One of the most frequent requests I get is for help taking apart a NUC to clean, repair, or replace the fan. As the only piece of the NUC with moving parts, it’s usually the one that needs attention before any other.
Here is the process I use for disassembling and removing the fan. In this video I’m demonstrating on a NUC6CAYH model. The TPS (technical product specifications) for this particular model can be found here.
USE THIS METHOD AT YOUR OWN RISK! AS FAR AS I KNOW, REMOVING/REPLACING THE FAN WILL STILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY!
The process can vary slightly between models, and between NUC generations, so what you see here may or may not be helpful for other models. Enjoy!
Techster's Blog 
People would probably like to see this done with one of the tougher to disassemble NUCs, like NUC7i7BNH, which has the dual microphones.
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Believe it or not, this was the most requested model. I plan to do other models if people find this one of any use.
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part number for replaced fan?
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The Unit.. sorry forgot https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/mini-pcs/nuc-kits/NUC8i3BE_NUC8i5BE_NUC8i7BE_TechProdSpec.pdf Ya that is my biggest fear.. I have to replace this aio pc because hp no longer makes the fan and . ya wife is complaining of the flying bug…
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I haven’t taken that model apart yet, and I wouldn’t want to steer you in the wrong direction, as the fan used changes between models. I’ll reach out to the NUC team and see if they can tell me.
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I’ve got something in the works with the NUC team. Stand by!
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You can also use the model number of the original fan as a starting point…assuming you can be without the NUC while it’s taken apart.
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Is it at all possible to mod this to with a third-party fan such as a Noctua (for example) which may run quieter and perform better? I’ve just bought an 8th gen i5 model and really looking forward to getting it / setting it up. No big deal if it’s not possible, just curious. Thanks.
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I’d say it’s possible, depending on how far you’re willing to go. But I’m not sure you’d be able to do it without major modifications to the case. Anything like that would definitely void your warranty. Also, I know Gorite experimented with a fan in a detachable lid. I never tried one, and I don’t see it on their site, so they may have abandoned it. But it would be worth shooting them an email to ask.
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The NUC designs are based on the concept of air being pulled into the case, flowing over the bottom surface of the board (cooling it and the SODIMMs and M.2 devices attached to it), around the edges of the board, over the top surface of the board and into the blower. The blower then pushes the air through the tunnel and across the heatsink (attached to the processor, chipset (if not SOC) and VR components) and then out of the chassis.
If you were to replace the blower with a fan blowing downward, you would need a different heatsink design to properly cool the processor (etc.) and a change in the chassis design (removing upper outlets) so that air would be forced to go around the edges of the board and over the bottom surface of the board before being exhausted. This is not easily accomplished and I am not surprised that GORITE gave up.
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Thanks for the additional info N. Scott Pearson. It does sound like more trouble than it’s worth!
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Thanks for the info Techster, sorry for the late reply! I signed up for notifs, but never got any!!
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