Cleaned graphics card now fan hardly spins

[elektriknathan]

My graphics card fan kept spinning for no reason and it was making noise so I cleaned out all the dust from my system and now I am using my graphics card as we speak and it all seems fine but the fan hardly spins now. My graphics card used to have heavy fan spinning at 41 degrees temperature now it is at 63 degrees temperate and the fan speed is 12%. Should I be concerned about this? I want to update the GPU anyway but I am just curious as if something is going on? All is working fine just the fan hardly spins now. Thanks.

I am using a HP HPE-1130A computer WIndows 7 and GEFORCE GT 530

 

[Starcruiser]

How did you clean out the case? If you used an air can, did you blow it directly on the GPU fan without holding the fan still?

 

[elektriknathan]

How did you clean out the case? If you used an air can, did you blow it directly on the GPU fan without holding the fan still?

What I did was I used air can I blew the air out using the air can around the fan and the fan spun a little bit while doing this but not too much. I also used my own human breath to blow out the dust.
The maximum air temperature for the card is 150 degrees and it is working fine. I watched a HD broadcast and normally things that make the fan spin like crazy and now there's little spinning. I have a GPU monitor that tells me the fan is spinning at 12 - 24% Before the fan spun at like 41% while the temperature was on 41 degrees.

What do you think is happening? Thanks

 

[Starcruiser]

If everything seems to be working fine and temperatures are low enough, then there's nothing to worry about. It's probably just before the dust was causing higher heat levels and the fan would run higher to compensate. Now that the dust is gone, it doesn't have to work as hard.

 

[elektriknathan]

If everything seems to be working fine and temperatures are low enough, then there's nothing to worry about. It's probably just before the dust was causing higher heat levels and the fan would run higher to compensate. Now that the dust is gone, it doesn't have to work as hard.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. It was very warm around there when I checked last night, unusually warm. I put my face just near it and I could feel the heat. The computer is so quiet now, even the CPU fan is quiet. Dust must be the culprit. I'm running a HP HPE H8 H8-1130A. What graphics card would be compatible with this computer? I may want to upgrade in the near future.

 

[Starcruiser]

Wow I looked up the specs for the GT 530 and its max temperature is 105 Celsius. That seems dangerous to me.
HP like to give you just the minimum power supply, and sometimes less than minimum. Luckily any standard ATX PSU will fit in your case, and you'll need to upgrade to get a better GPU.
What would your budget for this upgrade be roughly?

 

[elektriknathan]

Wow I looked up the specs for the GT 530 and its max temperature is 105 Celsius. That seems dangerous to me.
HP like to give you just the minimum power supply, and sometimes less than minimum. Luckily any standard ATX PSU will fit in your case, and you'll need to upgrade to get a better GPU.
What would your budget for this upgrade be roughly?

Well my budget for this upgrade would be $150 - $250. Ideally I would like a card similar to the one I already have.
The temperature fluctuates between 56 and 61 degrees usually. The case is black so most likely things heat up easier due to black casing

 

[Starcruiser]

You could upgrade to a GTX 950 or 960 and it wouldn't bottleneck with your i7. Get a good 400 Watt or better PSU with that and you should be well within budget.

 

[elektriknathan]

You could upgrade to a GTX 950 or 960 and it wouldn't bottleneck with your i7. Get a good 400 Watt or better PSU with that and you should be well within budget.

Thanks. I dunno what to do though. I could upgrade or I could just look after this PC and then eventually get a newer, more powerful system. The sad thing is I have grown attached to this computer lol but I have had it since 2011 so maybe it is time to upgrade anyway. Just to confirm do you think the graphics card is fine just operating more efficiently due to less dust?

 

[Starcruiser]

Yeah I'm sure the GPU is fine. As I said its max operating temperature is 105 Celsius (221 Fahrenheit) so you're well below that mark.

 

[elektriknathan]

Yeah I'm sure the GPU is fine. As I said its max operating temperature is 105 Celsius (221 Fahrenheit) so you're well below that mark.

Yeah, I thought as much as well. However, I am a bit new to hardware as I am a web developer. Thanks heaps for your advice

 

[elektriknathan]

Yeah I'm sure the GPU is fine. As I said its max operating temperature is 105 Celsius (221 Fahrenheit) so you're well below that mark.

It's making the same noise again. I cleaned near the CPU fan and its started again. Any ideas?

 

[Starcruiser]

Are you sure it's the GPU fan? It could be a bad bearing on one of your case fans or the CPU fan as well. I had my side fan go out last month, it was loud enough to hear in the next room.
To be sure which it is, you can touch each one as it's running.

 

[elektriknathan]

The temperature is now 35 degrees and the fan at 12 but the fan is making the weird noise like GRHRHEHER but the card works fine.

 

[Starcruiser]

35 is nothing to worry about. If it was 50 and there was nothing running I would be concerned. Did you pin down which fan it was?

 

[elektriknathan]

Nah it is the GPU fan. I touched it and the noise stopped. Temperature is now low 33 degrees. Weird. Maybe I'll clean it again as I think it is vibrating against dust.

 

[Starcruiser]

Check if you moved the fan cable when you blew the dust out. It could be bumping into the fan blades.

 

[elektriknathan]

Will do. Thanks for all your help. I'm just waiting for the charge light to go off before I have another look. I don't think there's anything wrong with the fan blades, I think it's just something causing them to vibrate. Because if it was something with the fan I would not have found it quiet before. Mind you, this noise started two years ago but disappeared and now it's just reappeared.