MDD heatsink differences

[Project Alice]

I did a quick search on here and I didn't find any documentation on this. I found there are three different kinds of heatsinks for these. Two are silver in color (aluminum?) and one is copper. I have a FW800, that was originally a dual 1.25. It has one of the silver ones. I installed a DP 1.42 card in it, but used the same heatsink. Should I find a copper one and install it? If anyone has documentation on the differences between all three that would be great.

 

[DeltaMac]

The copper came only on the 1.42 FW800
The two heatsinks would be interchangeable on the FW800
I suppose with the 1.42, the copper heatsink would be desireable, as that is what Apple used when that 1.42 was installed.
I don't have a good opinion on if you "should" find a copper one. Being copper, the cooling characteristics would be different than the aluminum. All things being equal, the copper would have better cooling, compared to the aluminum.
But, you would want to also pay attention to the quality of the heatsink compound on an over 15-year old processor. Look for a "real" copper one, if you can find one.
Apple's original part number for the copper model that came on that "best" configuration is 076-0983 (from Apple's service manual)
I quickly found several companies that offer that heat sink - https://www.macpalace.com/076-0983-heatsink-kit-with-spring.html
So, maybe won't be too hard to find. (Did see one for about $200 US, so you would like to check several different sources for that, too )

 

[Project Alice]

The copper came only on the 1.42 FW800
The two heatsinks would be interchangeable on the FW800
I suppose with the 1.42, the copper heatsink would be desireable, as that is what Apple used when that 1.42 was installed.
I don't have a good opinion on if you "should" find a copper one. Being copper, the cooling characteristics would be different than the aluminum. All things being equal, the copper would have better cooling, compared to the aluminum.
But, you would want to also pay attention to the quality of the heatsink compound on an over 15-year old processor. Look for a "real" copper one, if you can find one.
Apple's original part number for the copper model that came on that "best" configuration is 076-0983 (from Apple's service manual)
I quickly found several companies that offer that heat sink - https://www.macpalace.com/076-0983-heatsink-kit-with-spring.html
So, maybe won't be too hard to find. (Did see one for about $200 US, so you would like to check several different sources for that, too )

That one in your link is a decent price. Maybe someone with a real 1.42 can chime in on what their temps are? I haven't actually got temps out of mine, but I'll look at it. It seems to run good and the fan hasn't ramped up. I'm probably fine with the heatsink it has. Plus I put good thermal paste on the processors when I installed them.

 

[philgxxd]

I got the copper one in my dual 1.25Ghz trash find and I once bought a copper heatsink which got gutted out from the seller for me from an unknown specced G4 of which I only could spot the copper heatsink on one of the photos and I asked if he could throw in the processor card as I believed it would be the dual 1.42Ghz. To my surprise I was also a dual 1.25Ghz so i guess it depends maybe when the model was made and apple throw what they had in stock (copper) onto the 1.25Ghz cards as well.

 

[1042686]

My dual 867mhz & single 1.25ghz came with aluminum heatsinks. Wish I could find a cheap copper one as I like how they look but haven’t noticed any overheating.

 

[weckart]

Dual 1.25 and alu heatsink on mine. I feel slightly hard done by now.

 

[reddrag0n]

Usedmac has a copper heatsink for sale.
076-0983 PowerMac G4 MDD CPU Heatsink,w/Spring (1.25 & 1.42)GHz

 

[Jubadub]

Usedmac has a copper heatsink for sale.
076-0983 PowerMac G4 MDD CPU Heatsink,w/Spring (1.25 & 1.42)GHz

Tried buying it from them this week, and while they allow purchases to go through, they have zero of those in stock. Thankfully they refunded me once I asked. (They tried to offer me the aluminum one in its place. Hopefully they state it's out of stock on the website from now on, as they should.)

It makes me wonder if we can't find a completely unrelated copper heatsink, also with copper pipes, that is suited for the MDD. Having to search for the Apple one, that came specifically with 1.42GHz MDDs, is not very good. I may be able to locate one with time, but if we want MDD users as a whole to have their MDD thermals upgraded, we will have to figure out another vendor's solution/alternative.

Anyone has good suggestions?

Edit: For anyone curious, here are all 3 MDD heatsinks tested and compared against each other.

 

[reddrag0n]

From what i have read before, get a low profile socket 775 cpu cooler, and it will fit in the holes already on the cpu. You may or may not need a shim between the cpu lid and the bottom of the cooler

 

[reddrag0n]

this is what i was meaning. i knew it was somewhere, but i had to find it. Aqua Mac had done this to his MDD and i knew he had it somewhere.
Naturally Asperated MDD

 

[repairedCheese]

this is what i was meaning. i knew it was somewhere, but i had to find it. Aqua Mac had done this to his MDD and i knew he had it somewhere.
Naturally Asperated MDD

Oh, something like that would be great for my dual 1.25 Ghz. It doesn't need to be that extreme, but I have to figure that better coolers are out now.

 

[reddrag0n]

I did a quick search on here and I didn't find any documentation on this. I found there are three different kinds of heatsinks for these. Two are silver in color (aluminum?) and one is copper. I have a FW800, that was originally a dual 1.25. It has one of the silver ones. I installed a DP 1.42 card in it, but used the same heatsink. Should I find a copper one and install it? If anyone has documentation on the differences between all three that would be great.

Actually there are 4 different heatsinks for the MDD. there is the thin aluminum fin, the copper fin and there are 2 thick aluminum fin ones. i have 2 of them here side by side and there are some interesting differences. the bottoms are slightly different, the sides on one is textured and there are different part numbers

 

[Macbookprodude]

To me, they look the same.

 

[ervus]

Aqua Mac had done this to his MDD and i knew he had it somewhere.
Naturally Asperated MDD

Thanks for posting that; it's interesting in a few ways. I never paid much attention to the MDD until I got one. I never knew Giga Designs made a MDD CPU upgrade. That also looks like a version of the MDD that only has 2 RAM slots? It seems there are around 8 versions of the MDD, based on the part numbers I've seen for the logic board.

I have the copper heat sink version, but I had to tinker with the fan to get it working the way I like. It's not really straight forward to test heat sinks when the fan(s) can change speed. i.e. an inferior heat sink can perform the same (or better) with a higher fan speed. It is nice that the MDD has a temperature sensor on the CPU.

 

[TzunamiOSX]

To me, they look the same.

I think, you need some glasses

 

[reddrag0n]

i'm uploading pics with all 3 versions i have to show what the differences are. just give me a bit

*edit* here are the new pics...
will give an explanation on all of them

left to right... DP 1ghz, DP 1,25ghz, DP 1.4ghz

aluminum heatsink #1 on dp 1.2ghz

aluminum heastsink #2 on dp 1.2ghz

both aluminum heastsinks side by side on dp 1 and dp 1.2ghz

aluminum heatsink #2 on dp 1.4ghz

copper heatsink on dp 1.2ghz

copper heatsink on dp 1.4ghz

aluminum heatsink #1 on dp 1.4ghz

so yes there are differences between the aluminum heatsinks.

 

[reddrag0n]

That one in your link is a decent price. Maybe someone with a real 1.42 can chime in on what their temps are? I haven't actually got temps out of mine, but I'll look at it. It seems to run good and the fan hasn't ramped up. I'm probably fine with the heatsink it has. Plus I put good thermal paste on the processors when I installed them.

with all 8 of my fans, my temps are 60 oC idle, and if i hit the nap button, they chime down to around 40. with the old aluminums, i hit around 70 idle

 

[reddrag0n]

Thanks for posting that; it's interesting in a few ways. I never paid much attention to the MDD until I got one. I never knew Giga Designs made a MDD CPU upgrade. That also looks like a version of the MDD that only has 2 RAM slots? It seems there are around 8 versions of the MDD, based on the part numbers I've seen for the logic board.

No, i remember him saying that he desoldered those 2 slots to make room for the heatsink to fit. they got in the way. as for ram, he was running 2x 1gb ddr 3200 dimms

 

[ervus]

...with all 8 of my fans, my temps are 60 oC idle, and if i hit the nap button, they chime down to around 40.

How did you enable nap? The CHUD tools have it greyed out on mine.

Also, thanks for sharing those pictures of heat sinks.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

IIRC house of moth did an in-depth review of aluminum vs copper MDD heatsinks.

Further tweaking the cooling - Part 1 - The House of Moth

Continuing Project Maya, I'm replacing the aluminum heat sink with a copper one and running some tests to see if it was worth the wait.

thehouseofmoth.com

 

[ervus]

As I mentioned above, the fan is a variable. It does not look like that review accounts for it. There is some discussion here too:

An Upgraded G4 MDD

Yes, I know, these are rarely machines that ever see major upgrades, but I've been on the warpath to have the best one of these impressive machines as I can get, and they simply do not sell what I'm looking for most of the time. So I made it myself. Now, you might be wondering, what about this...

forums.macrumors.com