uh oh my new heatsink/fan doesn't fit :(

[yhlee]

I recently bought a retail p4-2.4ghz from newegg (Intel Pentium 4 / 2.4GHz Northwood 512K Socket 478 Processor 400MHz Retail Box, Model#: BX80532PC2400DSL67R) to replace the p4-1.8ghz in my dell dimension 8200 (prior discussion). Getting the little snap off and getting the processor out was no problem. Though I was kind of surprised to see how high the fan is, in relation to the top of the heatsink.

Anyways, my new 2.4 fit perfectly but as i went to put in the fan, i noticed that there was no place for the latches that come with the fan/heatsink to fit in. In addition, the base of the new heatsink is about 25mm wider on each side!! As a result, my heatsink doesn't fit into the slot. Looking at the plastic on my mobo (that houses my old heatsink) it's not really obvious how i would even get the thing out (if that were my only option).

So, what is my solution? Do i go buy some grease from compusa or whatever, remove the old grease (it looks pink, is that how it is supposed to look [i don't want to remove something i shouldn't]) and use my old heatsink? Did i buy the wrong processor altogether? When i bought my computer, only p41.6-2.0 were being offered in the dimension models. I do seem to remember reading that my mobo supported up to 2.4 ghz though.

thanks for any help. i hate my laptop (it beeps whenever i push two keys at once. lol)

-young

 

[Excelsior]

Yeah..umm..dude...me and my friend tried that exact same thing. We ended up just getting a whole new computer. New motherboard, case, etc. We were angry to find out the HSF didn't fit too.

 

[yhlee]

thanks for your input. everyone starts somewhere
-young

 

[Jhhnn]

Use a little bit of alcohol or acetone on some ultra fine steel wool to remove the remnants of the pink thermal interface pad from your old hsf. Install it on your new processor with some quality thermal grease, fire it up. The worst case scenario is that it will automatically throttle back, indicating that you need to replace the stock fan with something more powerful...