6500 Heatsink Upgrade Question

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Jhogs

New Tinkerer
Nov 4, 2025
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0
1
Hello Tinker Different!

I'm working on a Takky Upgrade to a Color Classic, but I thought I'd post in this forum because my question concerns the PowerPC 6500 300mhz Logic Board that I'm using.

I got the logic board off of ebay and it looked to be in good shape, but the heatsink fan combo was pretty gross and I wanted to add more thermal paste. Unfortunately, I broke it taking it out and need to replace it. I'd like to swap in something beefier anyway, since inside the small Color Classic shell there will be a lot less airflow than in the tower this logic board is supposed to be in.

Any advice for me on what modern solution might be best for this 30 year old board? I was going to just buy a 40mm aluminum heatsink and 40mm 12v Noctua fan and zip tie them through the holes that the metal clips used to go into, but I'm interested to know if any of you have a better idea.

I'll be excited to share pictures of the Takky up and running once it's complete!
 

Arbystpossum

Tinkerer
Jan 8, 2024
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50
18
USA
I have a 225Mhz one, and I took the heatsink off of a dead 6360 board and put a fan in the center of it, it works extremely well. Anything you put on there will be better than what was on there from the factory. Beware, PCI cards will decrease proper airflow.
 

Arbystpossum

Tinkerer
Jan 8, 2024
80
50
18
USA
I have a Commslot 2 Ethernet card in mine, so it's off to the side. The heat in my machine was a nightmare to manage, but I have it stable. Mine is in a 6360 case, so it's smaller and a bit of a nightmare,G3 CPU card, Voodoo 2 GPU, the box is absolutely stuffed but I managed. A godsend are those 4-pin Molex-powered fans you can get on Bay or wherever. They're awesome, you can tap power from a hard drive or other device and put an additional fan anywhere. If there's bad airflow, you can always tie a fan down somewhere.
 

Jhogs

New Tinkerer
Nov 4, 2025
5
0
1
The fan that was on mine was in the two pin header at J17. Do you happen to know what the three pin header is for at J7?
 

Arbystpossum

Tinkerer
Jan 8, 2024
80
50
18
USA
The fan that was on mine was in the two pin header at J17. Do you happen to know what the three pin header is for at J7?
I actually don't know. I didn't put a meter to the pins, but I vaguely remember plugging in a fan into the pins on mine, and no combination I tried made the fan spin up. I could be mistaken though. I don't think Macs had dynamic fan control until way later.