PCE DUO and Heat

[MottZilla]

I got my DUO today =) The HuCard works as well as the CD unit. I read that there may be some link between the caps used in audio output going bad by heat generated by the system. I touched my DUO after playing for alittle bit, and it felt pretty warm. I've heard D-Lite does a fan mod for the DUO to help with that.

The point is that I just got this DUO and obviously don't want anything bad to happen to it. So is a internal fan really needed? Keep in mind that gaming sessions would typically be 20 mins all the way up to possible 2 hours. I can't imagine that it'd be all that nessisary. Why would you sell a system that overheats and kills the caps. I don't want my DUO breaking down. It is around 80(F) degrees in the room. I could point a desktop fan at the DUO. Just wondering if a fan is all that nessisary, and also curious how much having one installed would cost.

[rolins]

I know D-Lite does the fan mod for $40, I don't know how effective it is.

I always wondered if those cooling stations that you use underneath the laptop might be useful for cooling down a Duo. Place it underneath a Duo might be effective in keeping the temperature down. Although I've never tried it.

[esteban]

I know D-Lite does the fan mod for $40, I don't know how effective it is.

I always wondered if those cooling stations that you use underneath the laptop might be useful for cooling down a Duo. Place it underneath a Duo might be effective in keeping the temperature down. Although I've never tried it.

Yeah, anything to help dissipate the heat might be useful.

MottZilla, if the room temperature is 80 degrees F, I don't see the harm in having a standard fan blowing on the console. Unfortunately, though, I don't think this would really help dissipate the heat that is trapped inside the console (which is what you're concerned about). Theoretically, a standard fan might help dissipate some heat, but I don't know if it would be a significant amount.

Surely there's some tech site out there that has some answers for us!

When my laptop gets hot, I turn on a standard fan. I don't know if it helps the computer at all, but it helps me

[SignOfZeta]

I think the recent theories about the capacitors going bad because they are just badly made, rather that from the heat, are probably correct. I've played my US Duo for so many hundreds of hours and never had a problem. I cleared Ys 1&2 at least a dozen times, OCCed GOT more times than I can count, finished Startling Odyssey II, Yuna 1, and 2, Nadia, Aim for the Top!2, Flash Hiders, Bomberman, etc etc etc. It works perfectly to this day except for the door switch thing...

Around here it seems to be that people think OG Duos are junk, and the other machines are more solid, but here are a few observations I've made:

My original Duo still works perfectly. I bought a busted Core GrafxII and fixed it. I bought a busted Duo R, and fixed it.

So for me the OG Duo is the strong one.

Furthermore, take a close look at these things:

The OG Duo weighs more than a Duo R. Inside you will find a big chunk of shelding that is welded to the HuCard slot, controler port, and AV ports. This is why the controler port rarely breaks loose on the OG Duo, but gets all bendy on a Duo R.

The drives are the same in a Duo as they are in a Duo R, but they are grounded in two more places on an OG Duo.

The OG Duo has a fuse in it, and the Duo R does not. What happens when the system overcurrents? Same thing as a PCE GT I'd guess...it craps totally.

These are just theories of course, but they are based on experience.

[Keranu]

Sweet, another person who defends the original Turbo Duo system . I love my American Turbo Duo system and it hasn't failed on me the slightest. It's been awhile since the original Duo system has got some lovin' on this forum .

[MottZilla]

I'm not going to be seeing how durable my original DUO is. I intend to treat it like it's fragile because I don't want to have it breaking on me. However it does seem to be fairly sturdy. I know people say the DUO-R and DUO-RX are so much better, but generally later models are ones that cut costs/make it cheaper. That means quality could easily be something cut to make it for less. But eh, I don't really care, I have my DUO and it works fine.