PC issue

[Bushwack44]

Lately, my PC's auxiliary (video?) fan turns on when viewing certain (arbitrary) videos on YouTube; no matter whether using Chrome or Firefox (although this occurs more often using Firefox).

Doesn't matter what settings I have for my video card. Auxiliary fax turns on. Same thing occurs if I put the computer to sleep, restart or turn off. It doesn't seem to affect computer performance but it is annoying and loud. Any suggestions?

[67Cuda]

Check your bios for fan settings unless you have a specific program for that installed on your system.
Your processor fan can fluctuate if it gets hot which could happen playing video.

[the86d]

Blow the gunky dust out of fan heatsinks(radiators)...

[LeftHand-Fu]

I second the blow recommendation. A can of compressed air, I mean. Or very very tiny vacuum attachments.

Taking the PC apart to get at all the nooks and crannies is best.

[MaHoTex]

Blow the gunky dust out of fan heatsinks(radiators)...

^^^^^ Yup...

[Bushwack44]

Thanks for the suggestions. I blew out the dust (wasn't that bad) two weeks ago. I generally do it every few months.

Not sure how to check my BIOS and once I do, not surewhat should be done.

[MaHoTex]

Thanks for the suggestions. I blew out the dust (wasn't that bad) two weeks ago. I generally do it every few months.

Not sure how to check my BIOS and once I do, not sure what should be done.

To access BIOS, you have to press a key during bootup... F12 or escape or or or....

The options are endless... That said, I would not expect the BIOS to be the problem.

It may be the heat sink compound is dried up on the processor.

[vintagearms]

Have u recently upgraded your graphics drivers?

[MaHoTex]

Have u recently upgraded your graphics drivers?

Or changed any of the settings such as aliasing... Added a second monitor?

[rvicta]

Something else that may be the problem, how old is the video card? I had a similar issue where the second fan on my video card would kick in when watching videos. First I blew out the dust, but it would still do the same thing. What I found out was that the thermal paste on the chip(s) got hard and were no longer transferring heat to the heat sinks efficiently. Picked up some ArctiClean and Arctic Silver and redid the thermal paste on the video card. Because of the age of my system, did it for the CPU also. So, now my fans don't work as hard, but that's what worked for me.

[Bushwack44]

Haven't done a software (nVidia) upgrade in at least a year. No changes to the settings and I'm running a 25" HP monitor. The entire HP PC is 6+ years old (but runs great). Video on screen looks great.

But...if I was to change the video card, I haven't a clue what to look for. Running Win 7 Pro, 64 bit, Intel i7 CPU at 3.2GHz w/ 17GB RAM, nVidia GeoForce GT 530 video card (I think has 2GB RAM).

[stilly]

Lately, my PC's auxiliary (video?) fax turns on when viewing certain (arbitrary) videos on YouTube; no matter whether using Chrome or Firefox (although this occurs more often using Firefox).

Doesn't matter what settings I have for my video card. Auxiliary fax turns on. Same thing occurs if I put the computer to sleep, restart or turn off. It doesn't seem to affect computer performance but it is annoying and loud. Any suggestions?

WHAT?

Please fix and re ask the question. FAX has nothing to with Video cards and There is nothing called Auxillary anything in a computer that I am aware of.

Based on what you are describing I would say that your CPU could be causing the fan to spin faster since you are at a YOUTUBE site with advertising and who knows what all else going on in the background. Your BIOS controls your fans and/or monitors them. You can get a program called SYSMON or (there is a free fan monitoring program) that will tell you the speed of certain fans in your system. You can watch them spin up or down with the software.

General rule of thumb is that smaller fans are louder. If you can switch to a larger fan on your HSF combo then do it, else do what others have said and blow out the dust on your Heatsink.

[Bushwack44]

WHAT?

Please fix and re ask the question. FAX has nothing to with Video cards and There is nothing called Auxillary anything in a computer that I am aware of.

Based on what you are describing I would say that your CPU could be causing the fan to spin faster since you are at a YOUTUBE site with advertising and who knows what all else going on in the background. Your BIOS controls your fans and/or monitors them. You can get a program called SYSMON or (there is a free fan monitoring program) that will tell you the speed of certain fans in your system. You can watch them spin up or down with the software.

General rule of thumb is that smaller fans are louder. If you can switch to a larger fan on your HSF combo then do it, else do what others have said and blow out the dust on your Heatsink.

That was a typo. Meant to type FAN, not fax. Thanks for the advice.

[stilly]

That was a typo. Meant to type FAN, not fax. Thanks for the advice.

Yeah I kinda figured. I was in railroad mode when I started reading it though.

Your fan could also be on its way out, but I doubt it since it is a spinning sound you are talking about. That happens a lot. You mainly hear it with laptops.

You could also migrate to a water cooled/ wet system and that could possibly be even quieter, but I think that is a bit excessive for anyone to do just to stamp out a little fan spinning up.

There is another thing too now that I think of it. Look for a fan controller like: a Kingwin FPX-001 and hook all of your fans up to it. Then YOU can control how fast they spin.

There is a downside to doing that and that would mean that you would have to disable the thermal controls in your BIOS and turn off the alarms and all for your cpu fan. Also, if you are doing anything and your cpu overheats, if you do NOT increase the fan speed, you could risk burning up your mobo/CPU unless it knows better and shuts itself down automatically. So beware of that for sure. Usually though the ONLY fans that really will spin up faster are going to be the CPU fans. A larger cooler like the Hyper 212 EVO, V6, V8 or even V10 will probably run quieter, but it will set you back about $35+ The V series get ridiculously expensive. But they LOOK sweet. Also, the Hyper is tall so watch that you have space for it.

[MaHoTex]

Yeah I kinda figured. I was in railroad mode when I started reading it though.

Your fan could also be on its way out, but I doubt it since it is a spinning sound you are talking about. That happens a lot. You mainly hear it with laptops.

You could also migrate to a water cooled/ wet system and that could possibly be even quieter, but I think that is a bit excessive for anyone to do just to stamp out a little fan spinning up.

There is another thing too now that I think of it. Look for a fan controller like: a Kingwin FPX-001 and hook all of your fans up to it. Then YOU can control how fast they spin.

There is a downside to doing that and that would mean that you would have to disable the thermal controls in your BIOS and turn off the alarms and all for your cpu fan. Also, if you are doing anything and your cpu overheats, if you do NOT increase the fan speed, you could risk burning up your mobo/CPU unless it knows better and shuts itself down automatically. So beware of that for sure. Usually though the ONLY fans that really will spin up faster are going to be the CPU fans. A larger cooler like the Hyper 212 EVO, V6, V8 or even V10 will probably run quieter, but it will set you back about $35+ The V series get ridiculously expensive. But they LOOK sweet. Also, the Hyper is tall so watch that you have space for it.

He is complaining about the fan that is on the video card, not the CPU.