Can a stock fan from one processor be used for another one

[hithereimjack]

hi so my friend just recently built a pc and he didn't use his stock fan from his processor which is a xeon e3 1241 v3 , and he told me i could use it, so im wondering if it would work with my AMD athlon x4 860k. i need a new fan because my stock fan for my athlon broke, also i dont want to go through the trouble of taking apart my pc to install an aftermarket fan since im a first timer with pcs.

 

[nukemaster]

The stock cooler from an Intel cpu will NOT fit the AMD one.

They have different mounting methods.

I would look for an inexpensive aftermarket cooler(these can fit different sockets as well.). Just make sure it can handle the cpu.

 

[Chicano]

Click the link for very inexpensive Coolers for AMD Socket FM2/FM2+. You can use the fan only from those coolers that have the same shaped fan and heatsink as your cooler. If you want to also use the heatsink, you'll need to refresh the thermal paste.

1. Replacing the fan involves removing four screws only, removing and replacing the fan.
2. Replacing the whole cooler involves only undoing the latch, removing the stock cooler (fan and heatsink), cleaning out the old thermal grease (using alcohol if necessary), applying fresh grease, and latching on the new cooler. And don't forget connecting the wires to the mobo header.

SOCKET FM2-FM2+COOLERS

 

[Jeff Kaos]

Click the link for very inexpensive Coolers for AMD Socket FM2/FM2+. You can use the fan only from those coolers that have the same shaped fan and heatsink as your cooler. If you want to also use the heatsink, you'll need to refresh the thermal paste.

1. Replacing the fan involves removing four screws only, removing and replacing the fan.
2. Replacing the whole cooler involves only undoing the latch, removing the stock cooler (fan and heatsink), cleaning out the old thermal grease (using alcohol if necessary), applying fresh grease, and latching on the new cooler. And don't forget connecting the wires to the mobo header.

SOCKET FM2-FM2+COOLERS

It's also possible that you'll need to take the motherboard out if your replacing the entire cooler. Usually a cooler attaches directly to the motherboard but sometimes there's a separate bracket on the bottom of the motherboard the holds the cooler in place. Some of those brackets are attached to the motherboard with a sticker but other times it's not and once you remove the screws holding the cooler the bracket falls out. And speaking from experience it's usually necessary to remove the entire motherboard to reattach the cooler to the mounting bracket. I've managed to use a tiny screw driver and some voodoo to reattach the cooler to the mobo without having to remove the board but it took someone who had years of experience building PC's to show me how.

 

[Chicano]

Depends on the cooler, if it's stock or one of those inexpensive coolers at newegg which are compatible with the stock cooler bracket, then the motuberboard doesn't have to be removed... take a look at the image on the Amazon page... it's a stock cooler bracket that's bolted to the rear plate... and the cooler latches to it... some of the coolers on the newegg page are compatible with this type of plastic bracket, they have the square latch that hooks on the plastic bracket.. you can see it in this image right above the pair of capacitors. The only way the mobo has to be removed is with a large cooler w/heavy heatink that would obviously need a stronger bracket.
http://images.pcworld.com/images/article/2011/12/amd-done-6653394.jpg

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Plastic-Stand-Bracket-Socket/dp/B00KHSM4UY

These coolers on the first row are compatible with the stock AMD plastic cooler bracket, so are others on the next rows. Only those with larger heatsink, priced above $16.16 would maybe need a stronger bracket.