Quote Originally Posted by JillyBean View Post
I have a brand new Intel stock cooler sitting around (from my son's build, he didn't use it). Are these standardly sized? Can I just replace my 3.5 yr old fan with this one? If so, would that be an improvement at all, just by virtue of being brand new? As a reminder, my CPU is i7 860 @ 2.80GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.8GHz , and this new fan I have sitting around came with this CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116501

If it is interchangeable, would this perhaps help my temps even more than just cleaning up the old one?
Honestly its hard to say, The 3770k on stock cooler runs at high 30s and low 40s which is what your getting now on your cooler. What you have to keep in mind is that the 3770k naturally runs cooler and uses less power then the 860 so there is a chance that the 3770k cooler might be worse then what you have now. BUT numbers change depending on setup so you'll have to try it out to know for sure.