All,
I have an emachines 6410, and the power supply sounds as if it's about to
freakin take off!
So it needs a fan replacement, assuming it still works
otherwise. Your call, buy a whole new PSU or just a fan...
from the picture it looks like a typical 80x25mm fan but
open it up and measure to be sure, and it'll probably have a
smaller connector so you'd either hunt around for same
connector type (more common on fans from electronics
suppliers rather than PC parts suppliers), or splice new fan
leads to old fan leads + connector, or old fan leads might
be soldered direct to the circuit board, requiring either
splicing as above or pulling out the circuit board and your
soldering iron.
I was on emachine's site to look for replacements, and I can't settle on
what I really need to buy to change this out.
This is the power supply eMachines sells as a replacement:
http://parts.emachines.com/emachines/moreinfo.asp?product_id=69081
Does yours look like that? I Mean general size, fan
placement, screw hole placement, and that it mounts to the
case wall on the longer of the two sides?
It also states that I should replace the CPU fan as well along with the PS.
Maybe, depends on if it was same quality or better. A
*good* CPU fan will last multiple times as long as a poor
sleeve bearing PSU fan, but I don't know what exact fans you
have. Regardless, CPU fans are even more common than PSU
fans due to likelihood any randomly chosen replacement would
already have the compatible motherboard connector on it.
Above PSU is quite overpriced, you can get a Sparkle or
other mATX at
http://www.newegg.com for about $30, maybe
less though I suggest choosing a name brand rather than a
generic even if the generic is rated for more watts (because
that's what generics tend to do, use low quality parts then
rate them deceptively).
Can I take out the CPU fan and PS and go to Compusa or the like and walk out
with suitable replacements? Or am I stuck having to order this stuff
directly from eMachines?
Your best bet is ordering online, not Compusa or eMachines
but a PC Parts and/or electronics parts supplier(s). Who
has what you need (and who has best prices) depends on
exactly what it is. For example, here's one that might fit
your PSU,
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/nmb80ulqubr3.html
or the connector might not fit, and we don't know if your
PSU fan is the only exhaust for the whole system- if it is,
you may want a higher RPM fan instead of the above, should
compare the ratings on the label of your present fan, it's
current rating (or RPM rating if you can find that, though
it's often harder to find RPM ratings for some fans so
similar current rating tends to suggest about same RPM so
long as the fan doesn't have an integral thermal control
feature (which would be obvious, the sensor is sticking out
where it gets reasonable airflow)). NMB are a high quality
brand, despite the unusually low price in the above link, I
suggest avoiding most (other brands of) similarly lower-cost
fans and in a PSU or CPU heatsink, also most sleeve-bearing
fans.
