power supply cooling fan

The cooling fan for the power supply on my PC runs intermittently -
sometimes even stops completely. When I give it a gentle tap, 3 out of 5
times it catches speed, only to lose it after a while - and thus making the
PC hot. I think it is time for a replacement ( this is a sort of a
hand-me-down PC so I dont know when was the last time it got replaced - it
is P3 733 Mhz home built machine ).

Should I replace just the cooling fan or the power supply too? How do I spec
out the cooling fan? What do I ask for at a store?

thanks,

RB wrote:

The cooling fan for the power supply on my PC runs intermittently -
sometimes even stops completely. When I give it a gentle tap, 3 out of 5
times it catches speed, only to lose it after a while - and thus making
the PC hot. I think it is time for a replacement ( this is a sort of a
hand-me-down PC so I dont know when was the last time it got replaced - it
is P3 733 Mhz home built machine ).

Should I replace just the cooling fan or the power supply too? How do I
spec out the cooling fan? What do I ask for at a store?

thanks,

This might be the time to get a new power supply with more capacity
in your computer. If not, then be very careful about working inside the
power supply on your computer. And some of the power supplies out there
actually have fans that speed up and slow down depending on temperature.
Then there are the power supplies that are advertised as being very quiet.
I don't know what they do if the fans turn slower or what. Look into these
options before tackling the fan replacement in the power supply.