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Buddy J
22 Sep 2008, 7:47pm
Last night I noticed my work PC was offline. I usually leave it in IRC when I'm gone, but it wasn't in the channel when I checked yesterday evening.

Got in to the office this a.m. and found it offline, as I suspected. Tried to boot it and got to the desktop when I heard an awful sound and the PC shut down. Tried again, same thing. And then again... same thing. Got into the BIOS and noticed the temps for the CPU were skyrocketing 50C... 53C... 57C... 61C... 65C. I shut it down. Even with the stock HSF, it shouldn't hit that at idle in the BIOS.

Checked the HSF. Found out it's an old ThermalTake. Looks like it's probably a Volcano. It was caked with dust and I figured the fan was probably shot after all these years of Folding etc. 24/7. Told my boss I needed a new heatsink and they said they'd reimburse me for it.

Went down the street to PC Club and found out the store is closed. FAIL.
Went across the street to an independent PC shop. They only had an OEM Coolermaster aluminum hunk of crap. FAIL.
Went to Best Buy. They only had some RocketFish rebadged CM, but at least it has a 120mm fan and some heatpipes. Still, I wanted something better.
Went to another indie store down the street. $80 for an old Zalman orb?!? WTFNO. Their prices were retarded.
Went back to Best Buy and got the RocketFish thingy for $30 out the door.

Back at the office, I went to pull the old TT HSF off the board. The prong the mounting clip attaches to broke off. Not a biggie, except nobody uses 3 prong mounts anymore. FAIL. Went to the store, got some superglue, and tried to reattach the prong. No go. Not strong enough. Popped off a few times and melted the mounting surface. Way to suck.

So I ordered this:http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5923/bra-12/CPU_Fan_Retainer_Bracket_w_Backplate_-_AMD_K8_and_Opteron_Socket_754_939_940.html

Hopefully it'll be here in a day or two so I can get my rig back up here at the office. Until then, I'll be offline during the day, trying to make the spare office computer work.:thumbsdow

Gargoyle
22 Sep 2008, 8:06pm
Ouch. At least the new fan has to be quieter than the Volcano. And those things were barely adequate without a layer of dust on them.

Snarkasm
23 Sep 2008, 8:56pm
That's an awful lot of fail. :(

Luck, BJ.

Buddy J
24 Sep 2008, 7:13pm
I'm back now. Thanks to FrozenCPU, they had a replacement Socket 754 HSF mount bracket, complete with backplate for $8. With two day shipping, it went out Monday afternoon and I got it this a.m.

I also took the time to reroute the cables in the case for better airflow and easy maintenance, and I soundly flogged it with a can of compressed air to get the dust out. My rig is happy. Also, I ripped out a crapton of useless cables, port replicators, and non-working "mods"; enough to fill a WalMart bag. ;)

Gargoyle
24 Sep 2008, 7:55pm
Also, I ripped out a crapton of useless cables, port replicators, and non-working "mods"; enough to fill a WalMart bag. ;)

Added lightness :). Here's hoping you don't have to open 'er up again anytime soon to enjoy your cable routing.

PurplezArctic
25 Sep 2008, 1:49am
Next time around I will definitely buy my parts online next time around. I pretty got ripped on my RAM and the proc I bought. I can understand that some prices are hard not to set high, otherwise it would be far to expensive for the store to stock. Regardless, it's not good.

Good luck with the hsf, Buddy J.

Snarkasm
25 Sep 2008, 2:15am
Next time around I will definitely buy my parts online next time around.

But only next time around.

Buddy J
25 Sep 2008, 5:34am
Jah, the prices for small retailers just don't compare to what you can get online. On one hand I feel sorta bad for not supporting the local mom-and-pop places, but on the other hand I'm not in a position to shell out $80 for a 3-year-old Zalman or $40 for a Thermaltake Crystal Orb chipset cooler. Heh, they did have a HD 4870X2 there, but it was priced at $700.

Online tends to give you a better deal if you go through a reputable vendor. Next time you're shopping, try using our Marketplace to find a good deal. Seeing aggregated prices along with the retailer ratings is a great service we have at our disposal.