Question 1

I have never replaced a fan on any computer before so I don't know what to be looking for. I need a new fan for my Alienware M17x. Will this thing fit or do I have to look elsewhere? If so then what do I want?

Accepted Answer

No this is more for a desktop setup. The best thing I can think of is one of this laptop cooling USB pads that absorbs heat from the bottom and blows it out with fans. This would be more along the lines if you were going to replace a CPU cooler in a desktop. Another thing is I would contact Dell/Alienware to see if they're willing to send you a replacement fan for the inside and walk you through installation over the phone or video chat.

Question 2

is it possible to buy the PWM (4pin) fan only?  I just bought the heatsink with CPU fan (101 with the 3pin fan) by mistake

Accepted Answer

yes you can buy the fan separate, but you have to look for it under the fan section of newegg. usually heatsink designers try to make the heatsink compatible with all types of chipsets (like AM3+, LGA1155, etc.) and also make the fan usable for all types of motherboards. Some motherboards don't even have PWM pins or even normal fan pins, so the fan might come with a MOLEX cable to hook it directly to your power supply. If it is a cpu fan, then you would want to hook your fan to the "CPU FAN" spot on your motherboard because your motherboard will not see the fan otherwise

Question 3

I purchased this with the Supermicro X9SAE-V motherboard (Intel C216 Chipset - Socket H2 LGA-1155) with the Intel Xeon E3-1230 processor.

The fan that came with the chip works and fits... but I couldn't get this to go over the chip.  It doesn't touch the motherboard on both sides with the CPU in.

I can't tell if I'm missing something, or if it's not made for this MB.  The device doesn't actually touch the CPU - it rocks against the CPU socket sides, and the "legs" don't touch the MB on both sides for installation.

Can someone tell me, please - am I missing something? Or was this not made for this MB, and I should have gotten a different model?  (If so, what model?)

At the least... It looks nice. :)

Accepted Answer

It should work just fine with that motherboard. The first obvious, but easy to check possibility is that you may have screwed the 4 push-pin clamp things into the wrong side of the heat sink. They are supposed to go into the bottom, close to the CPU.

The second possibility I can think of is caused by the oddity of the snap-in clamps. When the tops are rotated counter clockwise, the plastic snaps can extend (which also unlocks them so you can pull them out/push them in). Once you have them unlocked and extended, you sometimes have to wiggle them a fair bit to get them to go into the holes. Then you have to turn the top in the direction of the arrow and push on it to  get it to snap into the final, tight position.

Hope one of those helps!

Question 4

I just received this item. I couldn't tell from the specs page on NewEgg, but it appears from the product box it doesn't support my Intel i7-4770k Socket 1150 processor. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks.

Accepted Answer

lga 1155 and lga 1150 share the same mounting holes, so you should be able to use the same cpu coolers that work with lga 1155 with the 1150 motherboard.

Questions & Answers