Question about a PC fan noise

[sarahtasher]

My GPU, which was the weakest part of my PC when I purchased it, is due to be changed shortly before Legion

Now, this week, when I tried to play a relatively demanding game (Warhammer Total War), I got suprisingly solid performance (FPS in the high fifties with high resolution and middle settings), with however the fan making a very audible noise while playing (WTW, and not other games like for instance Fallout IV).

Now, that question will sound really silly, but does the fan making noise (obviously, I mean more than usual) means the hardware is taxed more than it should be ? Because, as I said, I'm going to get a new GPU by september, and I could very well wait a few months to avoid burning a component or something...

[Deleted]

If it get taxed "more then it should be" it will throttle itself down.

The fan spinning harder does ofcourse mean the card is producing more heat and thus working harder. You can get some software to monitor the temperature and workloads on your card, chances are your card manufacturer has something for that and otherwise im sure someone here can provide a good alternative. In general unless stuff gets in the high 80-90C it should be fine, but that varies per card.

Cleaning the fan/heatsink can also help ofcourse if dust has gotten stuck in it.

[sarahtasher]

I checked, 83 Celsius for the card (a NVIDIA) should I worry ?

[Eroginous]

83 is a bit high, but it's not astronomical. A lower power card could definitely be throttling because of it. But a fan is not difficult to fix. It might just need some lubrication. Putting a drop of household oil in a fan can smooth out the bearing ride if there's chatter or vibration. However, the problem may also be old thermal paste. As it ages, it does get hard and loses conductivity. If you have paste laying around, you can replace what's on your GPU and see if that helps lower your temps and fan noise.

If the card is 2-3 years old already, that's not a bad idea to begin with. Remember, you have to use more thermal paste on a GPU than a CPU. GPUs don't have heat spreaders on them, so you have to cover the entire surface liberally with paste to keep it cooled properly.

Good luck.

[sarahtasher]

I'm replacing the whole card for Legion so as long as it don't catch fire for three more months.

[Daffan]

I checked, 83 Celsius for the card (a NVIDIA) should I worry ?

83c is a bit high.

Cleaning the fan, heatsink and other areas can help with temperatures if it's been a long time since you purchased it.

[Akalaka]

Is it a high pitched noise? It might not be the fan it could be coil whine, my card (ASUS GTX 970) gets that when I play Witcher 3 and I thought it was the fan at first too. As far as I know there's no way to fix it, it's a manufacturing issue, though I did read that the NVIDIA reference cards use higher quality materials and shouldn't have that issue, they're generally more expensive though.

[Lathais]

Is it a high pitched noise? It might not be the fan it could be coil whine, my card (ASUS GTX 970) gets that when I play Witcher 3 and I thought it was the fan at first too. As far as I know there's no way to fix it, it's a manufacturing issue, though I did read that the NVIDIA reference cards use higher quality materials and shouldn't have that issue, they're generally more expensive though.

One way I have heard some people have success with to get rid of coil whine is to REALLY stress the card. Get stress test software and MAX that thing out for a while. This will cause the wire that whines when it vibrates to expand. After the stress test, as it cools off, it can settle back into a better position and you can eliminate your coil whine!! It does not always work, but it's worth a shot if it bothers you.

[sarahtasher]

I should stress it out that I have this issue while playing Warhammer. Fallout IV have lower temperature and fan noises (yes, that's the games I use as a benchmark. Most of the time, I play WOW, Civ 5 and Paradox games, which could run on North Korean computers)

[Afrospinach]

I should stress it out that I have this issue while playing Warhammer. Fallout IV have lower temperature and fan noises (yes, that's the games I use as a benchmark. Most of the time, I play WOW, Civ 5 and Paradox games, which could run on North Korean computers)

You can check to see if vsync is enabled, otherwise it will just run your card at whatever framerate it is capable of.

[sarahtasher]

I checked, it does not go over 85 Celsius, even during on purpose stress tests.