Replacement CPU Fans
March 14th, 2009Over the course of years, some retail Intel CPU fans may become loud and noisy. The stock fan is paired with a heatsink to pull heat from computer processor, and replacement fans are paired with a custom replacement heatsink. Heatsinks are glued to the CPU with thermal paste, requiring some force to remove.
An interesting looking replacement fan is a ZALMAN CNPS9500 solution which is only compatible with Intel processors. The heatsink is heavy and requires a supporting piece on the underside of the motherboard. A mounting bracket fits around the CPU socket on the topside, fastening into the supporting piece with four screws. On some motherboards, the mounting bracket will not fit as a tall capacitor usually gets in the way. It does fit on an ASUS P5LD2 motherboard; although the bracket brushes against a heatsink.
The orientation of the mounting bracket is confusing at first. There’s a groove (in the above picture, lower-left) that allows the locking latch on the CPU socket to fully retract.
The residual thermal paste can be removed with rubbing alcohol and a coffee filter. There are several tutorials describing how to apply new thermal paste. I choose the line method which entails squeezing a line of paste diagonally across the top of the processor.
It’s best to practice aligning the heatsink on the processor and mounting bracket before applying new thermal paste. Clean the top of the processor, the underside of the heatsink and avoid getting your fingerprints on either of the two surfaces. Apply thermal paste on the topside of the processor and lay the heatsink flat on top of it. A crosspiece secures the heatsink on the mounting bracket, requiring more muscle to secure to the mounting bracket.
They don’t make these things easy do they?
All said and done, this replacement fan is significantly quieter than an aging Intel stock fan.