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Suddenly loud fan: Should I be worried?

Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-FedRegistered User regular
in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
I turned on my PC last night and the fan was ridiculously loud. I did a restart and it was fine again but is this a sign of something going south?

Posts

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    Did you check your fan speeds and temps?

  • urahonkyurahonky Cynical Old Man Registered User regular
    Could just be a ball bearing going out.

  • FoomyFoomy Registered User regular
    usual sign of the bearing on a fan going bad, they tend to make more noise when just starting up or at lower rpm. it will keep running, but it will get louder as the bearing gets worse.

    So when you can't take the noise anymore, or it seizes completely and stops running get a new fan.

    Steam Profile: FoomyFooms
  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    edited March 2013
    Gaslight wrote: »
    Did you check your fan speeds and temps?

    No, how do you do that?

    Sounds like it is the bearing; I'll look into getting a new one. Are they difficult to replace or is it just a pop open and plug sort of job?

    Magic Pink on
  • FoomyFoomy Registered User regular
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Gaslight wrote: »
    Did you check your fan speeds and temps?

    No, how do you do that?

    Sounds like it is the bearing; I'll look into getting a new one. Are they difficult to replace or is it just a pop open and plug sort of job?

    super easy to replace, it's probably held on by either some sort of clip, or more likely 4 screws in the corners, and then a power plug to your motherboard.

    Steam Profile: FoomyFooms
  • L Ron HowardL Ron Howard The duck MinnesotaRegistered User regular
    If your mobo is fancy enough, if you go into BIOS or run any sort of hardware monitoring util in your OS, it will tell you the fan speeds.
    Case fans are like 2-3k RPMs and will remain pretty steady. The CPU one varies depending on load, and I have seen go from ~1500 to 4000 RPMs.
    Generally speaking, case fans are only rated to last like 6 months or so. I have never found a decent measurement for CPU fans, as it varies. I've had ones that last 4 months, and others that I've taken from computer to computer for years.

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