heatsink fan

[Joe van Raamt]

The heatsink fan of the North bridge chipset makes lately a lot of noise and makes the case vibrate. Can I just replace the fan or do I need to replace the heatsink as well. I looked at the motherboard and it seems that the heat sink is permanently attached to the motherboard, can that even be replaced?. The motherboard is a Gigabyte KT 400 series, AGP8X/FSB333

[Michael Dillman]

The fan is most likely glued or screwed onto the heatsink. You can usually buy a fan and some compound and be good to go. You might want to check pc repair places, they usually will sell used fans for about $5.

[Joe van Raamt]

This fan is screwed to the heatsink, so I can just replace the fan and it is not neccessary to replace the whole unit? I had to order the complete heatsink/fan because they did not sell them seperately in my city.

[Tom Leavitt]

Joe & Michael:
When researching for this post, I ran across a 'no fan' heatsink ... is it any good?
Tom

[Tom Leavitt · Accepted solution]

Sorry, here it is:
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/nb47j.html
Tom

[Alan_152]

You can just replace the fan, but make sure you get a good one. At the moment, I can't remember which is better -- sleeve, bearingless, or micro-bearing... . One of them is cheap, one of them is quiet, one of them is fast, and one of them is reliable...

[Joe van Raamt]

Good article Tom, but my expertise with pc hard ware is too limited to try to remove the heatsink it self. I have ordered the original equipment heatsink/fan and will just detach the fan and replace the defective one. Thanks to all who replied.