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I bought a second-hand gigabyte rtx 2060 graphics card and it has intermittently been making a 'croaking' sound. It happens every time the fans stop or start and sometimes happens persistently when playing a game.

I'm guessing it's the fan's bearings based on discussions I've seen around the web, but I'm not sure how to tackle it if that is the case.

Any tips would be appreciated.

jwaterson
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  • This might be Coil Whine, see [link](https://superuser.com/questions/1387689/weird-buzzing-noise-coming-from-the-pc-psu-perhaps). – harrymc Jun 13 '21 at 13:42
  • @harrymc I've seen a few recordings of the sound coil whine makes, and I don't think it's that. I just took out the graphics card and gave each fan a little spin and can see the offending fan has a tiny bit of a wobble to it, so I'm fairly sure it's the bearing. – jwaterson Jun 13 '21 at 15:06

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First, check for obvious obstruction - maybe it's snagging part of the case on spinup.

If not, strip it & clean it - use vacuum or blower & also a can of contact cleaner. If that involves also stripping the heat sink off the GPU, then new thermal paste will be required.

If that doesn't fix it, there's not really much you can do for an ailing fan except replace it. Somewhere on it will be a sticker with its part number*. They're usually only a couple of quid/buck/shekels, though you might have to wait a week or three for shipping from China.

*Usually with this type of component it doesn't matter who it says made it on the front, on the back will be some ridiculously long number like ASDFGHJKL123456A - googling that is usually a direct hit to suppliers.

Tetsujin
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  • Sorry do you mean remove the fan(s) and vacuum/contact clean that or do you mean strip the whole card? Do you happen to know a good resource for how to do this safely? – jwaterson Jun 13 '21 at 11:31
  • You'll find out once you get inside. Some you can just remove the fan for service, some are bolted through the PCB & thermal pasted in as a unit. – Tetsujin Jun 13 '21 at 11:32
  • With mine, I think there's 3 arms to which each fan is screwed on just behind the blades. I'll try removing them and give them a blast of contact cleaner – jwaterson Jun 13 '21 at 11:34
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    Thanks for your help, if that solves the problem I'll mark your answer as accepted – jwaterson Jun 13 '21 at 11:36