The heastsink on my Voodoo 3 seems to be running very hot. I attached a CPU fan to the heatsink as I wanted to overclock it but it remains uncomfortable to the touch even at stock speed.

Should the heatsink be that hot ?

Baoser,
the Voodoo3 (and its counterpart from nVidia, the TNT2) was (were) the HOTTEST cards ever produced for an home computer environment.

Despite of the high temperatures, you shouldn't be worried about that unless you have a good airflow recirculation inside your case (wich helps more than having a blowby fan installed on your Voodoo3: even if this can really help too).

The only thing I can say is that I was used to measure 66 to 72 degrees C on my Voodoo3 but never had a single problem (and during the winter season it helped keeping the room at the right temperature :P).

Anyway, unless You are trying to hard overclocking Your card, I can say that it is quite normal if you would feel your heatsink being so hot.

CheerZ, Fuz!

P.S.: Don't know a solution for You: I hope the guys could tell You more about this issue.

I don't know if it will necessarily do any better than a CPU cooler but Tennmax products are good (I've used their Voodoo2 cooler).

http://www.tennmax.com/voodoo3/stealth_v3.htm

OK, I've removed the blanking plate next to the AGP slot now. Hopefully that will let some cool air in and hot air to escape.

Guess I just needed re-assurance that the card wasn't going to give up the ghost anytime soon. I only got the card off ebay a few weeks back.

I still run 2 Voodoo3's in my Network (V3-3000 and V3-3500/TV).

Those are really running quite hot as well, but they do so since years, and survived even the longest LAN sessions, without ever crashing or glitchting...

So I guess it's normal, although I remember that whether they run hot or cool depends somehow on the Motherboard they're used in.

I remember very well the day I switched from older Socket7 Boards (they almost never became really hot in there) to more modern Boards, and instantly noted those cards all of a sudden were running very hot (even in idle, no 3D used).

After losing half a dozen 486 Fans I mounted on them, I finally let them go as they were, and never had any problems.

I guess they are the most rugged hardware I've seen in my life, looks like they can easily take the heat ;)

Greetings
FalconFly

I don't have much space between my Voodoo 1 and my SCSI so i use a Cooler from an old Powersupply. I use a long  screw with a bolt fixed one slot under the Voodoo for better air circulation.

Regards,
Andreas

i would suggest getting some heat sink grease from your your local computer dealer ,he probably would even give you a dab which is all you need than at
least you would have a more stable chip for overclocking and it draws the heat right out of the chip.
its worth a try