulling the oem fan plug in and out while testing the Noctua one. It was working but if i wiggled the connector the fan would stop. It is now sturdy and not moving and the fan is working 100%.

Although i didn't think my stock fan was overly loud the Noctua fan is much quieter than stock and my Dreamcast is now almost silent.

I was also successful in fitting a new battery holder with rechargable battery while the console was stripped and it seems to be working fine.

Although no-one has replied to this thread it may come in handy for anyone with the same problem in the future.

Here are some pics of the fan fitted and the inside of my Dreamcast.

[NightBreeze]

Yours does indeed look different than mine. Weird that it has two holes at the edge. It almost looks like someone forgot to bend it down (mine bends down).

EDIT: Ah, I reread your post and didn't realize the first time that the fan is attached to the metal shield. Interesting, I've never seen that before!

EDIT 2: LOL, missed your second and third post in between the images . Anyway, glad you got it sorted. Would be nice to design an alternate mount for your model so that the shield doesn't have to be cut (and retain as much stock form as possible).

This is from before my Noctua fan mod, but the shielding was very visible in this shot:



It you want to cut it, it should be fairly easy to just grab a pair of pliers and bend the metal back and forth until it breaks (you can use two pliers to ensure the bend happens at the right spot).

[Bearded1]

I just uploaded a video detailing how I dealt with this problem!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4uP_tLLTQI&t=26s

While I was in there I did the battery mod too.

Fred