PCTech Forums

I am trying to upgrade my CPU from a P-II 350 to a P-III 550 (Katmai, SL3F7). I thought this would just be a matter of unplugging the one and plugging in the other. But I am very confused about the heatsink/fan for the P-III. Sorry for this somewhat lengthy posting, but I wanted to give a detailed explanation.

This is hard to describe, so I'll try to draw a crude picture. Looking at the unit from the top (when it is plugged into the motherboard):

HS P-II
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f-----||
a----||
n----||
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------||

--- lines indicate the HS (HeatSink) (on the left)
|| lines indicate the P-II CPU (on the right)
i.e., the fan is embedded into the middle of the heatsink, which is then attached to the CPU.

I am trying to upgrade to a P-III which I bought in an online auction. It came with an attached heatsink like:

HS P-III
------||
------||
------||
------||
------||
------||
------||

but it also came with ANOTHER, separate unit which seems to be a combo fan/heatsink. This fan unit is about as big as the heatsink already attached to the P-III CPU (i.e., it looks similar to the P-II fan/heatsink unit, except that the P-III one is currently separate, not attached to anything). So I'm confused:

- Am I supposed to try to remove the attached heatsink from the P-III (which looks like it could be difficult - I'm not even sure how to get the heatsink off without damaging the P-III), and then replace it with the combo fan/heatsink unit?

- Or, is the fan/heatsink combo to be used in ADDITION to the attached heatsink? In which case, does the combo unit go on the left, next to the heatsink, or on the right, next to the P-III (i.e. on the opposite side of the P-III from the heatsink)? Either way, how do I anchor the combo unit to whatever it is supposed to attach to? I also would have a problem with this setup, in that my motherboard doesn't really leave enough room for both the attached heatsink and the combo fan/heatsink. The fan unit wouldn't go all the way to the bottom of the P-III CPU due to other things on the motherboard, so I'm afraid the bottom of the CPU may get too hot.

BTW, the combo fan/heatsink an ARX ACC6060-15VHZK. I found a picture on this page:
http://www.etechshopping.com/Arx_coolin ... c_662.html
(The heading for this page says, "Home > Processors > CPU Fans > Socket 370/Socket 7 - ARX Cooling Fan for Intel Pentium II-SECC", but this fan unit came with the Slot 1 Pentium III in the ebay auction. It looks to be the right geometry, except for the problem of the heatsink that is already attached to the P-III.)

I've tried doing web searches like "Pentium-III, fan, heatsink", but the sites seem to either be specific to some other specific fan, or they are generic and say, please refer to instructions that came with your fan. I cannot seem to find an understandable page that answers my questions here.

Any help would be appreciated!

I'm not the best person to answer this because I haven't done many CPU upgrades recently, but I'll have a go anyway

Usually you would have a fan and heatsink together - I can't see that you should have 2 heatsinks attached. Are there mounting points for a fan on top of the heatsink that is already attached to the CPU?

hm , i have swapped CPU's before ... but... its a complicated process ..

Also a note If you built them ( the pc's) yourself, I would say the chances are good that you can do the swap. If they are proprietary (Compaq, Dell, Gateway, HP), it is almost certain that you cannot.

so point being . i need to know what kind of pc you own

And a note ... if you dont know what your doing , the main rule of all , dont mess around with the mother board ... cause just like mother nature it will kick ur A$$

My best suggestion if you dont understand how to swap them , is to bring it to a local pc store and have them install it .

But if your intent on doing it yourself , ill try and help all i can ... when i get home today ill take a pic of my P-III .. and post it , no the off chance nething is familiar. but let me kno what kind of pc it is.. ( like exact model ) Ex . Dell Gx 260