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Maximum allowable CPU wattage for Dell Inspiron 570 heatsink/fan?
I am the computer geek in the family, so it falls to me to upgrade my cousin's aging model Dell desktop computer, at the request of her husband. (The upgrade will be a Christmas surprise.)
The only things that I know for sure about my cousin's current computer are that it contains an AMD Athlon II X2 250 CPU, which it came with originally, and that it's a tower system with shiny black plastic all up and down the front. A bit of googling suggests that this is a "Dell Inspiron 570", and that it may date from as far back as 2011.
I've already bought an SSD for the thing. Installing that will be a no-brainer. I've also purchased an AMD Phenom II X4 960T from that big auction site. That will be delivered soon. This new CPU should, in theory, just drop into the AM3 socket with no problems, however that is a 95 watt processor, whereas the original Athlon II X2 250 is just a 65 watt processor.
So, quite simply, I need an answer to the following two questions: (1) What is the maximum CPU wattage that the stock heatsink/fan on a Dell Inspiron 570 is rated for? (Can that handle a 95w processor?) And also (2), if not, can I replace the stock heatsink/fan in a dell Inspiron 570 with any old third-party headsink/fan combo that is compatible with AM3 socket processors? (Or did Dell do something proprietary on the motherboard so that doing this will be a problem?)
Ok, sorry, that's actually four questions.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
ejn63
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December 16th, 2017 13:00
This system shipped with the Phenom II X4-850, which is a 95 W CPU, so the heatsink assembly you have should be fine.
The answer to the other question is that most Dell systems use very non-standard heatsink mounting hardware -- so a third party heatsink will not be easy to fit. You may find the mounting holes are not standard -- meaning that a standard bracket won't fit. Beyond that, the Dell board checks for the presence of a thermistor on the fan assembly - if you install a non-Dell fan, you'll get bootup errors each time you start the system (and there is no way to suppress those).
speedstep
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December 19th, 2017 06:00
The UBER UPGRADE GUIDE covers most of this.
Inspiron 570 remastered in Cooler Master HAF 912 case
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19490818
The guide consists of the following parts
Part 1. RAM upgrade.
Part 2. Video Card upgrade.
Part 3. PSU upgrade
Part 4. Processor (CPU) upgrade
Part 5. CPU cooling and general cooling in the original case.
Part 6. CPU cooling and general cooling in the larger case.
Part 7. Overclocking.
speedstep
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December 22nd, 2017 11:00
The 95W unit has copper the 65W unit is Aluminum.
ronbaby
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December 22nd, 2017 11:00
Thanks much! These are exactly the bits of info I was hoping to get. And yes, I kind-of figured that the mount for the heatsink/fan might be a tad non-standard (thus precluding the use of ordinary third-party coolers). Sigh. I'm always a bit disappointed at the way the "big name" retail computer manufacturers diddle things in ways that make DIY upgrading more difficult.
Anyway, regarding the wattage and the heatsink/fan, as I mentioned, the computer I'm working on shipped with only an Athlon II x2 250... *not* a Phenom. And the "UBER UPGRADE GUIDE" that SpeedStep pointed me at seems to suggest that in fact, there was a smaller HS/fan combo shipped with 65w processors, and I'll need a bigger one for a 95w processor. (That GUIDE features pictures of both and they are NOT the same.)
This revelation, along with the non-standard HS/fan mounting, is kind-of ruining my day, as today was the day I was supposed to do the upgrade (for my cousin), but I guess now I'll have to wait and get a proper sort of compatible 95w HS/fan.
Oh well!