Can I buy heatsink hardware separately?

[rwitmer]

So I've got this old motherboard. Here it is:

The fan was making sort of a horrible grinding noise, so I bought another one from Microcenter for $10. Problem is, I can't attach it. I just realized that the heatsink I had attached before had this really weird hardware that you screw down instead of clamping in the normal way.

Here's the old hardware from the top:

And the side:

And here's the new hardware from the top:

And the side:

They don't attach the same way, and they're not the same size, so you can't interchange them, see?

I doubt I would find another fan with weird hardware like the old one, so... now what should I do?

 

[Calculagator]

The fans on those old coolers are usually a standard size and replaceable. You should be able to swap the old fan with one with a new quiet one and still use the old mounting hardware.

 

[rwitmer]

That's what I did. I bought a new fan and heatsink together. The new mounting hardware isn't the same size.

 

[Calculagator]

That's what I did. I bought a new fan and heatsink together. The new mounting hardware isn't the same size.

Right-I got that. I'm saying you can usually separate the fan from the heatsink and replace just the fan. You would then be able to re-use the heatsink and its mounting hardware.

 

[rwitmer]

Oh, yeah, I thought of that. It won't work because the old one is shaped like this

and it sits down in the heatsink and attaches with 2 screws, but the new one looks like this:

and it attaches with 4 screws and is a different shape.