Dell fans (life expectancy)

Hi.

My dad has had a dell (P3 1ghz, 40gb, 256mb pc133, gf2 ultra) He uses for listening to music, lots of work, and internet-ness. The last couple of months i have noticed that there is sometimes a loud noise coming from it, varying in pitch. The computer runs 24\7 and is not overclocked in anyway.

I think that the fan may pack up soon as its been running for: (hope the maths is right..)
24x7=168
168x52 = 8736
8736x3 = 26,208hours

The case hasnt ever been cleaned, so probably lots of dust. Im guessing that the life of a ball bearing fan (probably stock P3) is about 30,000hours.

His computer is central to his business (runs own company) and if he goes it would be a major blow.

Do people think that changing the fan is a good call?

Will

Doesn't sound like a bad idea to change the fan, but why not do some checking first, open the beauty up and have a look at the fan, clean out the dust, (a can of air is a really good tip here and just remember you'll probably want a mask as i'm sure you'd rather not swallow 3 year old human skin ;)

I'd say that 30K hours is not anywhere near a fan bearing life, i'd say 100K hours is more appropriate tho i may be wrong.

TiG

depends on the fan i think, recently saw one advertised with 30hour life, though it was obviosly misprinted and suppost to be 30k.
if the fan does go it probably wouldnt damage anything as p3's have overheat protetion iirc.. just replace the fan..

Maplin publish the life expectancy of their fans - check them out.

Hope you get it sorted - my Dad's CPU fan went it made one heck of a noise!!

Why not just swap it, its gonna cost you like £5

Not sure how your Dad's PIII 1Ghz Dell is set up. I'll guess its setup at least vaguely like my Precision 350 which I think is a standard way they do things at Dell...

So - it has a passive heatsink with no fan directly on it, right? This probably has a shroud/duct over it directing the hot air to a case fan?

Even if it does have a HS mounted fan, before you decide to change the fan take a look at the type of connector it mates to the mobo with! Mine was NOT the standard 3pin fan connector, but more like the type of audio connector found at the back of a CD-ROM.

If this is your situation then when you buy your fan you'll either need to chop up the wires and solder up the old connector, or take the less tactful step of slicing up the connector on the mobo so the standard 3pin will fit! Worked for me... :D

open case up and see if you can tell where noise is coming from.

measure faulty fan (probably 92mm, maybe 80mm)

order a new fan

unplug the computer... bring it outside, used compressed air to thoroughly clean everything. install new fan, make sure wires match...

bring it back in, plug it in, power everything back up

& reclean every 6 months

If it crucial to his job/business I think that a £5 for a new fan should be no problem.

Cheers guys, ill give it a go cleaing this weekend see if that improves it.

else ill order a new fan

Will