replacing fans and other questions from a beginner

[homeland]

Now that I have a new pc i'm planning on taking my old sony viao and fix it up to turn it into a media center or maybe just a box for torrents. I've always wanted to build my own pc but never trusted myself. The first thing I want to do is fix the fan as it sounds ridiculously loud sometimes. Since I've never tinkered with the inwards I'm seeking guidance from fellow cags
here's the old box
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-PCV-RS530G-Digital-Desktop-Hyper-threading/dp/B0001BEZ4K

Where do I go to find the right fan and how easy is it to replace them?
I'm also planning on adding more memory and a bigger hdd.

Also I want to do a clean install with a barebones version of xp, when I do the install will it format my whole harddrive or just the partitioned side i'm installing xp on? Or do should I format my whole harddrive before i install xp ?

[DrFoo]

Well the first question is what kind of fan is it that you want to replace? Is it a case fan, CPU fan, video card fan, or a power supply fan? You should be able to tell by powering the PC up with the side panel off and just listening around. After that you just need to find what size the fan is (usually 80mm, 92mm, or 120mm) and what type of connection it has to the power supply (most are 3 or 4 pins I think). If it's just a case fan it will be really easy to replace, cpu and video card fans aren't too bad to switch around, but I've never replaced a power supply fan.

And when formatting to install XP it should give you the option to use a partitioned drive, but unless there are files you need to save I would recommend just completely reformatting (and even if there are files you still need you could just transfer them somewhere else for a while).

[Vinny]

You first have to find out what kind of connectors the fan use... for that, you have to open up the box. The most common is a small 3 pin connector but some fans do use small 4 pin connectors or the large 4 pin molex connector.

Then just find fans with a low cfm rating. Yate Loon is my preferred brand of quiet, high airflow fans.

Replacing fans are easy (unplug the old fan, unscrew it, screw in the new one, plug it in)... you just gotta remember to screw them in the right way (so that you don't have a fan as an intake when it should be an exhaust).

[SpecTrE3353]

You might also want to check first and ensure that your fan(s) isn't just loud because it is covered in dirt/dust. This can cause them to be off balance and create more noise sort of like how a washing machine freaks out when it has an unbalanced load.