Hello, i recently cleaned out my computer but 1 of the fan things that push the air thru has broken off... My Computer Temp hasn't changed that much (around 40 @ Idle) but the case shakes a little bit, would this be ok to leave it as it is ?Or shoud i replace it?(i know that you need somekind of compound between the heat-sink and the Fan, so i dont want to chage it if not critical)ThanksMy parents will kill me if they find out ive broken the fan, LOLWould it be ok to superglue the missing fan thing back on ?

Hi, Change it immediately.

Wrong.The compund is between the heatsink and the CPUnot the Heatsink and the Fan.you can and should change the fan immediately

Just replace the fan. You can get new fans for dirt cheap.

it should be replaced, not for the shaking, but for the heat issues that is may cause. When you use the computer and open several programs, the cpu will get hotter. These can lead to overheating, cpu damage, cpu shutdowns and computer instability. If the fan is on the outside of the case, and no the cpu fan, you are probably ok to leave it. keep an eye on the temperature when the computer is really working hard.

You "might" be ok. You can try to secure the broken section the best you can - maybe with a zip tie or something. It might be ugly, but it would work. You could always purchase a cheap heat sink fan assembly then just replace the fan and hold-down and not the actual heat sink. I'd be worried that it might vibrate itself so much that it could loosen the fan completely.EDIT: If any of the blades are bent or broken - definitely replace the fan - real cheap to do!

buy a new CPU fan, it's less than 5 bucks. the guys at the compute store can show you how to re-attach it.

when you think about it, the only purpose of the fan is to keep the components at an acceptable temperature. If everything is still running at an acceptable temperature, then I see no reason to do anything to it.

This is not really the end of the world, it happened to me as well,. You will probably only get irritated by the noise of the fanAs long as you put some thermal paste onto your CPU, you will not have any issues.40 degrees is actually a decent temperature, once you start hitting 68 - 75 degrees that is when you should panic.

replace it, you are causing excess vibrations throughout the system, this is caused by uneven weight distribution on the fan, so instead of the central point of gravity being central, it's on the side with all the rest of the fans blades.it will also spin faster to compinsate for the missing blade, making the vibrations worse.you just need to replace just the fan, there should be screws to loosen it off, but personally I'd just buy a heatsink fan combo, it's much easier (and you don't have to fidget about with thermal paste).