Extreme fan noise

[Negatyfus]

Hi,

I'm sure problems like this have been posted about before, but I'm not really a PC builder myself. However, I'd like to hear from people who have experience with this sort of thing. I have an Asus A8N-SLI motherboard and it has extreme fan noise from time to time.

The thing is, this computer is pretty new. I've only had it for a few months and it was built by a professional. Therefore I think we can dismiss dirt/grime in the fan.

Also, I've pinpointed the fan: it's the fan next to ASUS "Patent Pending" Dual Video Cards chip-- I assume that's the SLI chip. It's the silver square with the black center. (Board photo: http://www.pcper.com/images/reviews/98/board_big.jpg)

Now, it looks like this is standard on the Asus A8N-SLI as the fan shows on that board pic. I've tried a few things, but I don't really want to mess around too much, like unscrewing the thing. Is this a common problem with this board? Is it wisest to return the computer to the shop or is there something I can do without taking apart the motherboard?

Thanks for your help.

Oh yeah, what's this fan supposed to be cooling, anyway?

 

[theMan]

that fan cools the chipset. those things are always really lowd. some people just take the fans off, or you could just buy an entirely new cooler.

 

[NuroMancer]

I have that same problem. But theman is correct, personally I am going out an picking up a zalman copper chipset cooler that runs quieter. They all run pretty loud but I think the Asus one might be louder then most.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Those small fans are high RPM and very noisy. I always replace the chipset fan with a Zalman long finned chipset heatsink. There's just no reason to have a fan on your mobo chipset.

 

[Negatyfus]

Hmmm, I could replace it with something quieter, I suppose. But the thing is, and I'm not sure if that's normal, sometimes it runs pretty quiet. Then it seems like it's starting to grind against some surface and the noise can become terrible. A moment later it'll be quiet again. That leads me to believe that it's actually not working as it should.

Yesterday, it became very extreme. I could sometimes fix it by putting a finger on the fan and stopping it (but not consistently). Gah, I hate that fan...

 

[NuroMancer]

Go spend 15 bucks and replace it. Mine works GREAT so much quiter when I'm encoding or gaming.

 

[Negatyfus]

Like I said, I'm not much of a PC builder. How big is the chance that I ruin the motherboard when I start screwing things off and on it? I feel like it's not quite the same as placing extra RAM, removing a HD or inserting a PCI card...