The C200, they say, is one of the best players around. And I concur. But it does come with its set of downsides -- it becomes hot over time and it needs a better cooling system. A network media tank (NMT) this expensive should not be skimped out on components.
The OEM heatsink is too small. After an hour of using the NMT, put your hand over the top cover and you would notice it is warm to the touch. How much more the heatsink itself!
Fortunately, I still have a Zalman ZM-NBF47 fanless northbridge heatsink. So I thought it would serve the purpose quite well. But first I tried to search if this heatsink is compatible with the C200. My quest to find answers came out empty. So I could be the first to try it out, the guinea pig -- my C200.
After trying several positions in fitting the heatsink, my assumptiom was right. My efforts proved to be very fruitful! The ZM-NBF47 fit the C200 very well (see picure below).
Before permanently mounting the heatsink to the C200's board, I compared the original OEM heatsink with the NBF47. Snapshot posted below.
To further improve the cooling modifications on my C200, I equipped it with a 60mm fan. I took it from an old RedFox heatsink that I kept way back from the Pentium III days. It still works and being a 12V .20A fan, it is whisper quiet. Just plugged it to the fan header provisioned on the C200 board.
The mods on the C200 made it cooler now and the top cover is no longer warm to the touch even if used for hours on end.
