GTX 680 weird fan noise (video)

[Saiodin]

Hello,

I'm having a strange sound coming from the middle fan of my Palit GeForce GTX 680 2GB JetStream.
Video here:
http://youtu.be/YGHMueoH3Fc

Whenever I push the fan a bit or slow it down the sound disappears. Sometimes the sound disappears at all for a while, it slowly builds up and disappears randomly again or comes back (see 00:38 in the video). This happens just if the graphics card is working like hell and the fan goes really fast, which happens to me only in my heavily modded Skyrim (and maybe in Crysis 3). In the video my CPU and GPU have about 50-60°C. I wonder if the middle fan isn't tight enough, this happens not to the other fans. I have it now for some months and it's getting really annoying since I'm not using headphones all the time anymore. Any kind of advice would be really great.

Cheers

 

[JamesSneed]

That doesn't sound like a defective fan. It sounds more like either the power wire to the fan is barely touching the fan blades or they use some type of plastic mount that is loose. That would drive me crazy either would return it or mod it with new fans.


EDIT: Found a picture of the shroud and fans from the back side. I think what I initially said hold up. Not sure if you want to mess with it but you could take the shroud off to see if any of the wires fell out of place.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/picture/?src=/images/graphics/geforce-gtx-680-sli/22_pal68_coolfans_big.jpg

 

[ronintexas]

Fans move air - and air contains dust. This dust will accumulate in the fan's bearings, where eventually they will create this issue. The more dust that is in the air, the quicker your fans will have this issue. Also, when running at higher RPM (moving more air), the dust will accumulate quicker, resulting in a shorter lifespan of the fan.

You can disassemble the fan, clean it, lubricate the bearings/spindle with oil (don't use WD-40), it will last for a bit longer, but eventually this will happen again.

The permanent fix is to replace the fan and/or video card.

If the GPU is under warranty - RMA it. If not, contact the manufacturer to see if you can order replacement fans.

 

[Saiodin]

Thanks for your answer! That sounds pretty logical. Didnt think that something behind the actual fan could be loose. I don't really have the time to return it and wait for a replacement. So yeah, I'm going to mess with the shroud.

[edit: ronintexas]
Thanks to you too. I will try to clean it first then, that seems to be the quicker solution after all.

 

[ronintexas]

Be very careful with the amount of oil added - too much, it will leak all over the place.

Also, when removing the sticker to add the oil to the spindle - it may invalidate the warranty on the card.

 

[JamesSneed]

You will have to take the shroud off to oil them so its the same amount of work. See my prior post with the photo and you will see the white stickers that have to be removed to add oil. Before you oil them I would try to see if its something else. Fans can need oil like mentioned but these will be pretty new so its unlikely a sleeve bearing fan will be making that noise(unlikely but possible).

How to oil a fan:
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/quiet-noisy-computer-fans-with-a-drop-of-oil/5034842