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Author Topic: GPU fan making a buzzing noise  (Read 17830 times)

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BrydoRX

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    GPU fan making a buzzing noise
    « on: July 09, 2010, 08:28:08 AM »
    First of all, I am new here and I'll try to explain the problem I am currently experiencing above.

    I had done a lot of cleaning on the GPU recently where its temperature is now steady at 46°C (I know this from SpeedFan) and for some unknown reason, it is making a buzzing noise and I don't even know if I unintentionally damaged it while cleaning it or anything else. What's even more strange is that when I turn on my computer first thing in the morning, the buzzing noise is absent and all I hear is a blow of air from the GPU fan (which I always had before this happened) and the buzzing would come three or four hours later.

    I might be making a mountain of a molehill over this but I'm quite annoyed at this and I'm wondering if there's a solution for it. I don't know if the buzzing noise is there permanently or will it go away in a number of days or weeks. I mean, I don't think the noise will still be around between August or September and that other people I know experienced this.

    And if any of you are wondering what is my graphics card, it is: Nvidia PNY GeForce 9600GT. Furthermore, this problem came since Monday.

    patio

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    Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
    « Reply #1 on: July 09, 2010, 08:39:33 AM »
    Remove the GPU fan and reclean...
    When you refasten it You can use small felt washers for the mount screws...available at any hardware/PC shop.

    If the condition persists then replace the GPU fan...bring the old one to the store to match up a replacement...
    " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

    BrydoRX

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      Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
      « Reply #2 on: July 09, 2010, 08:52:31 AM »
      I would not know how to remove the GPU's fan, as I have never took out any computer parts in my life. However, I have thought about replacing it with a new one (which would be an Nvidia one like the current one but a more powerful one) but when I get the money to buy one, I would not be able to take out the old one and fit the new one in and I need to contact someone that can do it for me.

      By the way, the buzzing noise isn't a really loud one but more of a buzz/hum mixture if you get what I mean.

      dwegiel



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        Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
        « Reply #3 on: July 10, 2010, 08:58:50 PM »
        You probably made some of the oil inside the fan chamber escape while cleaning. That's fine. Let it run for 6 hours straight, maybe run a benchmark, and it should fix itself. Also, PLEASE DE-OVERCLOCK OR EVEN DOWNCLOCK TO ALLOW THE GPU TO RUN COOLER AND QUIETER. Can't stress that enough.

        BrydoRX

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          Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
          « Reply #4 on: July 11, 2010, 02:24:50 AM »
          I have let the fan run for six hours straight but nothing happened, so I think I should let it run for that long again. Also, how would I de-overclock or downclock the GPU?

          EDIT: I just found out from someone else that the downclocking can be done via BIOS and said that I should not use a program to do it, as he feels that's more dangerous to do. The question is... how could I underclock the GPU in BIOS? I done a Google search on that and I got nothing =\
          « Last Edit: July 11, 2010, 03:21:40 AM by BrydoRX »

          BrydoRX

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            Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
            « Reply #5 on: July 11, 2010, 09:04:01 AM »
            Sorry to double-post but, I'm afraid I can't change the clocking speed of the GPU and here are the reasons why...

            I downloaded CoolBits (which is actually a registry key) and it comes as an add-on to the Nvidia Control Panel but even though the registry key is installed, the add-on doesn't appear even when after restarting the computer. I also can't change the GPU's clocking speed via BIOS after I accessed it by pressing F2. I have looked in all pages for the clocking settings but they aren't there. The BIOS settings only has a page for changing the speed of the standard fans and I know they're working just fine. However, I found out that the GPU's clocking speed is at 650Mhz so tell me... is that way too high?

            Now it seems there's only on solution left and is to get a new graphics card. I'm sorry if I'm wasting your time over this.

            patio

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            Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
            « Reply #6 on: July 11, 2010, 09:32:02 AM »
            You probably made some of the oil inside the fan chamber escape while cleaning. That's fine. Let it run for 6 hours straight, maybe run a benchmark, and it should fix itself. Also, PLEASE DE-OVERCLOCK OR EVEN DOWNCLOCK TO ALLOW THE GPU TO RUN COOLER AND QUIETER. Can't stress that enough.

            This was bad advice from the beginning...
            1st if i remember you weren't OC'ing the card anyways...
            2nd i've never heard any qualified Tech advise "let it run 6 hours...it'll fix itself"....ridiculous.
            Sorry i wasn't here to give you a heads up.

            That being said another alternative would be to remove the card and take it to a PC store and see what they would charge to install a replacement fan...if you don't care to do it yourself.

            Personally i still think the card is worth salvaging but if you want a new card that's certainly an option as well.

            patio.
            " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

            BrydoRX

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              Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
              « Reply #7 on: July 11, 2010, 11:13:52 AM »
              Quote from: patio
              i've never heard any qualified Tech advise "let it run 6 hours...it'll fix itself"....ridiculous.
              Well, I didn't think that would help either and when you said that the GPU can recover itself from the noise, I don't know how long that would take. When one of my friends had the exact same problem, the noise only stayed for three days.

              patio

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              Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
              « Reply #8 on: July 11, 2010, 01:51:33 PM »
              I never said that...someone else giving advice did.
              Actually i'd never say that as a method of recovering from the issue...
              " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

              BC_Programmer


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              Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
              « Reply #9 on: July 11, 2010, 01:58:05 PM »
              heh... "fan chamber".... sounds like we're talking about a device for testing aerofoil shapes.

              What sort of buzzing are you hearing? Does it sound more "electrical" (although I don't think a GPU has any electrical components that buzz, that's more the domain of high voltage steppers like those you see in a television or monitor) or as if there is some sort of physical problem? It could also be that the card bracket isn't screwed on tight enough and this causes reverberations to be making noise.


              Congratulations on getting such a low GPU temp. my GPU hovers around 70 degrees, (75 degrees at the moment due to this awfully hot weather we've been getting), and that's after I personally removed the heatsink+cowling assembly and replaced the generic paste on the GPU with some Arctic Silver (I did manage to lower the temperature by a good 5-10 degrees- it used to hover at around 80 and usually crashed when I ran anything that used it more then a smidgen.


              There is certainly zero connection between the clock speed of your GPU and the buzzing sound you are receiving, but if you are ever curious, or have issues that you think a downclock might help diagnose, you can use a tool called "RivaTuner" to perform this task.

              Anyway, my stance here is that the problem is clearly physical- the chips themselves don't have any mechanical operation that can cause a buzzing sound, and usually capacitors will make a "squealing" noise, if at all (and usually only when they are about to burst), which leaves, of course, the fan itself. It could be something as simple as a loose fan or some other small component was moved by your cleaning efforts and is now "caught" in the fan blades- a sticker or other small flexible material.

              Barring the obvious physical obstacles, it could be that if you cleaned the GPU and blew on the fan with, say, compressed air, you could have damaged the bearings by causing it the rotate backwards from it's intended direction. I've never seen this happen but I doubt it's impossible.

              Replacing a GPU fan, in my experience, is sort of annoying. In my case, I had a 5500FX that suddenly started to have "extended "hangs" while playing games. Why it was one of my first threads here ever, long before everybody gave up trying to get rid of me  ;D  (Link. It turned out that while underclocking the card solved that problem, the root cause was that the fan was completely busted. Perhaps due to fate, I had a altogether useless PCI Nvidia 6200FX sitting around, so I just grabbed the fan from that and threw it on the 5500FX and it still works happy as a clam.

              of course if you don't have a jungle of spare parts lying around, I'm sure a local repair shop has one, and they will probably be able to supply you with a compatible GPU fan, as Patio suggested.

              « Last Edit: July 11, 2010, 02:19:01 PM by BC_Programmer »
              I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

              patio

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              Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
              « Reply #10 on: July 11, 2010, 02:14:01 PM »
              I never tried to get rid of you....

              I knew there were hidden Classics just waiting to break out ....

                                      ;)
              " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

              BrydoRX

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                Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
                « Reply #11 on: July 11, 2010, 02:24:30 PM »
                @BC_Programmer:
                It's rather hard to describe what kind of noise it's been making but I know it was very loud. And yeah, it is really difficult for someone to get their GPU temperature that low and I should feel chuffed about myself for that :)

                Now, I believe that there is nothing stuck inside the fans while I was cleaning it and remember, the buzzing noise would come hours after I have turned on the computer. It doesn't always make the noise after I turn it on. I haven't blown on the fan or shoot compressed air at it.

                Also, I don't think I'll have trouble having the old one replaced with a new one... just as long it's compatible with my computer and that I uninstall the drivers of the old GPU before getting the new one fitted as that'll then install the new drivers (I think anyway).

                BluerjB



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                Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
                « Reply #12 on: July 11, 2010, 02:43:25 PM »
                Fore me it's as simple as taking the fan of the Graphic's Card and opening the Fan. Then i smear some petroleum jelly on the inside part of the magnet's. Put everything back together maybe add some thermal compound between the the GPU and the cooler to lover heat, and done solved the issue with my BFG Geforce 210 CUDA.

                This is my personal solution.

                dwegiel



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                  Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
                  « Reply #13 on: July 11, 2010, 09:03:54 PM »
                  @patio Thank you SO MUCH for the flame *sarcasm*.. just trying to help. My 6200 did that, and ran it for about 5 hours, the heatsink and paste settled, and absorbed the heat better, in return quieting the noise. JEEZ.

                  @BrydoRX Coolbits sucks. Try NVTray, enable the old NVidia control panel, go to clock settings, choose manual overclocking, and select find optimal settings. Works perfectly, no risks involved, unlike ATITool which crashed me *oh gawd*.
                  You CANNOT overclock your GPU in BIOS, you can only set your voltage higher. That's it.

                  BC_Programmer


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                  Re: GPU fan making a buzzing noise
                  « Reply #14 on: July 11, 2010, 09:07:20 PM »
                  @patio Thank you SO MUCH for the flame *sarcasm*.. just trying to help. My 6200 did that, and ran it for about 5 hours, the heatsink and paste settled, and absorbed the heat better, in return quieting the noise. JEEZ.

                  That was hardly a flame. Just a statement of facts.

                  heatsink and paste "settling" don't occur. heat being absorbed better doesn't "quiet" a noise, simply because the heat isn't creating the noise.

                  Quote
                  Works perfectly, no risks involved

                  When talking about overclocking, the words "no risk" should appear absolutely nowhere. underclocking... that should be fine.

                  OTOH, underclocking it will probably not quiet the noise.

                  I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.