Question Dusted and wiped down fans, now fans rapidly spin up and down when gaming.

[Hammetic]

This started a few months ago when I, for the first time in almost two years, opened my PC and dusted it using an air blower. The whole thing was dusty enough that I also took my GPU out to dust it as well, including the dust inside the fan that's on it. I needed to apply new thermal paste, so I took the fan off from above the CPU, dusting and wiping it down as well. I also dusted the heat sink and the area below it.. When I reassembled everything, it seemed like everything was working and placed back as it was.

From what I can tell, when my GPU hits 83°, the fan on the GPU will rapidly fire up from ~3700 RPM to ~5300+ for about 5 seconds, then go back down to the 3-2k RPM range. Since this only cools it down to about 81°, it'll just happen again moments later. It's incredibly annoying and the GPU didn't used to do this. In fact, rarely if ever do I recall it spinning up that fast or being that loud. It doesn't sound like it's broken, as in it doesn't sound like it's grinding on anything or squeaking. It just spins up really fast over and over for a moment.

I can't tell if the only other fan in the case, above the CPU (I guess Acer isn't keen on cooling their towers?), speeds up similarly as, for whatever reason, NZXT Cam can't see it. It is there and it is working. The fans speed up only when the GPU hits 83°, while the CPU doesn't seem to get as hot (that I've seen).

So to be clear, this is not normal behavior. This only started after I cleaned my case and I don't know what I could have done. It seems like everything works, but it works differently from how it used to. Is this a software issue that was caused when I removed the GPU from the case? I don't know where to begin to fix this, if I can, and I've had no luck asking or searching for an answer.

My PC is an Acer Nitro N50-600,
Intel i7-9700
16 GB RAM
RTX 2060

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Try using MSI Afterburner. In the settings there is fan tab. You can manually set cooling curves and fan speeds using it. See if adjusting those stops the fan ramp up. https://www.msi.com/Landing/afterburner/graphics-cards

 

[Rokinamerica]

" I needed to apply new thermal paste," this may be the culpret. Try another repaste, see if temps get better.

 

[Hammetic]

Try using MSI Afterburner. In the settings there is fan tab. You can manually set cooling curves and fan speeds using it. See if adjusting those stops the fan ramp up. https://www.msi.com/Landing/afterburner/graphics-cards

" I needed to apply new thermal paste," this may be the culpret. Try another repaste, see if temps get better.

I'll try MSI Afterburner. I actually apparently already downloaded it, but never really used it.|


As for the thermal paste, would I still see the CPU having normal temps if it's the issue? The fan that speeds up is the one inside the GPU, which is why I figured it's the issue. That said, I've never changed thermal paste on a CPU before, so it's possible I did something.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

I'll try MSI Afterburner. I actually apparently already downloaded it, but never really used it.|


As for the thermal paste, would I still see the CPU having normal temps if it's the issue? The fan that speeds up is the one inside the GPU, which is why I figured it's the issue. That said, I've never changed thermal paste on a CPU before, so it's possible I did something.

I think there is some confusion here, in your original complaint post you used the word cpu, when I believe you meant gpu.

 

[Hammetic]

I did mean GPU, but as the second reply suggested the CPU might be having issues due to the thermal paste, I just referred to that.

I'm unsure if it helps, but here's a snapshot of the GPU's stats while running a game: https://ibb.co/Gs3X4M3

GPU hovered at about 80 degrees the whole time, but as you can see, the fan was constantly speeding up and immediately slowing down. What seems to be adding to the problem is that even if I use a program like MSI Afterburner to set the parameters for which the fan speeds go to 100%, they don't seem to actually go to 100% since, when the GPU gets to about 83 degrees, it'll still ramp up and very noisily go to the max speed.