Northbridge fan has gotten noisy. What to do...

[Muse]

I've been getting an annoying variable sound coming from the north bridge fan on my "desktop" PC. What can I do about this? Can I try fixing it? Try removing it and lubricating or just spray something into it? Get a replacement? Removing the MB to get at the NB fan would be a PITA, of course. What if I just disconnect it, would there likely be a repercussion? I'm not driving the system hard, don't play games. It's worse in cold weather, the room is under 60F right now, and it seems to be a lot worse in cool weather.

Here's the main specs on my midtower PC:

Gigabyte GA-K8n Pro motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (socket 754, FSB1600, E6, Venice, 90nm, L2-512KB)
BFG 6600 GTOC AGP video card
2 sticks Crucial 1GB PC3200 400MHz 184-pin DDR Memory - CT12864Z40B, 2 GB total
Corsair vx550w PSU
USR Model 2977 PCI hardware modem
Hercules GTXP soundcard PCI with breakout box
MyHD HDTV 120 HDTV PCI
MyHD HDTV 120 HDTV daughterboard

 

[Sunny129]

you'd probably be just fine unplugging the NB fan. i've done it with completely different mobos/chipsets, but i was doing it with mobos/chipsets from the same era as the one you have (ancient). not that that is the greatest way to gauge it, but your room is freezing cold anyways...60°F! and here i thought i was living like an Eskimo with the thermostat @ 67/68°F lol...

 

[Muse]

you'd probably be just fine unplugging the NB fan. i've done it with completely different mobos/chipsets, but i was doing it with mobos/chipsets from the same era as the one you have (ancient). not that that is the greatest way to gauge it, but your room is freezing cold anyways...60°F! and here i thought i was living like an Eskimo with the thermostat @ 67/68°F lol...

Actually it's 57F in the room right now and it gets alot colder. I have a space heater in here I use sometimes. Don't spend that much time in this room during the winter. And winter is officially a month away, burr. This is Berkeley, it's not that bad, I have never seen snow here in the flatlands of Berkeley. By this time next year I hope to have central heating installed in the house! :thumbsup:

I'll try just unplugging the NB fan, I think it probably won't matter. If the MB burns out I'll get another. I've been thinking of doing that anyway.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Search for Evercool VC-RE heatsink/fan. That was a popular one to replace noisy/hot chipset heatsinks.


Edit: Look here:
http://www.svc.com/chipset-cooler.html

 

[stahlhart]

Something like this will quiet it down, if you are comfortable with separating the fan rotor from the frame and reassembling:

http://aeroconsystems.com/cart/products/Model_747_Grease_Syringe-64-40.html