GeFORCE 9500 GT Noisy Fan - fix it yourself in 10 mins

[3DCGdesign]

fix that noisy fan in 10 mins...

 

After only a few days of owning it a year ago, my GeForce 9500 GT card's fan started to make a HUGE sound like it was about to explode or die... a wailing banshee - really! I had no idea what the sound was at the time... but it went away after the computer 'warmed up' a minute or two... so I learned to live with it.

 

fast forward a year... I now overclocked my i7, and bought the new Noctua D14 quiet cooling and new Corsair "super quiet" power source (replacing EXTREMELY noisy cheapo power source), but all was for naught as my GeFORCE 9500 GT noisy fan was killing all enjoyment... it had now taken to making noise almost all the time... and stopped being quiet even after 10mins or more.

 

I read around everywhere about fixing and everyone says to buy a new one. finally found one good tut showing me how to fix it. whew!

 

So, I had some "mulit-use spinning grease" on hand (the lable is in italian and some other languages, but it says that in English.) I bought this higher-end spray for spinning motor parts a while back... it is most definitely NOT grease, but a special synthetic oil made to grease and "stick" to spinning motor parts. I imagine the little tube of oil I have for our hair clipping shears would work just as well... I've read also that "sewing machine oil" works ... but have nowhere to get that stuff where I live. All I can say is DO NOT use WD-40... it may remove warts, but is not made for computer fans.

 

anyway - long story short...

 

1. shut off machine
   
2. detach monitor cord
   
3. remove graphics card from mobo
   
4. unscrew 4 spring loaded screws on back of graphics card
   
5. on back of fan there is a round sticker.
   
6. with a very fine-pointed flathead screw driver (in computer tool kit) very carefully peel back, but do no damage and do not remove sticker!
   
7. now you can see the tip of the fan shaft
   
8. using my same fine-tip flathead screwdriver (it's clean) I spray my spray onto the tip of the screwdriver (into the garbage)
   
9. now a drop hangs from the tip of the screwdriver, and I very carefully drop it onto the tip of the fan shaft.
   
10. repeat 3 times as the drops are quite small.
    
11. carefully replace sticker very well (yeah... just a sticker covering the oil point... I wonder why it's so noisy!?)
    
12. give the fan a few spins gently by hand to work the oil in... AND!... the funny part - the sticker says "low noise long lasting" HA HA HA!... forgot to laugh.
    

 

now, the gunk on the back of the fan that's supposed to help conduct heat from the card's chip to the fan cooling block is just a mess... what to do? I'm sure it's not actually cooling like it should, and it's running 24/7... grr..

1. 4 q-tips.
   
2. 1, with dishsoap and a drop of water on each end (wash)
   
3. 1 with drop of water on each end (rinse)
   
4. 2 to dry
   
5. perfect.
   
6. now one teensy drop of the same cooling paste that came with the Noctua D14 I installed a couple weeks ago... and voila... done.
   
7. screw it back together.
   
8. install card into mobo
   
9. attach cord
   
10. power up.
    
11. silence... time for a cold one and something graphic intensive... :thumbs-up:
    

Edited April 30, 2010 by 3DCGdesign

[GabrielT]

Neato, I think I will try this next time I have a fan go bad