I just got my E8500, too (I saw the other thread here) and I'm having nothing but problems.Has ANYONE ever put a Zalman 9500 fan into a Dell? -- I have a Dimension e520 and the holes in the motherboard don't match up with any of the adapters that came with the unit -- even though I bought it from Dell! At Dell Tech support is useless when it's a little outside the box like this.I just can't figure out how to put this bloody thing on!!Thanks in advance to ANYONE who can help.

Oh man, that just blows. I feel your pain with Dell. I wouldn't touch them with stolen money.Do you know what motherboard you have? If you do, you might try Zalmans tech support here:http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/Contact/GetSup.../Write_Form.aspI've never used them so I can't say you'll have better luck but, it's worth a try. Sorry I can't help more.Regards, Jeff

Thanks Jeff -- TigerDirect actually had a phone number and Zalman told me this fan won't fit because Dell uses proprietary mounts. Duh. Both TigerDirect and Dell themselves told me the fan would fit and I know I can't be the first Dell owner with this issue so I'm sure where there's a will, there's a way -- but I give up for now. Dell is sending me one of their fans but I'll just bet it's going to be the same front side case fan that came built into my model. We'll see -- it should be here next week. Until then I'm going to use the heat sink that came with the machine and monitor the CPU temp very closely.In the mean time the replacement motherboard from Dell was just delivered by DHL. Can't wait to install it and try to get back up and running, but I'm sure I'll have to fight with XP first! :-bangAfter this, the only original part on my Dell will be the case, the hard drive and IDE cables. Everything else has been replaced. Not bad for a 10 month old machine, dontcha think? :-lol

My older system is from another of the "big names" and when I started looking at upgrades, I had to really dig into my system to find what components had been used. I was totally blown away to find that virtually every component was a budget part (charged to me at top of the line prices) from companies I had never heard of. Of course, as you've experienced, upgrades are a crapshoot with all their proprietary hardware. I'll never buy a pre-configured system again. Sorry, minor rant:-cool.10 months huh. :-lol Let me know how things work out. Long live Gothos! :-wave Best Regards,Jeff

Well, I'm flying again tonight -- thank god. I was starting to go through withdrawal. My wife didn't want to talk to me.The E8500 doesn't work in the Dell -- I'm sure it's only because it needs a CPU fan plugged in to the board before it will start up. But the motherboard is a refurb, and it works fine. I've always owned Dell's but after this, I suspect I'll be building my own next.If I end up keeping the Zalman fan instead of returning it, I suspect very soon I'll be posting here for advice about a new m/b and case -- that's all I need now to build a new one. Everything else in my dell is less than 6 months old! :-lolBest regards from Gothos -- Tally Ho!

Don't panic now, ok? I don't think the CPU not working has anything to do with the fan. I say this because I had to replace mine and ran without it for a few days just fine. No temp issues or anything though, I can attribute some of that to my MB as well. I THINK there is an issue with older MB working with 8x00 CPUs. IIRC, you have to update your BIOS with an older (read 65nm) cpu BEFORE you install the 8500. You might want to google it, just to check. I didn't have to deal with it but, I'm near certain I read about this on a hardware site.Take a look at my sig for my MB and case recommendation. I have never had a better system!Regards,JeffBe careful about flashing your BIOS. I don't know if Dell likes people doing this with their systems (I know some don't), and I don't want to be responsible for borking up your system. :-hmmm

>>Don't panic now, ok? I don't think the CPU not working has >>anything to do with the fan. When I fire my system up with the E8500 in it, the diagnostic lights on the front panel indicate a loose wire and then it goes no further -- no POST, no BIOS, nothing. I read somewhere that the E8500 won't let you start up your system without a CPU fan running correctly. Since there are no loose wires and there's a dedicated socket for a CPU fan on the motherboard, AND it's easier to check than flashing my BIOS, I thought I would try that first. It's just a matter of waiting until I see what DELL sends -- But thanks for the tip about the BIOS -- I will definitely Google that and read; I never would have thought of anything like that.I'D LIKE YOUR OPINION about something: It looks like I got a little silicon gel on the contact side of the new processor and when I (GENTLY) wipe it off and hold it to the light it looks a little dull. Can you think of any reason I can't take a soft swab and clean it with a little tiny bit of rubbing alcohol to polish it up? I'm afraid it may cause a short in there.>>Take a look at my sig for my MB and case recommendation. I'll let you in on a secret: On Thursday when I was afraid I'd hosed the Dell completely and had made my mind up to just cannibalize it and build my own, I added you to my buddy list and was already set to copy your system specs from your sig line!! Hope you don't mind -- picking hardware for a MSFS dedicated system -- especially a motherboard -- is a B***H! :-hah

Sorry it took so long to get back to you Chuck. I had to go away for the weekend.When my fan wasn't working, it was still connected so you may have a point there.I don't really know what, if any effects the silicon will have. If it is a metallic base paste, then yeah, I suppose it could cause a short but, I am by no means an expert here. I've just never encountered the problem, so I hesitate to make any recommendation.:-lol Feel free to use my specs. I spent a good six months researching components before I had this built. It was worth it. Just keep in mind that things change awfully fast. Six months from now will undoubtedly see a new "bang for the buck" price point though, I think it will be a while before anything new blows me away. I'm happy to help where I can. Any questions, just ask.Best Regards,Jeff

Hope you had a nice weekend Jeff! Well, no matter what I can't get the fan in -- Dell proprietary hardware and all -- just no way to do it. I tried the processor just one more time and it won't even POST, which says to me it's either the fan thing OR it's just too fast for the Dell Motherboard. I Googled on the BIOS issue you mentioned and didn't come up with too much so I'm just giving up for now. At this point there's no way to even tell if the processor is ruined or not. Oh well, I guess I'm not meant to have an 8500 right now. x( Tomorrow I call TigerDirect and the whole thing probably goes back, OR I go on NewEgg and hunt up a motherboard and a case. I'll know more tomorrow after I get a good nights sleep.I'll let you know what finally happens, my friend. Atleast I still have my 'old' system back and it's still running well.

Jeff:I'm IMing you in a minute -- can you tell me which heatsing and/or CPU fan you use?Thanks!