How do I take the fan out?

I need to replace my fan.. but when I went to the store, they asked me all kind of questions which I couldnt answer. Things like what kind of fan I have etc etc..

I have no idea how to find those things from from my PC. I tried dxdiag but I dotn see the info there. So I need to dismantle the fan and bring to the store and hoping they'll be able to identify the kind of fan I have.

My question is, how do I do that? I see something like a plug, but I have no idea what to do. Here's a pic if that helps.

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/192/image006ls7.jpg

 

You'll probably get the fan you need if you measure the width of the fan. From the pic, I'd guess that you'll get something in the area of 60mm. That's a common size for CPU cooler fans of the kind you've shown.

It won't hurt to check the thickness of the fan, especially if that dimension is critical in your machine. (It doesn't look like it.)

You should not need to remove the heatsink from the motherboard to remove the fan. Leave the heatsink in place if at all possible.

Make a note of which way around the connnector goes. It will only fit one way; if you force the connector on the wrong way when you connect the replacement fan, you'll break the header. Make a note of which pin on the motherboard header gets which colour wire.

To remove the fan, first disengage the power feed from the header on the motherboard. Do it gently -- you do not want to break the motherboard header, because if you do, you'll have to replace the motherboard or find another way to power the fan. A pair of needlenose pliers are handy here, but be careful that they don't slip off the connector.

You'll probably need a No. 1 Phillips screwdriver to undo and remove the four screws in each corner of the fan. Once that's done, you should be able to lift the fan off the heatsink. Make sure you don't lose the screws. Finding replacements of the same size can sometimes be difficult.

To install the replacement, reverse the process.

Oh, yes -- unplug the the system before you start. Don't just turn it off. Some parts of the motherboard are still live after shutdown. Shorting a live connection with a dropped screw will be highly prejudicial to the health of your system.

 

One problem. The 4 holes at the corners... there arent any screws on them. I've looked at it very closely and there's... nothing. I've tried every screws that can fit and nothing matches.

With speedfan, I can see now that my fan only goes around 2000 RPM. Since it's the only fan, my PC becomes overheated especially when I play games.

However, just when I turn on my PC, I can hear it going really fast... faster than 2000 RPM. After my windows start, I quickly turn on SpeedFan and my fan really does go for 4000ish RPM. But after 3-4 min or so, it settle down to 2000 RPM constant.

 

Looks to me that it's a socket 478 heat sink/fan for a Pentium 4 processor. You'd be better off just buying the whole heat sink and fan unit as it will be easier to install. Go into any PC store and tell them you need a "socket 478 heat sink and fan kit" and they'll sell you one for under $20.00 (probably closer to $10 or $12). Then, with the PC turned off and the power cord disconnected from the PC, simply remove the clips on the current heat sink/fan, unplug the fan from the motherboard, and carefully remove the whole unit. It might require some GENTLE side to side 'twisting' before it comes off. Then simply install the new unit as per the instructions in the box and be sure to reconnect the fan to the same header on the motherboard where the old fan was connected. Most (if not all) new heat sink/fan kits have thermal paste (or an equivilant) already on the base of the heat sink. If not, there will be a small tube of goop in the box; apply a THIN even layer across the surface of the CPU (clean off the old goop first- even if the new heat sink has the thermal compound already on the base, clean off the old goop!).... do NOT use the entire contents of the thermal compund tube!!!! It will be way too much and will only cause problems with temps!! I've seen it before!!! More is not better when it comes to thermal goop!!!!! Anyhow, all the info you'll need should be included with the new heat sink and fan. If you need more help or have questions, we're all here

hd2k

 

Hmmm. No screws, huh? In that case, the fan may be glued to the heatsink. Or it may just be an interference fit.

Hopperdave's route would be the easiest way to deal with a glued installation, unless you want to remove the heatsink, break the glue bond (which probably won't be very hard), replace the fan, then re-install the heatsink, taking care to clean up old thermal goop and replace it with new goop.

If it's an interference fit, the fan would pop off the heatsink with little force applied in the right place. Putting it back may not be so simple. If you go this route, be prepared to go to Plan B if you can't get the fan to stay in place. Plan B is Hopperdave's route.

How long has overheating been a problem? If it's a recent development, the fan may not be the problem. Fans are fans; their performance doesn't usually change much over time. Either they work, or they don't.

Is there dust between the heatsink fins that doesn't show in the photo? If so, get it out of there. Unfortunately, you may have to remove the fan from the heatsink to do that. Again, Hopperdave's solution may be the easiest.

 

Thanks for replying.

But what is Hopperdave? I goggled but no relevant results turned out.

 

You mean "who is Hopperdave?". He's the author of post #4 in this thread.

 

Haha.. I feel dumb now.

Anyway now that I have the idea of "glued" in mind, I was able to take the fan & heat sink off. Turns out all I have to do is pull the whole unit from the bottom.

I'm going to the store tomorrow and will ask for socket 478 heat sink and fan kit. My question is, is there any other ways to cool off my PC? At idle it's at 50 C but when I play games it goes to 90 C. I think that's the one causing so much lag in my game.

Also, when I looked at the base, it seems the glue isnt applied to all the metal box. I dont have a picture but basically there is this small square box. At the edge of the box, there seems to be paste (I assume it's acting as the glue). But the large portion of it is untouched. When I buy the kit tomorrow, should I just apply the paste at the edge of the metal square or on the whole metal surface? I dont want the paste to block any heat transfer or w/e...

 

Today I went to the store and bought exactly the same type of fan. Not only that, I bought another small fan to put on the case just to help cooling the PC.

But here's the thing... the fan is REALLY slow. My old fan at least goes around 2000 but the new one.. this is the pic of Speedfan that I took a min ago.


http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8156/image006vg6.jpg

 

Whew, man, I think you may have damaged your processor and/or motherboard due to overheating. Something's seriously wrong. Your CPU temp is extremely high (88C) and your fan speeds are barely running, according to SpeedFan.

Your SpeedFan is also weird. It's showing Fan1 and Fan2 twice. You also do not have the full range of voltage readings that SpeedFan will show for many systems. Granted, the might be because SpeedFan simply does not recognize certain elements of your particular hardware.

Did you not read hopperdave2000's advice on applying thermal paste? If you are unsure about properly applying thermal paste, you should have someone else do it. You really must get that CPU temp down.

 

I assume that you are looking at the base of the heatsink where it contacts the processor chip.

The function of the thermal paste is to aid heat transfer. It fills the air voids that otherwise would occur between the processor chip and the heatsink. Air is a good insulator; thermal paste is a better heat conductor than air. But it's not a great heat conductor, so you do not want any more thermal paste between the processor chip and the base of the heat sink than is absolutely necessary. Too little is bad; too much is worse, because it will probably squeeze out and short something.

If you really want to do it yourself, have a look at the installation instructions on Arctic Silver's website at <http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm>. What's there will give you some idea of what's involved.