Well known problem with Sky
Star 2 PCI cards is overheating. This can result that your SS2 card will not
work properly or will not work at all after some time. To prevent this, a good
idea is to apply some extra cooling to the critical part on the board. The
critical part already comes with small black heatsink, so it will be very easy
to find it, and at the same time the heatsink is very hot under the finger
touch.
Locate the critical part, very hot under the finger
touch!
Extra cooling fan can be
attached on many ways to the card. You will probably find some other solution
according to fan and space in the PC you have. I am using a "Fan card" which is
parallel with SS2 card and actually looks like you have another PCI card in the
slot. This design can be used only if you have empty PCI slot close to the SS2.
Negative side of this design is that you are loosing one empty PCI slot on your
motherboard.
Original Pentium MMX
cooling fan with power connectors is used for my design. The volume of
delivered air is more than enough for this application. Different fans can be
used, depending on the free space you have in computer.
Fan supporting board
is made from FR4 singe side vitroplast material. In this place you can use
also some other materials. Cut the board according to the shape of the fan. Keep
in mind that fan should be placed parallel to the critical part, in the same
line to insure proper cooling. Do not forget also to drill holes for the screws
where later the board will be fixed to metal support creating the PCI style
board.
Metal support that
keeps the board in right place and parallel to the SS2 card is dismantled from
the old PCI dial-up modem. The holes are clearly indicating previous purpose of
the old card. In our case, this can be just another extra inlet for the air HI!
Also here, any other old unused PCI card support can be used ( video, sound,
LAN... ) together with the 2 small screws.
MMX cooling
fan
Fan supporting
board
Metal
support
Assembled PCI SS2 Fan card
Now when you have all parts
ready, assemble the Fan card. If necessary, apply some glue between the
fan and the supporting board to prevent moving the fan from the gap. Remove the
metal cover on the PC chases to make place for the fan card. Insert the card in
the empty PCI slot just close to the SS2 card. Secure the card with the screw to
the PC chases. Connect the power connector and your fan is ready to go.