[elGafas]

Well, this is the second time I do this, first was my Ion with Atom 230, now it's time for my Atom 330.

The mod consists in replacing the factory thermalpad and thermal compound. For this I used Tuniq TX2 and a sheet of 0.75mm copper.

It's really easy to remove the heatsink, just remove the 4 screws from the back and it pops out.

Here you can see how the factory compounds look like:


Closer:


After we clean the factory stuff we proceed to replace both compounds.

Tuniq TX2 and copper sheet in place:


Now the temps (It's really hot in this room couse it's summer, 35°c)
Before the mod:


After the mod:


13°c cooler with a simple mod.

PS: For those who like case modding, check my current project here: http://www.thebestca...ead.php?t=21942

[updawg]

elGafas, on 24 January 2010 - 09:48 AM, said:

Well, this is the second time I do this, first was my Ion with Atom 230, now it's time for my Atom 330.

The mod consists in replacing the factory thermalpad and thermal compound. For this I used Tuniq TX2 and a sheet of 0.75mm copper.

It's really easy to remove the heatsink, just remove the 4 screws from the back and it pops out.

Here you can see how the factory compounds look like:


Closer:


After we clean the factory stuff we proceed to replace both compounds.

Tuniq TX2 and copper sheet in place:


Now the temps (It's really hot in this room couse it's summer, 35°c)
Before the mod:


After the mod:


13°c cooler with a simple mod.

PS: For those who like case modding, check my current project here: http://www.thebestca...ead.php?t=21942

Where does the copper sheet go? I don't see it in any of the pictures. You should switch the thermal compound to IC7 it is by far the best in the market.

[shoarthing]

updawg, on 25 January 2010 - 09:35 AM, said:

Where does the copper sheet go? I don't see it in any of the pictures. You should switch the thermal compound to IC7 it is by far the best in the market.

. . . it is a shim between the CPU & the h/s.

IME these Zotac ION 330s can be run at 2GHz 24/7 near-noiselessly with the default h/s & thermal interfaces using the included fan at 7v.

[elmo7]

Nice!

Where can one find some of those copper shims?

(wouldn't it have been cool if they had machined that heatsink for a better fit - no thermal pad req'd - just a little grease)

EDIT - nevermind - found one on fleabay

[ronson]

Really good results.
Does this modification void warranty?

Greetings from Germany!
Ron

[supaahiro]

ronson, on 11 April 2010 - 03:13 PM, said:

Really good results.
Does this modification void warranty?

Greetings from Germany!
Ron

You can try Live Chat to see if you can get information about the Warrenty.

[dslabby]

What are the size dimensions of the copper shim you used? I know it's .75mm thick, but what is length and width? There are some pre-made ones on ebay that are 2cm X 2 cm. Would this be big enough? Thanks for your help, great mod.

[eliah]

shoarthing, on 25 January 2010 - 12:28 PM, said:

IME these Zotac ION 330s can be run at 2GHz 24/7 near-noiselessly with the default h/s & thermal interfaces using the included fan at 7v.

How do i get the fan running on 7V?

[eliah]

Hi,

I tryed this mod myself, here are some pics:


You really have to clean up the DIEs. dont use any chemicals, wather or metal!! I only used my finger nails and a tissue. BE GENTLY!!!


I Used a 30x30mm plate, it fits, but 20x20mm would be better. As you can see, it covers the whole CPU


To get rid of the thermal paste on the heatsink I used the plastik edge, of an old molex plugg and a scrubber.


Now cover both DIEs with fresh thermal paste. Dont use too much!! and dont cover anything but the DIEs.


Than put on the copper plate and cover it too. On my picture I used slightly too much on the copper plate, so i had to redo everything.
If you use too much, there isn't really a problem, it just isn't perfect


Now, I put the Heatsink upside down on my table and slowly lowered the whole Mainboard on it. because of the thermal plate
the copper plate should stick to the DIE. Put back on the screws. tighten them in a cross pattern (e.g.: top, lower, left than right).


Everything back in place.


First temperature check in the BIOS. I dont know, why I dont get any CPU Temp. Maby a BIOS update would do the trick...


hope I could make a few things clearer. It took me ~45minutes. You really should take your time. If something goes wrong,
you could damage your whole system!!! Its your own risk!!

please excuse my poor english

Greetings from germany,

eliah

[Olestra]

Nice posts.

That looks like a lot of paste, I thought you were supposed to just use a little pea size amount in the centre and then it would spread itself out as it heats up.
I'm going to consider doing this myself!

[karter59]

I'm curious why the need for one copper shim for the GPU. Looking at the photo of the heatsink, it looks flat. Placing a .75 mm shim in there would cause the heatsink to not sit flat on the CPU would it not?
Just asking.

[updawg]

karter59, on 05 May 2010 - 01:45 PM, said:

I'm curious why the need for one copper shim for the GPU. Looking at the photo of the heatsink, it looks flat. Placing a .75 mm shim in there would cause the heatsink to not sit flat on the CPU would it not?
Just asking.

These ITX boards have a lot of flex. So once the cpu cooler is installed the board bows slightly causing the heatsink to lose contact with the IGP. This prevents that.

[karter59]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to do the mod once I get a copper shim.

[elGafas]

karter59, on 05 May 2010 - 01:45 PM, said:

I'm curious why the need for one copper shim for the GPU. Looking at the photo of the heatsink, it looks flat. Placing a .75 mm shim in there would cause the heatsink to not sit flat on the CPU would it not?
Just asking.

No sir, because theres a height difference between the CPU and the ION chipset. That's why ZOTAC used a piece of thermal gummy pad to reach the CPU instead of regular thermal compound.

[eliah]

Olestra, on 04 May 2010 - 09:18 PM, said:

Nice posts.

That looks like a lot of paste, I thought you were supposed to just use a little pea size amount in the centre and then it would spread itself out as it heats up.
I'm going to consider doing this myself!

As I said, in my pictures I used too much paste so I had to redo everything and I was too lazy to take new pictures.
But to make it clear: Too much thermal paste wouldn't be a problem. The preassure would squeeze the excess paste out.
The result would be a dirty motherboard...

[darksky]

Nice mod, thanks for the great pics. Which MB did you use? So, just so I'm clear, you guys are using either 20mmx20mmx0.75mm or a 30mmx30mmx0.75mm copper shim for the CPU? The closest I can find on ebay is a 20mmx20mmx0.66mm copper shim - the price is right but will it fit correctly? If it's gonna be too thin, where can one buy the correct thickness of 0.75mm?

This post has been edited by darksky: 06 June 2010 - 07:55 AM

[elGafas]

0.66 is Ok.

[darksky]

OK! Got that 20mmx20mmx0.66mm copper shim from ebay (see my thread above), and did the mod. One extra step was taking some 220 then 400 grit sand paper to the heat sink to remove the hardened thermal material from the factory where the GPU mated up to the heat sink. I used an old tube of Arctic Silver 5 on the GPU and CPU+shim, then reinstalled as suggested (upside down). Below are the before and after temps. I heated it up using prime95 (4 threads) for Linux x86_64 v 25.11 using large FFts for 20 min.

Link to photos: http://bluesky.jalbum.net/IONITX/

Before (factory thermal pad)
(Idle/Load)
GPU: (33/35)
MB: (28/32)
CPU: (40/52)
Core0: (43/54)
Core1: (41/52)

After
GPU: (35/39)
MB: (26/30)
CPU: (35/40)
Core0: (37/42)
Core1: (36/40)

Differences
GPU: (+2/+4)
MB: (-2/-2)
CPU: (-5/-12)
Core0: (-6/-13)
Core1: (-7/-13)

Only temp that actually went UP was the idle temp of the GPU. I figured that there was some play in the HS above the GPU judging by the huge amount of factory thermal material and pulled the board a 2nd time installing a 2nd shim on the GPU. That was the problem. Now after the same period of time prime95'ing the temps are:

After2
GPU: (33/34)
MB: (28/30)
CPU: (36/40)
Core0: (38/43)
Core1: (36/41)

Differences
GPU: (0/-1)
MB: (0/-2)
CPU: (-4/-12)
Core0: (-5/-11)
Core1: (-5/-11)

That's a little better. Perhaps it's reflective of the flex in the MB. I will say that as I installed the HS the 2nd time, it kind slide around a bit so it's possible that I didn't get an optimal mating of the surfaces. Plus, I used much less AS5 the 2nd time around. Also note that AS5 claims 100+ h for burn in so it's possible that the temps could drop further over time. Pretty sweet mod for a few copper shim ($6 shipped).

@elGafas and updawg - what does your chip read when using prime95 for a good 15-20 min? I installed Vista just so I could run HWMonitor so we can compare apples to apples since I think you're both running windows. Problem is we don't know what our Vcore is set to and a minor change of just a few mV can make a pretty big difference temp-wise.

I can't get it to heat up under Vista even after 45 min of prime95'ing:

This post has been edited by darksky: 13 June 2010 - 04:46 PM

[pokute]

Since I just made this same mod on a Zotac A-U and got ~7c temperature drop on the CPU. The stock thermal pad on the Atom was a real piece of work... Why would anybody think a hunk of silicone foam was a good choice? I went with the 0.66mm 20x20 from Ebay.

I think that the big gap is mostly caused by the hard rubber standoffs that were added by Zotac to keep the heatsink sitting level. They are too tall. The next level of this mod could be replacing those standoffs with silicone sheet that is only slightly less thick than necessary to come to the level of the chip dies.

The stock Zotac GPU thermal compound is pretty bad as well... There was a very thick layer between the chip and sink. Note that the stock compound is freely soluble in alcohol, so you don't need to scrape at all.

I went with a Gentle Typhoon mounted on the inside of my Lian Li PC-Q09 directly above the heatsink. No other fans. It's quiet and blows enough air out the top to lift a 8.5x11 sheet of paper.