Noisy graphic card fan

razer

razer

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I have a old HP workstation, XW6400, running W7 64bit.It has the original NVIDIA Quadro FX3500. I assume it has been in there from new, anyway its extremely noisy, is there anyway to quieten it, or replace it with something newer, if so what . I don't play games, ,I only photo edit, I have CS6, and Lightroom 5.7.
 
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Before going to the expense, of buying a new card, open up the case and use a vacuum on the graphic card fan. Noisy fan could be due to accumulation of dirt / dust.

May not work, but worth a try, before spending any dosh.
 
I have given it a good clean when I installed the ssd the other week. its just annoying . it still works, but its the noise .
 
A drop of oil in the fan bearing might cure it, there are a few tutorials about on how best to apply the oil. Some people use a syringe - probably costing more than a new fan!

I once disconnected and removed a fan from a graphics card. I was prepared to take the hit if the card overheated and failed, but it continued to work for many years and I eventually retired the PC. I can't recommend this practice, but it worked for me!
 
Foxbat Flyer said:
A drop of oil in the fan bearing might cure it, there are a few tutorials about on how best to apply the oil. Some people use a syringe - probably costing more than a new fan!

I once disconnected and removed a fan from a graphics card. I was prepared to take the hit if the card overheated and failed, but it continued to work for many years and I eventually retired the PC. I can't recommend this practice, but it worked for me!
Click to expand...

Yep, worked for me too!

It might be that the mobo has integrated graphics, in which case just remove the noisy card.
 
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If you are 100% sure its the graphics card fan and the oil method doesnt cure it. Then you could replace it with something from ebay or ebuyer
http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Components/cat/PC-Cooling-and-Modding

Stopping the fan is a crude but effective method of identifying the culprit.

dBA is how loud they are and CFM is how much air it moves, you want low noise and high air flow which are generally conflicting
 
Have you tried lowering the speed of the fan in BIOS?
Enter Bios via F10 key and go to Power tab and then down to thermal.
You can adjust it down (to the left) and then exit, remembering to save the new settings.
Worth a look. :)
 
The oil trick works provided the fan bearing isn't sealed. If you're not gaming then you could replace the fan with a heatsink & run passive, or just buy a cheapish passive card.
 
kendo1 said:
Have you tried lowering the speed of the fan in BIOS?
Enter Bios via F10 key and go to Power tab and then down to thermal.
You can adjust it down (to the left) and then exit, remembering to save the new settings.
Worth a look. :)
Click to expand...
Does the bios control the GPU fan or just the CPU and chassis fans? If I want to tweak the GPU fan speed on my system (have not needed to yet) it's on the nvidia control panel rather than the bios.
 
If I remember correctly it's the CPU and chassis fan.
It's worth a try to see if the noise reduces, without spending anything.
It should be possible to reduce the speed by a third, I think, without any impact on performance.
 
I've removed a noisy fan from a graphics card before and cable tied a silent 120mm above the card.

Worked really well, even improved the temperature.

I think you'll find all small fans noisy after a while.
 
razer said:
I have given it a good clean when I installed the ssd the other week. its just annoying . it still works, but its the noise .
Click to expand...

If you cant get to the bearing, its worth trying some compressed air on the fan to clear any grime or dirt lodged there. If you use the can at a certain angle, it should spin the fan at a very high speed to clear any debris.

Also try putting slight pressure on the fan by pushing down on center (not to much that you bend the video card). Depending on the fan some can pop slightly out of place making a whirring noise.

Otherwise - try sourcing a replacement on ebay for a few quid.
 
Hi all , thanks for the replies, I have just woken up from a 12 hr night shift, so I will look at your suggestion later.
 
I have a Quaddro Fx570 (256Mb) PCI-E here that's out of my old XW6400, free to a good home if you are in need.

It was silent when I used it last :)

Offers there..
 
Thanks kindly, but its ok now, a good clean up and a drop of oil and its fine, now it makes my main fans sound noisy lol.
 
I'd have said to lubricate with some silicon spray, as the stickiness of oil could make it worse for dust to stick .
 
I have just changed the main fans for quieter ones, but now on start up im getting a 512 error, 1or more fans not recognized. I have also tried to look for a bios update. but HP done have one for HP XW6400 and windows 7. does anyone have any ideas on what I can do about that please.
 
Have you connected to the same connector?
Is the new fan three or four pin, and for that matter, is the connector three or four pin?

There may be another connection point you can use on the motherboard.
 
They are all fitted to the same connectors, and are all 4 pin .the only thing I have done is added a fan at the front, and connected it to the connector on the motherboard that's there for it.
 
I take it you don't get the error message if you unplug the new fan?
Are you sure the connector is round the right way? One of the pins tells the motherboard a fan is connected, if it is round the wrong way an error message will display.
Bent pin?
 
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I will do a double check , but I think they will only go on the one way.
 
They are normally foolproof :)
Mistakes happen.
 
just checked, and they are all seated correctly, the only thing I did notice , is the new fans have only 3 wires. but from what I can make out it should not matter. all the fans are working ok. its just the keep pressing F1 to start that's annoying me.
 
That might explain it! Fourth wire connector is probably the one that tells the bios there is a fan connected.
 
I will do some googleing and see what I can come up with. All sorted, I never plugged the yellow wire into the other block.
 
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