re cpu fans the attached fans look slick and work well but i m bothered by the potential loss of cooling if the fan goes out at least with the power supply fan you can reach back there every few days and feel the fan blowing yes this is a valid concern imho with the directly attached fan units i ve seen it looks like if the fan were to stop the chip cooling would be a good bit worse than no heat sink at all in other words if the fan stops the unit turns into an insulator and the chip might get hot enough to suffer permanent damage not just stop working temporarily a suggestion slave hook in series a small pilot light off the fan circuit then if the light goes out you know your fan is not working tom
