Re: Replacing CPU fan on Dell 8300

William R. Walsh wrote:
Hi!

I've had the fan for five years and I don't think it's worth reviving,
but I'll try anyway.

It's worth a try and the price is certainly right...as is the time
savings if you don't have to wait for a replacement. If nothing else,
oiling it could get you through until a replacement arrives.

I was looking for a different fan altogether because while searching
there have been many complaints about the noise on this unit

I was probably one of those complainers.

My Dim8300 could wind itself up to vacuum cleaner levels of noise with
the original 3.4GHz P4 Prescott CPU. It was unreal how loud that thing
could get, and how much hot air would come out of it.

I got a 2.8GHz Northwood P4 as a replacement. The difference is night
and day. So at least some of the noise depends upon the processor you
have installed.

Regarding the fan malfunction message, can't that be turned off
in the bios?

No. You can elect to ignore it and continue, but it will always come
up as long as the fan is not producing an indication that it is
running.

I was feeling spiteful one day when my Dim8300 had the cursed Prescott
CPU in it, and I decided to see if it would overheat without the
benefit of that fan. It was running but I had the green baffle lifted
up so that air was not being pulled over the heatsink. The CPU was
running at 100% utilization the whole time, and it took almost a half
hour before the system BIOS said "enough!" and powered it down.

This leads me to believe that there is some reserve built into the
design, and that a slower CPU might be just fine without the fan
running properly. However, any damage to your system is your problem
and responsibility. I don't recommend doing this, and can't really
justify the fact that I did...other than to say that I was mad* at the
time.

William

* well "p'd off" was more accurate but it is also much less polite...

3.4GHz must be the breaking point as far as overheating of a Dimension 8300. I acquired some 3.2GHz Dimension 8300's from a corporate downsizing, set some up, sold them, never saw anything close to a heat problem. Your experience with 3.4GHz shows the the good sense in not pushing CPU speeds higher, instead going to dual and quad core at lower frequencies. AND LOWER VOLTAGES! ... Ben Myers
.

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