Spider Valve MkI Overheating DSP Help Needed

[ScoopMyMidsDaddy]

So I have a spider valve 112 mk1 amp that's having issues with the DSP overheating and resetting the amp. I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to go in there and add thermal pads or heatsinks to that section? Possible modding the cabinet for an inflow and outflow fan on each side.

Also in regards to thermal pads I'm wondering what thickness would suffice for something like this.

Any tips or guidance would be appreciated. Thanks

[g1]

How do you know for sure it is the heat? Could it be one of the supplies to the DSP dropping out?
If it's a ball array type chip, it's possible solder issues underneath can be affected by the heat, which can be quite high even under normal operating conditions.

[J M Fahey]

Blow some cold air into it, from any spare PC fan you have around.

IF your problems disappear, find a way to mount it in a more permanent way.

Even if not adding a finned heatsink, air flow will cool it down,

[ScoopMyMidsDaddy]

Blow some cold air into it, from any spare PC fan you have around.

IF your problems disappear, find a way to mount it in a more permanent way.

Even if not adding a finned heatsink, air flow will cool it down,

Looking at forums on the amp its a common issue for the DSP to overheat, literally the tubes are pcb mounted upside down right under it. No real solutions I found besides someone who hacked a square in both sides of their amp to run intake/exhaust fans. I was hoping to try either a heatsink or thermal pad in the DSP section. Just stuck between what the better method would be and how thick I should go with the thermal pads.

Blow some cold air into it, from any spare PC fan you have around.

IF your problems disappear, find a way to mount it in a more permanent way.

Even if not adding a finned heatsink, air flow will cool it down,

Only issue with that is the amp is essentially sealed when fully assembled and the only way to do that is cut a hole in the chassis. I was hoping to find an alternative before resorting to that. Nuclear option is to cut a hole on each side to mount 12v 120mm fans.

[J M Fahey]

So why not?

120mm fans are BIG; 80mm are typical PC supply ones, cheap or free, personally I bought a carton of 60 mm ones at auction, they can be mounted standing inside a typical chassis and pointing airflow where I want.

I bet an inside mounted one would be enough, we are not trying to cool a power amp, but just helping a DSP which already works, as-is, no fans or vents, only too close to the edge; any small push in the right direction "should" be enough.

In any case, *trying* costs nothing, confirm that the actual problem is thermal (it cold be anything else) and that blowing air over it helps ... or not.

[ScoopMyMidsDaddy]

Well just heatsinked the "hottest" parts of the DSP and gave it a nice torture test. No reset after a 2 hour session so hopefully the problem is fixed lol. Thanks for the insight everybody.