Dell Dimension CPU fan replacement.Help!

[volvofan]

.HI,I have the above PC which has served me well being used for almost all the time in the 2 years I've had it,but recently its fan/cpu cooler has been getting very noisy and vibrating quite a bit.I have hoovered and removed dust etc(not much) from the fan/cooler area but still very noisy.I gather that the cooling system used is BTX form factor and have already ordered a new Thermaltake BTX cooler for it,has anybody replaced one of these type of coolers?,is there anything I need to do or is it just the usual removal,reappply thermal paste and replacement thats normally used?.Also can the fan on these coolers be replaced or are they integral to the design?.Sorry for the questions but its driving me mad as its in my bedroom used as a media pc and the noise is starting to really annoy.I have a homebuild which thrashes the Dell but being built for speed not quietness its not very quiet either..Any help or advice is greatly welcomed,thanks.Forgot to add its a 5000 Dimension.oops.

[waynster]

If its only a couple of years old and you bought it from new, chances are it is still under warranty - Dell have an outstanding support level in Europe (I have used them a few times), and even if you bought it second hand, if you can contact the previous owner and transfer ownership, you can probably get it fixed for free - they are really good when you have a problem.

[Stuzo]

if you can just replace the fan (obviously easier than replaceing the fan and heatsink - and preventing breaking the thermal seal between heatsink and CPU) depends on what heatsink and fan dell have used in your system.

If it is anything like this:



then it looks like you should just be able to fit any (I would guess from the picture) 80mm fan into the plastic surround.