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I'm planning on getting a new CPU fan/heat sink as my stock one is starting to die. However, I have no idea how to know if what I buy will be able to connect to my Mobo. Anyone able to offer insight on this?

What CPU do you have? If it's a Core 2 duo, socket 775 heatsinks should still be easy enough to find. Some third party heatsinks come with adapter sets to fit multiple Intel or AMD socket types. The great e-store Newegg.com is very easily searchable by the appropriate technical categories, so you can browse heatsinks and search by socket.

If the motherboard is old enough you will probably end up having to replace it, the memory and the CPU, either that or just buy an exact replacement for the part that's failing.

IanKennedy wrote:If the motherboard is old enough you will probably end up having to replace it, the memory and the CPU, either that or just buy an exact replacement for the part that's failing.

If it is that old (P4 era) the heatsink might be floating around on ebay, though I wouldn't expect a long life from a used heatsink/fan.

If you can, it might be prudent to re-apply thermal paste at the same time you replace the heatsink. WIpe off the old compound with a cloth and apply a small dot in the middle of the CPU; pressure will spread it once the heatsink is replaced.

Here's a different thought, though: can the fan itself be removed from the heatsink? In that case, the fan should be a fairly simple replacement.

Ok... I'm going to post my MB and processor... just to make things easier.

MB: ASUS P5QL-VM DO
Processor: Pentium Duel-Core E5300

stitch626 wrote:Ok... I'm going to post my MB and processor... just to make things easier.

MB: ASUS P5QL-VM DO
Processor: Pentium Duel-Core E5300

Yep, that's a socket 775 like I'd guessed. Any of these should work as a drop-in replacement (all mobos of a given socket have the same fan mounting holes, except certain OEM-specific boards -the proprietary Dell or whatevers)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... =LGA%20775

Cool thanks. Link was good too. Now I just need to pick one.

And yeah I will be redoing the thermal paste, just for good measure.