Extreme Newbie heatsink question....

[psy44]

Ok, I have a retail Intel heatsink fan thing. It is too loud,I don't really understand how these things work, can I just get rid of the fan on top of the heatsink and put a quieter fan on it? Or do I have to buy a new heatsink, and buy another fan? Also if I put a new heatsink on, should I scrape off the thermal grease stuff from the first heatsink?(I was looking at this, I read the reviews, and at low speed it makes about 24 dB, is this as loud as the stock intel heatsinks? Would I be able to put a different fan on and still make it work?) Thanks

 

[microAmp]

You can put a quiter fan on the exsisting heatsink, provided that it'll fit, due to dimensions. Get the same dimensions and you'll be alright.

If you put a new heatsink on, you don't have to scrape off the thermal pad. If you do scrape off the thermal pad, don't use a metal object to scrape it off with, you'll scratch the heatsink and it won't be flush with the CPU and have poor heat transfer. I heard credit cards work for scraping it off.

It should be noted that, going to a slower CFM fan, will increase your tempertures on the CPU.