CPU Fan issue

Hi,
I have built my PC 3-4 years back and have E8400 CPU with the OEM fan that came with it. I have Antec sonata III case, 8GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, Abit IP35 PRO MB and some cheap video card.
Today due to some noise I was cleaning the case and fans, I took off the CPU fan and cleaned it. I installed it again as is. After that when I checked CPU temperature through the BIOS the temperature was coming up around 47degrees and then I booted up and used core temp, core temp is showing the temp around 34 for both the cores and the MAX it goes to around 55 at 10-15% load (I did not load something heavy, I was just browsing internet using chrome, so very light browsing).

Have I done something wrong? Should I need to order another fan?

I posted in the wrong forum and someone still replied.

Yes I took off the fan from CPU, then I just put it back, I did not have the new compound, there was old one dried up there, I did not scratch or something.

If want to buy another CPU FAN and compound which one is better?

I think we need some clarification of terms here. You an usually remove the fan from the heatsycn, and you can remove the heat sync from the CPU. If you removed the heatsync from the cpu, then to do things right you should clean off the old thermal compound (Coffee filters with 91% rubbing alcohol works well), and reapply fresh compound when you put the heatsync back on.

Since this is an older machine, and it sounds like your not overclocking, I would stick with the stock CPU cooler. As far as thermal compound, they are fairly close in this application. A name brand will be fine. Artic Silver 5 is a good one that lots of people like and it should not break the bank. You should do this soon but your temps are not crazy high so your ok until you get the new compound.

Old compound is not affective when you take it off and put it back on. You should just clean and reapply as retro said.

Next time you clean, dont worry about taking it off, just blow air on the whole thing it'll do the job.

Thanks for the answers. I was overclocking and after watching temperatures I removed that setting..

Quote from ask_j : Thanks for the answers. I was overclocking and after watching temperatures I removed that setting..

If you did only remove the fan from the heatsink, is there any chance that you put it back on backwards?

I removed the assembly of Fan and heat sink and then removed the fan from the heat sink later. I saw the compound. I did not remove the CPU. The fan you can not put backwards, because it has the plastic anchor to hold on to the heat sink, I might have rotated the fan position towards right or left..

Even you did not take out CPU- I do suggest you re-install one more time to make sure it sit well on socket. You never know if it is still tight after you pull the fan.
BTW- this might be redundant- but I always check all case fan connector and make sure it did not go loose while I install/uninstall any thing inside my case. Maybe you can also take a look too..

Thanks for replies. Why am I little leaning towards the new fan is because one of the corners of my stock fan, which goes down and hold the MB is loose, somehow I made that fit tight, but I am not sure if its 100% there.. Also I am little scared to take off this time and if it does not fit and I do not have another fan then I will be out of luck until I get the shipment. So if someone pls suggest some CPU FAN for my need, that would also be very helpful.

From what I remember (have this same cpu in my desktop) is the stock cooler is really hard to attach and requires a lot of force.

Quote from ask_j : Thanks for replies. Why am I little leaning towards the new fan is because one of the corners of my stock fan, which goes down and hold the MB is loose, somehow I made that fit tight, but I am not sure if its 100% there.. Also I am little scared to take off this time and if it does not fit and I do not have another fan then I will be out of luck until I get the shipment. So if someone pls suggest some CPU FAN for my need, that would also be very helpful.

Ya that would make a huge difference if one side is not clipped on tight enough. The pressure is what helps make the system work. Most high end heatsyncs actually bend the motherboard a bit because of all the force. Now, if you were overclocking with the stock heat sync/fan combo this is just a bad idea. You know how to monitor temps though, so that is good.

You can buy the plastic pins that intel uses, but you should be able to reuse the ones you have at least a few times. They might need to be spread out a bit though.


Just so you know your not looking for a CPU fan (Which you can buy by its self) you are looking for an aftermarket Heatsync which will have a fan on it. The Coolmaster Hyper 212+ is a popular, cheap, and it has quite good performance. If you want to go aftermarket it would be a good inexpensive option. Make sure it fits your socket, I am not 100% sure it does.