[Parkins8]

Hey all. I have a Dell Dimension 8100 that has a loud 92 mm intake fan. There is a hood over the CPU that extends up and then has this fan on the top of it. I am trying to find one to replace it but have had not luck and am running out of ideas...any help would be appreciated...

[archilochus]

Do you have a pic of the back of the fan?(removed from said duct) What are the numbers on the sticker, if it has one?

[Know Nuttin]

IIRC, those fans are just NMB fans. The only thing that is non-standard about them is the connector to the board. I believe it was very much like an Analog Optical drive cable connector.

[chucko]

Hey, i just replaced a 92mm fan on my old dell xps t550. and just to let you know, when i did some research on the fan that died, some one mentioned that the wires were opposite of regular fans. i was a little paranoid so i just connected the fan directly to the power supply rather than the motherboard.

im guessing dell did this so you have to use the fans that they use...which weren't even being made any more, but refurbed for like $30+!!!! the fan i got cost under $10 from a local shop.

[larva]

The fans used by dell for this application are chosen with regard to little details like the airflow and noise requirements of the application. Believe it or not Dell engineers solutions to the problem at hand rather than seeks to manipulate the market for replacement parts.

Dell usually uses NMB fans of two varieties. At one point they had a 3-pin connector and were internally thermally speed controlled. These fans have a thermistor on the hub that reports temperature to the integrated speed controller and govern themselves. They report speed to the motherboard for monitoring purposes.

Other Dells use a PWM-scheme motherboard controller to regulate the fan speed. In this case the fan has no thermistor, but is of the newer "PWM" style fan as seen on current Intel retail CPU fans.

The 92mm fans used in conjunction with a hood for the case exhaust and cpu fan role are often 92x32mm in size. Often you can find surplus NMB parts at places like MPJA or Electronic Goldmine. Surplus Solutions also comes to mind. It's a hit-or-miss approach, but if you stumble across one this way you get the perfect part for next to nothing.

The other way to go is to examine the fan fitted and simply fit your own box fan of the same dimensions. Depending on the fan chosen and/or your wiring aptitude you may choose to either wire it up as factory or simply attach it to a 4-pin Molex. You could also fit a fan speed controller of your own if desired; determining the need for and the value of such is your call.