Hardware

Why is My Computer Fan So Loud?

Computer fans are used to push hot air outside the PC case and bring in some cool air to maintain the temperature of the processor and other circuit boards within. These fans function without any noise usually but sometimes can get loud due to dust and dirt particles. A normal office computer fan is more prone to this issue due tounclean surroundings.

There are several other factors too that can cause your computer fan to sound too loud. This article learns about the reasons behind a loud computer fan and how to fix a loud computer fan.

Some Reasons behind a Loud Computer Fan

Here are 4 reasons behind a loud computer fan:

Fans Not Working Properly

Every time you turn ON your PC, computer fans come into action mode. This continuous working of fans can cause wear and tear to the blades or motor itself resulting in the improper working of fans.

Dirty Fans

Air is contaminated with minute dirt particles that stick to the fan and other hardware components reducing the speed of the fan and making a loud sound.

Improper Ventilation

Many times we place our PC in a corner with less circulation of air which stops the cycle of inhaling cool air. The same happens with laptops when we place them on our legs. This results in CPU fans making a sharp noise and overheating of PC.

Overworking CPU

Running high-end programs more than the capacity of your CPU can cause overheating. To curb this issue, the computer fan has to do extra work to cool the components. This also causes PC fans to make a lot of noise.

How to Fix a Loud Computer Fan?

Here are some tricks and tips that will help you in reducing the sound of your PC fan. Let’s start:

Clean your PC Fan

Cleaning your fan is the first step you should follow as this is the primary reason behind the issue. Just cleaning with a small piece of cloth might not work here if you haven’t cleaned your fans for a long time.

Open your CPU and check if you could clean it without opening it out. Wipe the dust gently with a cloth. In case you are unable to clean it this way, you can take the help of a screwdriver to open the fan and then clean it.

In case you are having a laptop, you can open the backside of the laptop and then clean the fan.

Monitor Running Applications

As discussed above some high-end applications running in the background might also cause the issue. You can try scanning for malware using a third-party application or a computer application running in the background using task manager. Here’s how to do it:

Simply press Ctrl+Shift+Esc together to open the task manager and then navigate to the processes section. Here you will see the list of all the applications running in the background. Stop all the applications to fix the issue.

Better Ventilations

Always place your PC in place with proper circulation of air so that the cycle of taking in cool air and pushing out warm air doesn’t stop. Whether you place your CPU on a desk or a cupboard, make sure it has got enough room to circulate the air. Once the airflow is stopped, the PC fan starts running at increased speed creating a lot of sounds and causing wear to the fan. Also, it can cause damage to other PC cables and circuits as no ventilation will allow fans to circulate warm air heating up the computer.

Controlling Fan Speed

Fans cause noise due to higher speeds, and the speed of the fan can be controlled easily. Your PC might not give you access to control the fan speed but you can download any third-party application to serve the purpose. Speedfan is one such application.

While using a third-party application to control the speed of the fans, make sure you don’t stop them completely if your PC is hot as it might create issues. You have to control your fan speed only if it’s making unnecessary noise.

Using Cooling Pad (Laptops)

If you are using a laptop with overheating issue then your PC fan will be disturbing you for sure. You can try using a Cooling pad to bring down your laptop to a normal temperature. This will decrease the running speed of fans hence lowering the noise by fans.

Maintaining Your Computer Fan Health

Your computer fans run continuously every time you turn on your computer. So, wear and tear in the fans is a normal thing that needs proper maintenance. With time, the lubrication in the bearings of fans gets decreased causing an irritating sound. Sadly, lubrication cannot be done at home and you might end up damaging other parts of the computer.

In such cases, you should opt for a new computer fan to serve the purpose.

Why is My Computer Fan Not Working?

There are very rare chances of your CPU fan stopping completely and most of time it slows down due to the clogging of dust particles. The latest motherboards detect the temperature of processors on their own and stop the fan to reduce the consumption of power and lower the noise.

If your PC is hot enough and still your computer fan doesn’t spin then it might be a technical issue. Most of the time this issue occurs due to the power supply unit and BIOS. You can troubleshoot bios and power supplies to fix the issue.

Wrapping Up

Not every time, fans of your CPU are at fault. Fans prevent your PC from getting overheated. In support of all the reasons listed above, we can say that the noise made by computer fans is either due to dust particles or higher speed of fans due to certain reasons. The methods mentioned above can easily fix loud computer fans. In case you still face the issues, you are advised to replace the fans.

I hope you loved reading this article.

About the author

Shubham Yadav

Shubham is a mechanical engineer by profession. Computer geek at heart he loves to explore new aspects of circuits, motherboards and general PC components.