Noisy PC Fans

[LMC91]

Hey, posted on the Dell forums but I haven't got a response yet, so was wondering if someone could help me here. Hope this is the right section to post in.

My Dell Studio XPS 8100 has been noisy for the longest time, and even created a post about a year a half ago about the same problem on the Dell forums, and was told to check each fan individually by stopping the fan with a pen lid, but I ended up not doing it because I was afraid of doing something silly. A year ago I got someone to take it and I think they ended up cleaning the graphics card, so it was quiet enough for about a year, not as quiet as I'd like but better than what it was.

Now the computer seems to be getting noisier again. I used a program called Speedfan and took two screenshots, one around idle (though it was worse the other day, I quickly cleaned the computer with compressed air), but GPU and Temp1 have a flame symbol beside them:

=20661328&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1']=20661328&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1']Picture

and here is after playing a game for a couple of minutes: here

Sometimes Core0, Core1, and Core2 have the little flame symbol beside them too. Sometimes when just doing browsing it could go to around 57C.

This week I did try to stop each individual fan, and to be honest, the computer seemed kinda noisy no matter what fan I stopped, but I think the graphics card fan made the most noise.

A picture of the PC which I got from google:
http://demo.idg.com.au/pcw/Dell_Studio_XPS_8100_2.jpg

I stopped the fan you see in the middle, the one on the left, and the graphics card fan at the bottom. My graphics card is an Nvidia GeForce GTS 240, and it's an i7.

Was wondering if anyone had any advice on what I can do to possibly get the computer a bit more quieter, and maybe cooler if that's what's causing the fans to go loud, thanks.

Edit: It's an almost 6 year old pc, but it's had noise problems, especially for games, for quite a few years

 

[ActionableMango]

It looks like your fans are going crazy because they are trying to cool down parts that are overheating. 127C is crazy hot, I'm guessing that's the Northbridge.

If your fans are working and you've cleaned the dust out, the only other easy fix I can think of is to check for obstructions in airflow such as a ribbon cable blocking a vent. If you don't have obvious obstructions, then this will be a bit harder.

If the fans are going full blast and your parts are still hot, at that point I would assume that the thermal paste was either poorly applied or has degraded. You'll need to pull the heat sinks off of the affected items, clean off the old paste, and reapply thermal paste properly. At a minimum I'd do the CPU, GPU, and Northbridge (because "core" = CPU, "gpu"=GPU, and "temp1" = probably Northbridge). But I don't know for sure what "temp1" is in Speedfan...that's an awfully generic label.

Watch youtube videos for how to do this, but basically you want to apply a thin, even layer of thermal paste with no bubbles.

 

[mountain]

Replace all or some of your fans with quiet ones.

 

[LMC91]

It looks like your fans are going crazy because they are trying to cool down parts that are overheating. 127C is crazy hot, I'm guessing that's the Northbridge.

If your fans are working and you've cleaned the dust out, the only other easy fix I can think of is to check for obstructions in airflow such as a ribbon cable blocking a vent. If you don't have obvious obstructions, then this will be a bit harder.

If the fans are going full blast and your parts are still hot, at that point I would assume that the thermal paste was either poorly applied or has degraded. You'll need to pull the heat sinks off of the affected items, clean off the old paste, and reapply thermal paste properly. At a minimum I'd do the CPU, GPU, and Northbridge (because "core" = CPU, "gpu"=GPU, and "temp1" = probably Northbridge). But I don't know for sure what "temp1" is in Speedfan...that's an awfully generic label.

Watch youtube videos for how to do this, but basically you want to apply a thin, even layer of thermal paste with no bubbles.

Thanks for the reply. I tried using HWMonitor to see if the results are any different, because the 127C never changed, even if the computer was only switched on, or on for hours. HWMonitor doesn't show 127C, but I still think the PC is hot, I've took a screenshot anyway.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j282/Liam12nin/HWMonitor2_zpsdil4l4up.png

The i7 core values go up and down regularly, usually between, 48C and 60C, but sometimes a bit higher. GPU right now staying around 56C. Honestly never heard of Northbridge before, so will have to do a bit of research here. I should say I've never really dealt with inside my computer, apart from spraying compressed air, and years back installing RAM, but that's about it. So I'm a bit worried about removing bigger things like the heatsink and stuff, but I'll look into it anyway, and maybe backup my computer before attempting it. Thanks again.

Mention of the poorly applied paste, someone on the Dell forums a few years back had a noisy pc too, and got Dell to repair it, and they ended up replacing the heatsink or something that had a different design. It seems a lot of people with this PC has had noise problems before, so maybe I'm just unlucky in my PC choice. Sadly I'm well out of warranty.

Replace all or some of your fans with quiet ones.

Looked into maybe doing that before, but didn't since at the time I wasn't sure if that was the problem, I thought maybe the graphics card was my problem, but at this point I'm not even sure. But if that's all it takes I'd happily do that.

 

[ActionableMango]

Your numbers are all over the place. The Speedfan screenshot shows 127C for temp1 which is way out of control no matter what component it is.

The HWMonitor screenshot shows temp2 is -48C, and I seriously doubt you have anything in your Dell that's well below freezing. It also shows temp1 as 22C, which is WAY different than 127C.

Something is wrong with the data. I don't know what to think other than you have a faulty temperature sensor.

 

[LMC91]

Your numbers are all over the place. The Speedfan screenshot shows 127C for temp1 which is way out of control no matter what component it is.

The HWMonitor screenshot shows temp2 is -48C, and I seriously doubt you have anything in your Dell that's well below freezing. It also shows temp1 as 22C, which is WAY different than 127C.

Something is wrong with the data. I don't know what to think other than you have a faulty temperature sensor.

I thought the minus numbers was weird myself, it's not like I have liquid cooling on this machine or anything. Temperatures might be wrong, but all I know for sure is that my fans are noisy, so I know something is wrong, just not sure what.

 

[imhereareyou]

Put duct tape over it.. problem solved

 

[LMC91]

Put duct tape over it.. problem solved

If that's all it would take, that would be great lol.

 

[imhereareyou]

I had a heat sink that wasn't seated properly that made mine go on, I fixed it and the fan stopped working overtime.

 

[LMC91]

I had a heat sink that wasn't seated properly that made mine go on, I fixed it and the fan stopped working overtime.

I'll try look into it, thanks. I wouldn't really know from looking at it to be honest, but if I end up having to take it off to apply the paste, well at least I'll try putting it back on properly.