(This is a guest post by Antoni Sawicki aka Tenox)
DEC Multias are known for notoriously overheating. Someone even coined a term “Multia Heat Death”. The typical folklore recommendation of the time was to only run it vertically and replace the built-in fan with a more powerful one.
In modern times one can inexpensively acquire a thermal camera that attaches to a mobile phone. So why not take a peak inside the inferno.
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/20190902T180829_392.jpg)
This is how Multia looks like in a thermal camera. PS is on top right. CPU on the left. FDD/HDD bottom left.
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/20190902T180856_496.jpg)
The CPU, Alpha AXP, runs at around 60C, not great, not terrible.
Scanning up close through individual chips I found this curiosity:
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/20151203_173149000_iOS.jpg)
Wedged between the memory chips and the power supply is a little chip that generates almost 100C. That’s a boiling temperature of water. Note the thermal image is shifted in regards to the visual part due to close range.
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/20151203_112900598_iOS-768x1024.jpg)
What does this chip do? I have no clue. Perhaps someone can help here. What I however did to it is this:
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG_0663_806-1024x768.jpg)
Slapped on this really nice radiator. In fact I added little radiators you can buy for Raspberry PI to all the chips generating tons of heat.
This is how the motherboard looks like right now:
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG_0664_132-1024x768.jpg)
I also added a tiny fan on top of the CPU. Drilled some holes in the case and of course replaced the main fan with a highest air flow I could find.
Time will tell if this resolves the heat death, but my Multia now runs much cooler with help of all the radiators and extra fans.
UPDATE in 2022:
Readers frequently asked “what about the heat death chip?“. Multia indeed has one specific chip that is a source of most of Multia casualties. According to NetBSD Multia Page the chip is 74F623 and is located on the bottom (flip) side of the motherboard.
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image.jpeg)
You can tell it’s little charred. I so I went to take a peek with a thermal camera:
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image-1.jpeg)
Can you locate it? FLIR found it immediately… Up close the chip goes above 100C:
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image-2.jpeg)
I have added a small heat sink to it and now looks a little better!
![](https://virtuallyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image-3.jpeg)
Time will tell if it helps or not.