Heat Sink Fan Noise!!! Please advise....

[Fatt Maulkner]

Hi!!

I recently came across a problem where a nasty fan noise was coming from my PC; having located it at the heat sink fan, I took the heat sink out to find it was clogged with dust. I gave it a good clean with some air duster, wiped off the old compound and did the same with the CPU. Only problem is, I was carefully cleaning my [Athlon 64 3700] processor, and after a few minutes it came flying out of my hand and landed pin-side-down on the floor! Before throwing a fit, I calmly decided to get a magnifying glass to it and found that three of the outer pins were bent; I carefully straightened them with a pair of tweezers, slotted it back in, put the compound and the heatsink on, and it worked a treat, the fan was perfectly quiet again too!!

Only problem is, it's now only 2 weeks later and it's started doing it again; I know it's due to my new front case fan, and I should get a dust guard to put in front of it, but now I need to clean it again, and a friend of mine recommends that, unless it's to put a new processor in, I shouldn't remove this one again, otherwise I might damage it. He believes that what I did was a lucky escape, but it won't work again if I remove it. The problem is, I only bought the processor (with the heat sink I'm using) in January, I can't afford to by a new one (especially so soon), and I've definately voided the warranty doing what I did.

I also can't stand the intense noise, because I use my PC to write music and to do my coursework, which uses music progs that are only available to me on that PC!

Can anyone give me some advice on what I should do, asap? What could I use to clean the heat sink without taking it out? Why would the fan be making so much noise?

Thankyou for taking the time to help.

Matt

[bushp04]

Matt,
My Intel 4 processor's ThermalTake Jungle 512 heatsink fan runs at RPM's that are "matched" to the temperature of the chip. I would suggest that you take a look at your mobo's user's manual to see what it says about your heatsink fan's speeds.

For example, here's what mine said:
a. When the CPU temp is higher than 70'C, CPU fan will run at full speed.
b. When the CPU temp is between 50' and 70'C, CPU fan will run at high speed.
c. When the CPU temp is between 40' and 50'C, CPU fan will run at medium speed.
d. When the CPU temp is lower than 40'C, CPU fan will run at low speed.

Also, I suggest that you download the free temperature monitoring program "Speedfan" from http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php (newest version is 4.33). It will give you real-time readings of your chip temps, fan speeds, etc.

Look on the internet for Athlon's processor specs. It may be that their chip is rated for a high enough temp that its heatsink requires a fan than whirrs every few minutes to cool it. It's my guess this is what you're hearing; the newer, higher powered chips are, at the risk of generalizing, hot-running, if you will.

My fan's noise bothered me at first, but I've gotten used to it.

If this continues to interfere with your work, look into investing in some nice headphones.

Respectfully,
Len

[Fatt Maulkner]

Thanks Len,

but I set about sorting out the problem by removing the heat sink fan and getting a paint brush and some compressed air to the heat sink. I knew it was going to be that anyway, I just needed some advice on how to go about the problem, given the risks brought about from my previous situation.

Thankyou ever so much for the help though; I will set about downloading some info about my fans running speeds. But thankfully, despite the immense programming and power hungry arranging I do, my CPU runs at an average of 25-35 degrees C, which I'm impressed at. It is also exceedingly quiet; but no production headphones would have cut out this immense and constant noise it was making at the time (you know, it was like one of those tiny little computer hoovers). I've just got 2 make sure I keep my room dust free from now on (maybe even stick an ioniser in the opposite corner of my room).

All the best

Matt

[bushp04]

I see what you mean, Matt!! Wow!! I'm impressed at that CPU temp, too!! Not to mention the system running so quietly. Could be I've gotten used to something I may not should have, that is, I've "settled?" Don't know....

Our son and his wife had one of those ionic breeze quadras in their house, but he said it did not reduce dust. It's sitting out in their garage now, probably in line to be sold either on eBay or at a yard sale.

Well, you sound as if you're a very busy person, so I won't take up any more of your time, except to mention a website from which I've downloaded several very useful utilities with which to monitor my system's health:

http://www.sysinternals.com/SystemIn...Utilities.html (all freeware) These guys appear to very intelligent people, and Microsoft apparently agrees, because they recently hired them!! I think one read of their website will give a quick indicator that they know what they're talking about.

Sometime if you get a free moment, please post your system specs. I 'm always interested in cool and quiet.

Respectfully,
Len

[Fatt Maulkner]

Thanks for that website I'll give it a look in.

My problem has recurred and I've located it at the power supply; I opened up the machine and removed the heat sink fan to check whether the sound would still occur and, low and behold it did!!! So I've taken the PSU out, gave it a once over, also cleaned other fans in the system, inc. the graphics card, but I think I'm gonna have to get a new PSU. There's no way I can take the fans out of it and give em a going over because the screws are totally bevelled.

Thanks for commending me; I was really careful choosing what components I got earlier this year, because it was the first PC I was going to put together; I used to have a Pentium 3 2.3GHz system, but I took it all out of my machine and completely replaced it.

Here are my specs, as you requested:

AMD Athlon 64 3700 skt 939
ASRock 939 Dual MB
Soly Tech 450W PSU (which I think I'm going to have to replace :-( )
2x Elixir 512MB DDR 400MHz PC3200
ATI Radeon 9600 XT
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM SATA HD
Akasa 120mm Ultra Quiet Front Case Fan
M-Audio Delta 1010
Standard Multi-Write Optical Drive
3.5" Floppy (which I'll prob replace with a Card Reader)

Other peripheral PCI cards

All housed in a 19" rack-mounted ATX case

My MB was really good for £50; it's got 3 PCI slots, 2 PCI E slots, 1 future CPU slot, 2 heat sinks, 3 IDE connectors, 2 SATA 1 and 1 SATA II connectors, 4 DDR/DDRII slots, and 4 USB 2.0 ports, as well as the current standard of peripheral connectors.

I think it's the fact that I've got a soundcard with a breakout box that takes a lot of the load off the CPU; and that I try and keep my power cables well out of the way of the airflow, but who knows?!

I feel like I'm at a loose end; I've got a remix assignment to hand in in 2 weeks. I guess I've just got to be patient and hope for the best this weekend. Might have to tighten my budget for Christmas presents!

Thanks again Len. I'm glad there are people out there who can help with others concerns and not be hasty about it. You are a true gentleman!

Take it easy

Matt

[Fatt Maulkner]

Turns out, after tuning my perception a little better, it is the graphics card fan (AAAARGGH!!!), the worst fan possible to bugger up!

I've given it some good airflow (i.e. taken one of the PCI backplates out). But this has only occured since I got the front case fan, which is in direct line. It had a lot of dust in the fan when I took it out, so I carefully removed it (using some cotton wool buds, if you'd consider that ok). Now I've got to test whether any of my methods have improved it.

At least I know exactly where the noise is coming from now, and at the moment - if I can find an anti-static bag - I can use the onboard graphics until I get this card sorted!

Here's to not calling in the repair men!

Matt

[krazefinn]

I use filters on all my builds to reduce the dustbummies from propagating so rapidly, as they tend to be prolific buggers. I also design the airflow to produce a slight positive case pressure (more air in than out)-keeps dust from being drawn into optical drives and all other crevices.

I also use two ducts, one from the side panel to the cpu HS fan (also filtered) which gives the hot cpu its own cooler dedicated air supply (rahter than recirculating hot inside case air to cool the cpu). I also use an exhaust duct to force the auxillary rear fan to draw air from below the cpu and its hs. Proper airflow management may allow you to reduce the vga card fan speed, and may be possible to also provide that fan with its own cool air supply-maybe with the cpu duct, or another one drilled into side panel. I've found that although the front in fan doesnt cool the case much, it does balance the airflow, and does catch most of the dust. A larger, slow-rpm fan will move enough air, but produces far less noise. Those 40mm card fans are notorious noise makers; do what modifications you can to mount a 80mm fan (wired to operate on 5 or 7 volts instead of 12, or use rheostat). If there is sufficient space, a better hs MIGHT actually negate need for fan, provided the airflow accross is sufficient. Takes cerain amount of couraGe and trial/error.

BION a fibre dryer lint/antistatic sheet works well for a quick filter, but you can also purchase various filter media.

Some fans also respond to 1 or 2 drops of graphite-containing oil or lube (DO NOT use wd-40, as it is mostly aromatic solventt with very little lubricity). A syringe with needle works well to place the lube, if the rubber brg sleeve cover is not easily removed.