oil for a squeaky gpu fan

Guys,

Recently, my XFX 5700LE video card has gone from noisey to really noisey and is emitting a constant, loud buzzing noise from the GPU fan...it's driving me crazy

I tried air in a bottle and was able to clean it as thoroughly as could be done, but still nothing. I was wondering if there is some kind of lubricant, oil or whatever, that I could use to try to rectify the issue. Or for that matter, any other suggestions.

Tom

 

Hi, first check that the fins are not contacting something. If it is in a tight frame it may be slightly out of alignment and contacting the frame. If you need to, move or bend the parts of the frame, not the propellor.

The fan manufacturers apparently put a small amount of grease into the bearing. With heat and time the grease loses it's ability to lubricate. I have found two of my graphics fans seized recently, got them going again by flooding the bearing with Contact Cleaner. Contact Cleaner will not effect the motor.

Lubrication, because the parts are sealed, the only thing you can do is to try and direct something in through the gap between the propellor and the motor housing. Recommendations I have seen are to use one drop of machine oil (sewing machine oil) and not to use something like WD40.

After getting my fans working again I have not tried to lubricate them. If they look like failing again and Contact Cleaner will not help, I will look at attaching a replacement fan.

Matt

 

Thanks Matt,

Believe it or not, I didn't realize that GPU fans could be replaced. Always learning

I went ahead with this one from NewEgg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835192006

The first comment read "It fit my 5700LE AGP card with no problem. ". Bingo!

Now I need to find a really small screwdriver....

Tom

 

Noisy GPU fan

Zalman has a couple of very high quality GPU heatsink/fans that also include heatsinks for the memory chips on the graphics card.

 

You're lucky. My fans are non-standard. I might have to change the heatsink as well I'll investigate those Zalman products.

Matt