Keeping Dreamcast cool

[rupazero]

Noob here, but I'm trying my hardest so please help me with your superior experience if you can

Since 240 - 100v stepdown converters are like golddust, I'm using a 240 - 110v stepdown to run my Japanese Dreamcast in the UK. I have successfully turned the thing on without it going boom, but as expected, the fan is working a little harder than usual to keep everything cool. Since even on the correct voltage, games consoles can easily overheat and break themselves, I want to do everything I can to protect my Dreamcast, so I've bought a cooling fan tray designed for laptops in the hope of keeping the unit cool.

My question is: since the Dreamcast fans pump air out of the sides of the unit, and the laptop tray fans pump air into the bottom, is this an effective solution? Is it going to create a lovely airflow in and out of the Dreamcast, or will the laptop tray fans counteract the work being done by the Dreamcast fan?

[K_I_R_E_E_K]

I'm not sure what kind of temperatures are you getting, i have holes on the left side so that air can come in and cool some parts that heat up.
Some ppl go further and add an extra fan to the dc, making air go in fast to cool the left side, this may balance the pressure inside making so that air can't come in from the bottom, if the fan spins to fast then the pressure will be positive, wich will heat up the bottom part because air needs to get out, even if it means forcing hot air escape from the bottom.

Your strategy seems fine, the bottom part is very narrow, even when adding fans, the air will not be enough to unbalance the pressure, but it will cool the alluminium wich is great, it will always have negative pressure, but the left side still heats up, so my advice is to create some small holes on the left side.

You will:
- have negative pressure, so air will get in from all gaps and holes
- bottom part will be fresh but will not break the balance
- left side will be cooler but will not break the airflow (just don't abuse on the size of the holes)



maybe other members can sugest something better.

[Barrys_Bapz]

Pop off the cover and let dust live in it, there are a family of spiders in mine

[altecgodofchaos]

try installing better high performance thermal pads between the cpu and gpu and the heatsink/metal top. they should keep the console 8 degrees cooler