New guy hoping he's posting in the right thread xD

Hi guys

Just to introduce myself, I read tom hardware guides and forums a fair amount but only today set up a forum account to get involved in the community.
I live on a busy main street and there is a lot of dust. The winter is usually pretty cold here and the air is very dry during the winters.


Now to Business:
SPECS

windows 7
motherboard is M2N MX SE Plus w/Athlon Xp 4800+ 64 bit (it bothers me, but alas, terribly small budget)
Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 - 512mb
4gb DDR2 Mushkin hp2 6400
Antec Earthwatts 650w

I have my card and a stock fan on it, and I understand that stock fan bearings sometimes seize on the card after they dry out. I have attempted to remove the heatsink and fan twice now and I just can't remove it or access where I think the bearing might be on the fan. I want to see if applying some oil to it will stop the card from making noise, to what sounds like a really broken motor.
I'm stuck with this stock fan that is dying and a card I'd like to save. The card does seem to be an abandoned card, but I still see it on charts.

Cards are so cheap these days, buying a new one would make me very happy, but my budget is very tight and my motherboard is laid out funny.... installing a new card seems impossible.

So I'm stuck trying to fix this one. I've never attempted aftermarket cooling before, and the costs seem like more trouble than just buying a new card. The card works fine still, but I'm fearful that if I don't fix the fan on this card to keep it cooled that it won't make it another week.

If it is not possible for me to save the card I would love to hear ideas on upgrade solutions that are cost effective and powerful. I've been drooling over the new graphics cards available on the market, but I look at how wide some of the heatsinks have become and wonder how I'd ever be able to install one on my motherboard.
There are transistors sticking up on the board right below my PCI-e slot that look like they might get in the way of any of the newer cards I would try to install. I'd hate to spend money on a graphics card I can't install because of the design of my motherboard.

Thanks in advance for anyones help.

Skrem