CPU fan making a lot of noise. Worried?

Darren

Darren

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Staff member
Well the warm season has kicked in and the temperature in my house is around 78 Fahrenheit. Recently when playing games my CPU fan ramps up to annoyingly high speeds. It sounds like it's working more than it should. I'm using the stock HSF that came with my Phenom II 955. I'll probably buy a new one soon since it's a dinky little thing. Should I be worried about overheating? Or is this fan just noisy? My computer was born in September so it hasn't experienced a whole lot of heat in terms of ambient temp.
 
Check for dust in the blades of the fan or on the heatsink itself under the fan which will cause the fan to run faster. I had the stock heatsink/fan on my 965 and it was loud until I replaced it with the CM Hyper 212 Plus cooler. Its now quiet as can be.
 
What temps are you getting playing games? Download HWmonitor and have it minimized while playing.

There are some things you can do. Reapply the thermal paste. (Did you use the preapplied stuff?) That'll lower the temps significantly. You could also oil the fan, if the fan is making noises it is not supposed to make.
 
The fan may also be on its way out too. Does it sound like it's grinding and ticking? Or just on high all the time?
 
I vacuumed it out but haven't tested it. Yes I used the preapplied thermal paste. It sounds like it's running just fine, just higher speeds than normal. It's probably just the temp change. I'll post back my temps after some gaming.
 
Well I played TF2 for 30 mins (should have been studying, oops).

Max temp got up to 52. Ran MUCH quieter than before. My vacuum out must have worked. Just used a little plastic attachment, held the fan in place and just sucked out all the dust I could. Did it to all my fans as well as my GPU. . My front blue LED looks new again. Didn't realize how much the dust on the filter makes it look fainter.

Thanks for all the help.
 
On my Athlon II X4, it doesn't take much dust in the heatsink fins to raise temps. Even with a case filter, I have to blow out fine dust every two months, and full-load temps drop by 3°c.
 
25oC is nothing for an ambient temp. Dust however can do some strange stuff. Get yourself a cheap but better airflow case and that would really help. Clean everthing out as you reinstall.
 
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