Gary wrote:
> sounds like my pc is ready for take off.... The fan gives 3 sounds: Loud,
> louder, loudest and alternate on their own. Is there any way to reduce the
> fan speed or is there some program that is constantly running?
Run a copy of Speedfan. Don't adjust anything. Just read out the
temperatures inside the computer. They will give you some idea
why the computer fan is running so aggressively.
http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php
http://www.almico.com/speedfan440.exe
The program, when it is running, looks like this.
Using the main "readings" windows is good enough. Note
that the labels used ("CPU", "System", "HDD") may not be
correct. It may say "Temp 1", "Temp 2", "Temp 3". You can
post whatever temperatures it shows, and get some feedback.
http://www.almico.com/images/mainwindow.gif
In that example, a CPU temperature of 49C might be fine,
if the CPU was flat out. Generally, you want to stay below
65C, so that you get the full performance from your computer.
It may slow itself down otherwise. (Some CPUs in the
Intel Prescott Pentium 4 generation, may be difficult to
cool well. There is no reason to panic if you note a relatively
high temperature. If the CPU type is one of the lower power
variety, then you'd be more curious if it was running 65C.)
The hard drive temperature is measured by a thermistor inside
the drive. Newer drives are probably equipped with a real readout.
There are cases of hard drives, which report a temperature, but it
never changes. In that Speedfan example screenshot, a temperature
of 30C is pretty good for the hard drive. If it was hitting 50C,
you might be concerned. Fresh intake air on my computer blows right
over the drives. My computer is reporting right now, that both my
hard drives are at 26C.
Another program that can report hard drive temperature, is HDTune.
Version 255 is the free version, suitable for quick checks. The
drive temperature is shown on the screen when the program is running.
(This works as long as the path to the hard drive, supports
SMART diagnostics. Some RAID controllers prevent that kind of access.)
http://www.hdtune.com/files/hdtune_255.exe
The purpose of doing this kind of checking, is to get some
idea how dirty the inside of the computer might be getting.
In some cases, when tiny fans are used on things like video cards,
the lubrication on the fan may evaporate, and the fan can stall.
The GPU may get so hot, as to melt some of the plastic in the area.
To check the video card GPU temperature, if Speedfan can't see it,
you can use GPUZ.
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
The hottest report I've seen so far for the GPU on a video card,
is 200C, and somehow the card survived. My current video card
runs the fan at low speed and reports 48C or so.
By taking note of the room temperature, and internal component
temperatures inside the computer case, when the computer is
clean and new, you have a "baseline" for comparison. If you
check later and find elevated temperatures, open up the case
and find out why. It could be dust and dirt plugging a filter.
Or, like in the video card case, the fan may have melted and
there might not be any cooling at all.
Some Dell/HP computers may use a large central fan, to move
cooling air through the box, as well as cool the CPU. The fans
may have quite large CFM ratings, like 130CFM. If the computer
ever turns up that fan, you'll know about it right away
It could be your CPU is overheating, or the air inside the
computer case is a lot hotter than normal. I expect the reason
they use fans like that, is to scare the hell out of you when
the computer is getting a bit warm
It makes it easier
to convince people to maintain their computer, if it makes
scary noises
You have to be a little careful when cleaning the computer.
I managed to damage a fan the other day, while wiping dust off
the fan blades. You can damage the bearings on a cheap fan,
with only a little bit of mechanical force. The result may be
excessive vibration, the next time you use the computer. I had
to buy a 120mm replacement, to eliminate the noise. Fans come
in about four capacity ranges (low, medium, high, ultra), so
if you ever need to replace a fan, you need to match the type
to get the same performance. It isn't as simple a matter
of just buying something with the same mechanical dimensions
(like 120mm x 120mm x 25mm). In the case of the "hoover" style
fans used on things like the BTX form factor computers, you
can find more or less exact replacements listed on the web for
them. You wouldn't expect to find the right fan at Radio
Shack in that case.
Good luck,
Paul
