Is it possible to just buy a replacement fan for a heatsink.

[karma4jake]

I have an older socket A computer with a 1.4ghz thunderbird I believe it is, I'm selling it and the fan on the CPU is getting kinda loud so I want to replace it so it doesn't go out on the new owner and nuke the chip. Does newegg or zipzoomfly sell just the 60mm fans with the motherboard power connectors or am I gonna be stuck getting a whole new hs/fan combo? All I found were case fans and new hs/fan combos.

 

[imported_Kensai]

You can run a CPU fan off the 4 pin molexes too without fault.

 

[karma4jake]

So the motherboard fan monitor won't freak when it doesn't see a RPM reading off the motherboard cpu connector. So I should just get a 60mm case fan?

 

[ericlala]

it's fine, i was taking my board out today and just noticed my cpu fan had been plugged into the psu plug for the last 4 years.

 

[Demo24]

some will freak out actually. Sometime you can disable in BIOS

 

[boomerang]

Take the fan off. There will be a sticky label type thing that you can carefully peel back. Peel it back just far enough so you can put a drop of light oil on the bearings.

Give it a good cleaning beforehand. 90% of the time this will take care of the noise. If it doesn't, replace it.

 

[karma4jake]

Do you think a drop of canola oil will work? I don't have any engine oil. Also I don't have any bearings it looks like a shaft through a copper disc.

 

[boomerang]

Yeah, give it a whirl. Don't concern yourself with what it looks like, just lubricate it.

Just one drop though.

 

[CrispyFried]

Originally posted by: karma4jake
Do you think a drop of canola oil will work? I don't have any engine oil. Also I don't have any bearings it looks like a shaft through a copper disc.

thats called a sleeve bearing. they suck, as the hole through the sleeve wears and gets bigger, eventually the fan wobbles and makes rude noises as well as spinning slower. Even if you oil it it will soon give more trouble. It should be replaced, preferably with a ball bearing fan.

You can check this yourself by gently pressing alternately on the fan blades, youll probably find you an rock the fan. If you can, its basically shot.

 

[karma4jake]

Well I tried the canola oil, it worked well, hopefully for a year or two. The fan is probably about 4 years old. Thanks for the help.