Hello, this is my first post here on Tom's Hardware. I've heard very good things about the community here and how helpful everyone can be 
Anyway, I guess I'll get right to the point.
My motherboard is an A8N-SLI Deluxe.
I have 2 6600GTs connected in SLI. For this reason some cooling methods will not work for lack of space.
The fan assisting the chipset's heatsink was simply out of control. It's WAY too loud. At first it was just noisy, but there were no problems with it's speed. Poking it made it stop the racket if only for a few minutes.
Anyway, I decided to dismantle the fan in order to oil it up and get a closer look at what may be causing this noise. The fan was clearly faulty. Unaware of how it was mounted, I wanted to remove the entire heatsink first. I am a bit inexperienced with hardware at this level, and am now aware that this may have been a stupid, stupid idea. I poked at the little black peg that had a spring coiling around it. It shot up and hit me in the face. I then did the same with the other (but managed not to hit myself in the face). The heatsink then came off.
Which brings me to my scenario and the following questions. You needn't inform me that someone who isn't comfortable with the hardware shouldn't be messing with it. I learnt that the hard way.
1) How do I put the heatsink back on the motherboard. I'll tolerate the volume of the fan and make sure its safe to the rest of my hardware by monitoring it in the bios if I could just put it back in! I have no idea how the black pegs with the spring around it actually held the fixture together. They aren't screws, what are they latching on to? I can't get them to latch on to anything at this point, and with the springs around them they just fall back out if I put them sort of back the way I saw them.
2) If I were to just replace the heatsink and/or fan, with what would I replace them? I have not seen a definitive answer to this in the case of someone who has 2 GPUs connected in SLI, which limits space. Will the Swiftek MCX159-A fit and be appropriate or would I require modification to make it fit? Is there a more affordable solution?
3) Would there be a benefit to applying a pricier cooling solution than a replacement POS fan like the one that came with it? I was hoping to better understand my hardware and perhaps attempt some overclocking, but I really don't know much about it at this point. My main objective is to OC my AMD Venice 3200+ which is currently running at 2.0Ghz to 2.7 or 2.8Ghz. Would better chipset cooling help at all or is that a completely different issue. What about GPU overclocking?
4) Do I need to replace this fan if I don't overclock? Is my computer safe to operate without a replacement?
Thank you very much to anyone who read this and will give it some thought.
edit: also, I have seen a few threads on related topics, and from them I have yet to see someone note that they have 2 GPUs and made a replacement work. The only thing I've read is that some folks have had ASUS send them replacements. Even if I do go that route, I'm not certain how to reaffix the heatsink. I also am not sure I want a replacement that is liable to fail on me again.
Anyway, I guess I'll get right to the point.
My motherboard is an A8N-SLI Deluxe.
I have 2 6600GTs connected in SLI. For this reason some cooling methods will not work for lack of space.
The fan assisting the chipset's heatsink was simply out of control. It's WAY too loud. At first it was just noisy, but there were no problems with it's speed. Poking it made it stop the racket if only for a few minutes.
Anyway, I decided to dismantle the fan in order to oil it up and get a closer look at what may be causing this noise. The fan was clearly faulty. Unaware of how it was mounted, I wanted to remove the entire heatsink first. I am a bit inexperienced with hardware at this level, and am now aware that this may have been a stupid, stupid idea. I poked at the little black peg that had a spring coiling around it. It shot up and hit me in the face. I then did the same with the other (but managed not to hit myself in the face). The heatsink then came off.
Which brings me to my scenario and the following questions. You needn't inform me that someone who isn't comfortable with the hardware shouldn't be messing with it. I learnt that the hard way.
1) How do I put the heatsink back on the motherboard. I'll tolerate the volume of the fan and make sure its safe to the rest of my hardware by monitoring it in the bios if I could just put it back in! I have no idea how the black pegs with the spring around it actually held the fixture together. They aren't screws, what are they latching on to? I can't get them to latch on to anything at this point, and with the springs around them they just fall back out if I put them sort of back the way I saw them.
2) If I were to just replace the heatsink and/or fan, with what would I replace them? I have not seen a definitive answer to this in the case of someone who has 2 GPUs connected in SLI, which limits space. Will the Swiftek MCX159-A fit and be appropriate or would I require modification to make it fit? Is there a more affordable solution?
3) Would there be a benefit to applying a pricier cooling solution than a replacement POS fan like the one that came with it? I was hoping to better understand my hardware and perhaps attempt some overclocking, but I really don't know much about it at this point. My main objective is to OC my AMD Venice 3200+ which is currently running at 2.0Ghz to 2.7 or 2.8Ghz. Would better chipset cooling help at all or is that a completely different issue. What about GPU overclocking?
4) Do I need to replace this fan if I don't overclock? Is my computer safe to operate without a replacement?
Thank you very much to anyone who read this and will give it some thought.
edit: also, I have seen a few threads on related topics, and from them I have yet to see someone note that they have 2 GPUs and made a replacement work. The only thing I've read is that some folks have had ASUS send them replacements. Even if I do go that route, I'm not certain how to reaffix the heatsink. I also am not sure I want a replacement that is liable to fail on me again.
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