I have an old gateway computer that i am using as a kind of entertainment pc for plyaing mp3's. It has a 750mhz slot A athlon processor. The fan for the cpu is very loud and i want to replace it. I was wondering if replacing the fan would be sufficient or if i should replace the whole heatsink/fan. I am trying to get it as quiet as possible and have been searching the internet for a suitable alternative to my current heatsink. Any advice would be appreciated.

I don't think you will find any heatsink-fan combination for your system so what's left for you is to find an apropriate sized fan and replace it. For instance Akasa, Enermax or Papst build very good and silence fans.

The best socket A cooler would be the Scythe Katana but I'm not sure if it would fit your case.

Well it's a slot A not a socket A, the setup is at least 6 years old. I was wondering if the heatsink makes noise or is it just the fan on the heatsink. If it is just the fan then i can get a quiet replacement right?

Argh..I'm an idiot lol

Anyways, heatsinks don't make noise...its the fan. Yes, you can always get a replacement fan. Just make sure that your new fan has the same type of power connector.

haha, thanks for that information, i think i will just get a fan then, do you know any really quiet ones, i think it is a 50mm.

The brands that Flipi posted about are pretty good but I personally like Pananflos. They're quiet and they push a decent amount of air for the money.

To be honest though, I don't know about 50mm fans. I just recently got interested in computers and most pcs today use 80mm and up :p

A quick search shows that you don't have many choices...


But if you're looking for places to buy, I reccomend the following online shops:
www.svc.com
www.zipzoomfly.com
www.newegg.com/www.chiefvalue.com
www.jab-tech.com
www.mwave.com

:Edit: This looks like a good fan... (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835119054)

It has a high airflow rate(better cooling) with a pretty low rpm(lower is better if you want to have a quiet pc).

thanks a lot. Also, how many db would say is quiet?

thanks a lot. Also, how many db would say is quiet?

Well different people have different sensitivities but I think ~30 is a good rating. Its quiet enough for me so that I can't hear it unless I'm absolutley looking for it. Background noises tend to block it out.

However, beware of db ratings, different manufacturers use different criteria for measuring sound.....some may take the readings from across the room while others take it right next to the fan...

thanks you've been a lot of help, I think i'm gonna go with the one from newegg. I just need to measure my old one first to make sure it is 50mm before i order it.

Usually it would be a 60 mm fan, 50 I have not seen se far. If you are unable to find one you can go outside computer industry and get a fan build for othe raplications - electronics. We have a local depot that sells any kind of fan and you can choose from a lot of them. www.rs-componnets.com

thanks for the info, I measured it last night, it is a 50x50x15. When i took the fan off, there was all kinds of dust and other stuff between the heatsink and fan that took me a while to clean out. It seems a little quieter, but there is a high pitch noise that drives me crazy.

Untill you get a new one you can use some fine-mechanisms oil (sorry about the words - not a native english speaker) to make the noise a lot less present.

If you want to look at my project, here it is: http://community.webshots.com/album/526382739qPozzt Tell me what you guys think.