Replacing a CPU fan - aspire xc-703

CheeseWhistler

Hi newly joined here,

I recently got a used acer aspire xc-703 from a relative and was hoping to set it up and use it to edit photos. I reset it, and found that it seemed a very slow, slower than what i expected from what is probably a not amazing desktop. I opened it up and noticed that the cpu fan was pulsing, and hardly moving any air. I assume that I just have to replace the fan, and that that was probably the source of the slowness of the computer. My question is simple and maybe probably pretty obvious but can I replace the 40mm cpu fan it came with with any 40mm computer fan?

I also plan on adding another 4 gb of ram to help with speed, but i still need to replace the fan.

Thanks so much!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​//Edited the content to add model name on title.​

ttttt

From what you described, replacing the CPU fan seemed to be a "MUST". Get a new one. Something bigger than 40 mm is also possible. But don't make things too complicated, another 40mm CPU fan should do it and easiest.

My suggestion is have some thermal paste handy, as you need to apply that with the new CPU fan of (maybe the fan will come with it). Another suggestion is to be very careful when removing the old CPU fan. I had the experience that when I removed the old CPU fan, I pulled the CPU too (unintentionally, as thermal paste glued to CPU). Resulted in 20-30 CPU pins were bent. It was such a headache to get all the pins line up again and had the CPU seated back to socket without problem.

With Celeron grade processor, you cannot do much for improving performance. However, upgrading to a 2.5" SATA3 SSD from a spinning HDD will improve the performance significantly. I suppose your xc-703 cannot use M.2 NVMe SSD, otherwise it will be even better. Adding another 4 GB RAM will also improve photo editing too. After these upgrades, the performance may be barely satisfactory for photo editing.

CheeseWhistler

Thanks so much for your reply! 

Should I also be replacing the heatsink along with the fan? The fan just unscrews from the heatsink and it looks like if I were to replace it with another 40mm fan i can just reuse the old heatsink and screws.

ttttt

Yes, normally people can reuse the heat sink.

StevenGen

Just as an addition to the above posts and a recommendation on the Aspire XC-703 I would recommend the following. The Aspire XC-703 is like a Q4'2013 desktop but and to really make it plausible and functional it needs upgrading the OEM ram of 2GB of this desktop is pretty slow and unusable with Win-10. It’s up to you as whatever you are prepared to spend on it will improve this desktop?

The Aspire XC-703 can also take a max mem of 8GB of ram and has 2x expansion slot x SO-DIMM 204-pin, you can upgrade the ram to a 2x 4GB Module - DDR3 1600MHz for dual channel or 1x 8GB Module - DDR3 1600MHz, it also has a bus architecture for SSD - SATA 2.5-inch 9.5mm; USB 2.0/3.x Type-A so that it can easily accommodate a 2.5 inch SSD of the likes of a SATA3 2.5 SSD from capacities of 128, 256, 500 GB or 1 to 2 TB SSD. It also has a 1x slot for a Mini PCIe card that you can upgrade to a WiFi/BT card that will give you Wireless 2.4G-5G and Bluetooth 4.1 convenience. The total upgrade to the following like a fan, 2.5 inch 500GB SSD and the 8GB RAM and a WiFi/BT card that will give you Wireless 2.4G-5G would be less than US $150.00. if you want to go all out you can change the mainboard to a Pentium J2900 2.41GHz CPU Mini ITX (that is if your XC-703 came with the Celeron J1900 CPU) for an additional US $35.00. 

Acer Motherboard, MAIN BD. WJ1900. W/CPU Aspire XC-703 Series

ttttt

Dear StevenGen,

 Good info, filling in more details. It is up to CheeseWhistler how much upgrades to be done.

I always suggest people to replace spinning HDDs with SATA3 SSDs or M.2 NVMe SSDs, as the performance to cost ratio is very good.
Adding memory is also easy and cost effective.

Some people like to add RAM to the maximum allowed by the PC, but I think otherwise. I just allow dual channel capability and make sure my PC usage will not hit the limit. I think the excess reserved memory is just a waste. Please correct me if I am wrong, if there are other advantages for that.

Also, I think upgrading to a higher grade processor may be not worth it. The motherboard socket is already fixed, the new processor will be better than the old one of course , but as a whole basically fall in the same class. The efforts and price for replacing the CPU is usually pretty high.

StevenGen

ttttt said:

Dear StevenGen,

 Good info, filling in more details. It is up to CheeseWhistler how much upgrades to be done.

I always suggest people to replace spinning HDDs with SATA3 SSDs or M.2 NVMe SSDs, as the performance to cost ratio is very good.
Adding memory is also easy and cost effective.

Some people like to add RAM to the maximum allowed by the PC, but I think otherwise. I just allow dual channel capability and make sure my PC usage will not hit the limit. I think the excess reserved memory is just a waste. Please correct me if I am wrong, if there are other advantages for that.

Also, I think upgrading to a higher grade processor may be not worth it. The motherboard socket is already fixed, the new processor will be better than the old one of course , but as a whole basically fall in the same class. The efforts and price for replacing the CPU is usually pretty high.

Dear ttttt

Yes of course you are correct but, there are allot of variables for what a system is used for? That is why my post was a suggestion of the different and the top option(s) that can be done on this paltfoem and with a system like this, just a suggestion

Now, with a 2GB ram and a Celeron desktop all the performance help that the XC-703 can have and can be increased is probably welcomed. Yes of course an SSD will most certainly improve speed of read/write and boot time but if you have a miserly 2GB of ram it will still be very sluggish and unresponsive. What I've suggested as I’ve had allot of experience in updating these sorts of low spec system is that the SSD and RAM is essential, the processor is not a necessity but it still helps and increases a computers power and response (with such a low specs) to be sort of capable to handle Windows 10 and todays increased technologies, not that the XC-703 with the Pentium J2900 or the Celeron J1900 integrated graphics of its “Intel® HD Graphics Z3700 Series” is anything HD or right uo there because, its only got a base frequency of 688 MHz and a max dynamic frequency of 854 MHz which is pretty low.

Anyway, the XC-703 has a fixed and soldered CPU so upgarding requires an upgrade of the mainboard and the CPU. Also and another factor is that the Pentium J2900 at 4 cores 4 threads, 2.41 GHz to 2.667 GHZ, L2 2MB CPU and with 4GB ram that Acer had released OEM was with Win-10 Home 64bit, so Acer must have known and realised something, as their XC-703 Celeron 1900J at 4 cores 4 threads, 2.0 GHz to 2.42 GHz L2 2MB and 2GB of ram only came with Win-8, so the processor and ram must have been a factor and of course a price factor too.

ttttt

Oh, I just retired a 2 GB 800 MHz DDR3 RAM, Intel C2D E6850 processor PC a few months ago. I had both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10 on separate SATA3 SSDs. As long as I did not run multiple programs and did not open more than six or seven tabs in the browser, operations was still kind of smooth and response was still reasonable. For CheeseWhistler's xc-703, adding some RAM will surely help.

Putting too much upgrades to an old computer will probably bring the cost to the price of a newer generation PC.
Hope he will be satisfied with the upgrade.

CheeseWhistler

Thanks so much for the input guys! I got a new fan and it helps a lot, now its just normal slow. I'm still waiting on the ram, and then i think that will be all I do. I don't think its worth it to spend more on a system which at its best will still be slow. 

ttttt

Dear CheeseWhistler,

Maybe you may think I am nosy. Since you haven't mentioned to replace the spinning HDD with a 2.5" SATA3 SSD, using SSD is definitely worth it. You will "feel" that the speed of your PC more than double instead of being a "Slow" PC. The SSD used as a boot drive need not be big capacity, and you can retain the spinning HDD as back up or additional drive.

If you need help how to migrate from spinning HDD to SSD, read my posts here or start a new thread.

CheeseWhistler

No dont worry about coming off as nosy. I wasnt planning on adding a drive because I think the computer is just "quick" enough to use, I seem to be able to use lightroom with out a huge issue. Does it sometimes get very slow? Yes, but I can still use it. This is the first desktop I've had, and I don't see it as something which I will get more than a few years out of. I have a laptop I do most work on I just wanted a computer to keep all my photos and edit them. I just dont see too much sense in spending another 100 on a desktop which I dont plan too keep that long, as I'm sure I can find many new desktops for around 600 which are much quicker. 

I didn't know tho that I wouldnt need to replace the drive, that I could have both. As im using this for photos, I need the 1tb i have on this hdd drive, and 1tb ssd i think run around $150. So maybe in the future if I feel like its worth it, I'll add a 250gb or something ssd. But as of rightnow, I think Ill keep it how it is, and see how much of an impact the ram makes.

billsey

Yeah, your XC-703 is a bit of an odd duck in that to make the case so small they only have space for the HDD and an ODD. Two SATA 2.0 connectors on the MB and both are in use. If you really wanted the speed boost with a SSD (and believe me, it is a boost) you either want to replace the existing 1TB HDD with a 1TB SSD and a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter so it still mounts to the same place. Another option would be to pull the ODD out and move the HDD to that bay with a 5.25" to 3.5" adapter or perhaps just using one of the drive caddies that replace the thin line DVD drives with a mount for a 2.5" drive.

Dumi

With a bit of tweaking it can take 2 drives (SSD and HDD): move the optical drive (the slowest one) on an USB header or an internal USB hub, using an USB to Slim SATA converter.
(I could not use the 2nd row of pins from the yellow plug, don't know if mine was a special case, malfunctioning from the very begining, or this is the regular approach from Acer - to supply that header with data on one row only, and the second one just for power, so I just added an internal USB 2.0 hub, powered from the power supply directly.)
If storage demands are for capacity, not speed, you can also add a 2nd HDD (besides the initial HDD and an OS-dedicated SSD). As far as I see, the case can take one 3.5" HDD in its dedicated cage, one 2.5" HDD in the optical drive cage (under the optical drive, taking 4 screws on the belly to be held in place) and one 2.5" SDD (in line with the power supply, taking 2 screws on the belly, on asingle side, having it installed with its belly upwards - hence not recommended for HDDs, as it could amplify vibrations and damage the drive). Connectivity for the 2nd HDD could be through internal USB as well (but make sure you get an USB 2.0 to SATA adapter, that comes with 2 plugs so you can draw enough power; an USB 3.0 to SATA adapter assumes enough power is available through a single plug, but the USB 2.0 hub would not supply more than 0.5A on a single port).
Of course, if you add all this traffic (DVD, HDD, SD card) on a hub connecting to a single port, avoid heavy data exchange between 2 or more devices going through the same hub, as the port can only take a total of 480Mbps. But you can still free up other external  ports by moving in some of the low-transfer connections (like keyboard and mouse receivers, Bluetooth and even WiFi adapters - if you don't have the card, etc.)