Beware Brazos (and Celeron) mini-ITX boards - fan failure

[VirtualLarry]

Those cute little integrated-CPU/video ITX boards that Newegg sells - beware, they go through fans like crazy. I have an ASRock E350 ITX board, and I've had it for nearly two years, and I replaced the fan 6 months ago, and it died. Again. This time, it just silently died completely. Before, it started rattling like crazy, but was not dead. I tried hooking it up to a molex power connector, instead of the CPU fan connector on the mobo, but it was still dead.

The CPU TjMax is 75C as per CoreTemp, but the highest recorded temp was 80C. It was hovering around 72C once I opened the case up. It started to smell like burnt electronics.

The computer didn't crash, it kept on running until I shut it down though. Indeed, there was no fan failure alarm, although I don't know if I have a speaker attached to that mobo either.

 

[Zap]

This is typical of any small fan (especially sleeve bearing). You probably went through the same issues back when all motherboards had those little fans on the chipsets.

An easy fix is to use a larger 80mm fan, and place it so that the center of the CPU is NOT under the dead spot of the fan (fan motor).

 

[Compman55]

Or peel the sticker off the bottom of the fan and add a drop of synthetic oil

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Regrease the bearing. I definitely do NOT miss those tiny a*s (40-50mm) fans.