"newbie" wrote in message...
> About six months ago, the NB fan on my AI7 is making noise. With advises
> from this group, I have it fixed with sewing machine oil. Now the fan is
> making noise and re-lubricating it
> did not improve it. Is it on its last leg?
Well, sounds like it's getting that way yes. These plain bearing fans wear
to a point where the bearing goes sloppy, then all you get is the shaft
vibrating rather than spinning smoothly in the shaft. You might find that
some heavier oil will get you back where you were, but if not, it's
curtains, for the fan at least.
> With the fan so tiny, does it really cool anything down?
Oh yes, it has an effect, but the exact magnitude of that effect is
dependent on the precise design of your case and the rest of the cooling
solution employed. The main purpose of those fans is to guarantee some
airflow over the northbridge no matter what. In many cases it's not strictly
necessary because the CPU fan chucks out enough air to take care of things.
However, with, to state an extreme scenario, a watercooled processor,
there's no spare air swooshing round, so in those circumstances the NB fan
does come into its own.
> For now, I am running the PC without the NB fan and I don't see
> any impacts.
When you run the PC with the side of the case off can you feel significant
airflow over the NB heatsink? If so, chances are you'll be fine.
> One side benefit is my CPU is running about 8 degree C cooler. Have no
> idea why.
That's an odd one, to be sure. Switching off the NB fan would have some sort
of effect on the airflow and aerodynamics inside your case, but it's
difficult to concieve of a method by which this change could be responsible
for the temperature variance you noted. Are you sure there aren't other
explanations for the change, and are you comparing temperatures under full
load?
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Richard Hopkins
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