I recently noticed a very loud noise from my GPU after a couple hours of gaming. I quickly changed the fan percentage in GPU Tweak manually and noticed a very loud, kind of lawn mower noise from the GPU fans.
Like this:
I got scared, quickly turned off my PC and opened it up, removing the GPU. My first thought was some kind of obstruction. I couldn't see anything, put it back and when starting it up again, even at high fan settings it sounded normal and as before.
I set a slightly warmer but less fan demanding fan curve and continued on.
Until yesterday. Playing with some friends, it started doing the noise again. I turned off the computer, turned off the power completely and restarted. Seemed to fix it. I went to bed not much later.
Then today, after half an hour of Kingdom Come, it started the noise again.
I put up GPU Tweak and Open Hardware monitor, set it to a low setting and let it run. Initially OHM reported around 900 rpm, then the noise started to get louder and as it got louder, the reported RPM dropped up until 200 ish, when i turned the fans off. Upon opening the side panel and manually stopping the fans by hand for a short while, i determined that only the right fan makes those noises.
My first solution idea was to unplug the fan, unfortunately the right fan is hardwired (i think) to the splitter of both fans ( yellow arrow) so the only solution would be to cut it off.
But, since it's saturday evening and I really don't want to do anything irreversible without a good plan, I refrained from that.
Basically, I need 2 Solutions: A long term one (replacing the fan somehow) and a short term one (being able to use it without getting deaf for the evening)
As a short term, reversible solution, i taped up the right fan to stop it from spinning, relying only on the left fan.
This is currently working (i have okay temperatures in browsing, with the side panel still removed, the right fan is not moving an inch)
Now, my current pressing question is, Does this obstruction damage the card itself? Or maybe just the fan?
Also, what would an acceptable temperature under load and in idle be, so i have a goal to aim at.
Then for the long term solution:
I want to get a 4 pin case fan to strap (zip tie) onto the shroud, over the broken fan (header cha_fan3 is nearby on the motherboard).
What kind of fan should I get ? (I am partial to beQuiet and would like to use it as an additonal case fan once I actually get a new GPU)
Should i remove the broken fan ( 4 or 5 screws) and snip it off when putting the new fan over it? or could the blades potentially help the air flow ?
Do I really need to cut of the broken fan?
How do I best regulate that additional fan when plugged in as case fan.
Other noteworthy things:
Fans on GPU only spin when GPU Fan duty is 34% or higher. This has been for at least a year (maybe since I got it)
Now with the right fan obstructed, open Hardware Monitor reports 0 RPM
I really want to avoid buying a new GPU until the new nVidia gen
Lowering the GPU boost clock in GPU Tweak seems to do nothing, as it still boosts higher under load
I used normal, not electrical tape, since it sticks better
The first time it happend the GPU was 2 years and like 5 days old.
And lastly, what do you think is actually broken with the fan? When spinning with hand, it felt less "snappy" than the good one, as if the magnets are weaker?
Thank you for your help