for old GPU fan, does people put lubricant on the fan?

If it has gotten noisy it is likely that the bearing is worn. Adding oil might help for a while, or it might make things worse. And to add oil you need to take the fan apart, which might damage it even more. These things are not made to be oiled in use. You'd have to remove the fan from the graphics card and figure out a way to access the central shaft. Maybe it's as easy as removing some label?

You'd probably be better off removing the fan and replacing it with a new one, even if the new one isn't a perfect fit.
 
if it's a drop of oil, I'll do it. If it get to the pt. that it is too risky and damage the fan, then I won't.

There should have been a bylaw that force manfacturers to drill a hole in the center, and allow home users to drop a bit of oil on these products
 
Yes and no. This is a temporary cure. If there is noise and vibration it is not the oil but the fact that the mechanical part is worn out.
However the fans are not always replaceable on GPUs. There was a time when you could replace all the cooler with its fan with some standard one from the manufacturers who build coolers for the CPU. Not anymore. A shame.
 
so they rig it in such a way that you have to buy new video cards. Great, just great. But there has to be some 3rd party manufacturer that sells fan + cooler , or just fan as replacement
 
 
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Jandor said:
Yes and no. This is a temporary cure. If there is noise and vibration it is not the oil but the fact that the mechanical part is worn out.
However the fans are not always replaceable on GPUs. There was a time when you could replace all the cooler with its fan with some standard one from the manufacturers who build coolers for the CPU. Not anymore. A shame.
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Aliexpress/alibaba are pretty good about replacement parts like GPU fans. Sometimes it takes a bit of looking, but they usually only cost $10-20. The problem is waiting on shipping or paying $30 to get it expedited when you need it now. But for a GT 740 that money would be better spent on a new card. (something like a gtx 1080ti is literally 10x as fast for $150)
 
I bought new fan sets off amazon for both my 980Ti and my 7950 cards about 5 years ago. I did some searching to find the part numbers I needed and the ones I ordered were exactly the same as the ones from my ortiginal cards down to the stickers on the fans. Still working fine 5 years later.
 
Happy Hopping said:
if it's a drop of oil, I'll do it. If it get to the pt. that it is too risky and damage the fan, then I won't.

There should have been a bylaw that force manfacturers to drill a hole in the center, and allow home users to drop a bit of oil on these products
Click to expand...
That would allow dirt into the fan and kill it even faster. These are sealed units and not designed to be serviceable for a reason.
 
Either jizz on it (sperm oil, the best lubricant for fans 😏) or just buy a replacement.
 
bitnick said:
...You'd have to remove the fan from the graphics card and figure out a way to access the central shaft. Maybe it's as easy as removing some label?
Click to expand...
With most of the PC fans I've attempted this on, it's just a matter of peeling the label off the back, then prising off a small cover over the spindle. Usually it doesn't cause much or any damage - not that it would matter, since the fan is toast otherwise anyway.
 
Happy Hopping said:
say a fan like this that has been running for years, and the fan is noisy. Is there a way to add lubricant oil on the fan? if so, how?
Click to expand...

Did it suddenly start making noise? If that's the case, it's got a blown bearing and there's no fixing it.
 
vegeta535 said:
That would allow dirt into the fan and kill it even faster. These are sealed units and not designed to be serviceable for a reason.
Click to expand...
in 1 video, it's a sticker, so you remove the sticker, get the oil in, and re-seal it
 
Axman said:
Did it suddenly start making noise? If that's the case, it's got a blown bearing and there's no fixing it.
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not sure. The card hasn't been in use for years, then it comes in handy in another upgrade PC, since that video card hasn't been in use for that long, can't remember if it was noisy back a no. of yr. ago
 
China - check part numbers or eyeball the connectors, fan diameter, cable length, etc. Surprising how cheap it is to replace a fan or shroud.

Got a low profile dual fan and shroud assembly for an MSI 1650 a few months ago delivered to me for $22. Only took 2 weeks. Same issue, fan noise, added some oil to baby it, broke it when I tried to "fix" it then got a replacement. Works great.

1703695130533.png
 
that must be aliexprress. I do buy from them. I ditch ebay as much as possible. Thanks for the tips
 
Happy Hopping said:
if it's a drop of oil, I'll do it. If it get to the pt. that it is too risky and damage the fan, then I won't.

There should have been a bylaw that force manfacturers to drill a hole in the center, and allow home users to drop a bit of oil on these products
Click to expand...
Unless the oil could be applied and then resealed, having a hole for oil would be a bad idea. Someone puts oil on the fan, then it spins up and oil gets slinged everywhere. Not a good idea. If it was under a label, maybe. But those are on the bottom, so it would still have to be removed from the video card.

Just take the fan off, get the model number, and try to find a new one and swap it. It probably has a sleeve bearing, which wears out. You should replace the fan.
 
Happy Hopping said:
if it's a drop of oil, I'll do it. If it get to the pt. that it is too risky and damage the fan, then I won't.

There should have been a bylaw that force manfacturers to drill a hole in the center, and allow home users to drop a bit of oil on these products
Click to expand...
the reason they dont do that is, that same hole is now an avenue for dirt and crud to get directly into the bearing. Lifetime sealed bearings last the longest, regardless of maintenance. Open bearings if kept clean and regularly lubricated (say monthly) "might" last longer.
 
Andrew_Carr said:
Aliexpress/alibaba are pretty good about replacement parts like GPU fans. Sometimes it takes a bit of looking, but they usually only cost $10-20. The problem is waiting on shipping or paying $30 to get it expedited when you need it now. But for a GT 740 that money would be better spent on a new card. (something like a gtx 1080ti is literally 10x as fast for $150)
Click to expand...

I've had good luck finding replacement fans on ebay/amazon that were shipped from the US and would arrive within a week.
 
Jandor said:
Yes and no. This is a temporary cure. If there is noise and vibration it is not the oil but the fact that the mechanical part is worn out.
However the fans are not always replaceable on GPUs. There was a time when you could replace all the cooler with its fan with some standard one from the manufacturers who build coolers for the CPU. Not anymore. A shame.
Click to expand...

With an old laptop I had about 15 years ago I was able to double the lifespan of the crappy fan Acer picked by adding a drop or two of sewing machine oil once or twice after it started getting noisy.

The fans all died eventually because they were garbage, but it let me get 2 years between swaps instead of 1. Other than the fans and battery (no longer holds any charge) the laptop has held up rather well. A 1.6ghz Core 1 duo is slow by modern standards and it originally had Vista installed but I was able to get everything except the card reader to work on w10 and it's available and working if a family member needs an emergency loaner.
 
I go back to the place today and open the PC, the center does NOT have any sticker or hole. So now I have to do some surgery if I want to remove the noise. Say the cost is $25, it's doable. Unless a better card is say $50. If there is an used card w/ higher resolution c/w heatsink only w/ no fan, I'll go for it than doing the surgery. I do really appreciate so many of you helping out
 
Happy Hopping said:
Unless a better card is say $50. If there is an used card w/ higher resolution c/w heatsink only w/ no fan,
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There are GT 1030's passively cooled but they go for more than $50. Make this person on ebay an offer. It's close and would save you some hassle. Specs here and here.

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I picked up a half length GTX 960 off ebay for $40 shipped recently. But, it has a fan.

You might try posting in the forum here. Someone may have something they can work with you on.
 
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well, this is far more than the user needs. For $60, well worth the upgrade. For that matter, I'll start checking the local ad., perhaps there is one that I don' t need to pay the shipping. Thank you very much
 
You may find a good deal, depending on your market.

Where I'm at, people locally tend to think their old stuff is worth crypto boom rates, still. I do better with the recyclers on ebay.
 
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