How do you oil a cooling fan? - China DOS Union Forum - China DOS Union

I have a question for everyone:
I heard that PC cooling fans need to be oiled after being used for a long time, and there are usually two cooling fans inside the case, the one in the power supply and the CPU one. What I want to ask is, how do you properly oil these cooling fans?
I hope those who know can give me some advice, thanks!

That depends on whether you're using a ball-bearing one or an ordinary fan.

Wait until it starts making noise, then add some. Peel up that label and add a little machine oil, that will do, but the effect usually only lasts about 2 weeks. Better to just replace it; a 10-yuan one is enough.

My cooling fan is ball-bearing, a mid-range one, bought for 50 yuan. So what should I do?

First remove the fan from the heatsink. There's usually a label on the back (a sticker), just drip a little machine oil onto the bearing, but don't add too much. If it spills out, the label won't stick back on. (Next time, a 10-yuan fan is enough, don't listen to sellers bragging about fans. A 50-yuan one and a 10-yuan one work about the same; you'll know after you try it. If you really want a good one, use a genuine INTEL one, a completely oil-free fan, with the lowest noise and the best durability.)

There's such a big difference between 10 yuan and 50 yuan—are the cooling fans you buy really not different at all? Also, are Intel cooling fans the best?

INTEL isn't the best when it comes to cooling, but if you don't overclock heavily, it's definitely enough. What I meant by good is durable. If you've taken apart an INTEL fan, you'll see it's completely oil-free. I have several boxed INTEL CPUs like P54C/P55C/PII266, and the longest-used ones have been running for over 5 years; their noise is almost no different from when they were new.
There is definitely some difference between a 50-yuan fan and a 10-yuan one, but the difference may be very small, while you pay 4 times more. If you buy a 10-yuan one and replace it once a year, then 50 yuan buys 5 of them for 5 years; but if you buy the 50-yuan one, you may not even get 2 years out of it. As for how good fan cooling is, the fan itself is secondary; the main thing is the heatsink's design and material, and the material is the most important. A 50-yuan fan isn't going to use any high-tech new materials for you. At most it just has a nicer-looking design and a more powerful fan, enough to satisfy your aesthetic taste.

My CPU is a slot-type Celeron 800, not overclocked. Can I use an Intel one?

For SLOT1-structure CPUs, I really haven't seen INTEL fans sold separately on the market. (INTEL fans only come with boxed CPUs.)
At Zhongguancun, so far I've only seen 478/370 INTEL fans. (370 ones are also hard to find now.)

nre, are those 10-yuan cooling fans you mentioned very noisy?

The following is quoted from 红色狂想 at 2003-5-9 17:17:32:
nre, is the 10-yuan cooling fan you mentioned very noisy?

I've used several kinds of 10-yuan fans. One type called "风神" is really bad; in less than 2 weeks it definitely gets very noisy. The others were all pretty good. Both the noise level and cooling were quite good.

Floor1　红色狂想	Posted 2003-05-03 00:00
金牌会员　Posts 1,501　Credits 4,289　From 河南省
I have a question for everyone: I heard that PC cooling fans need to be oiled after being used for a long time, and there are usually two cooling fans inside the case, the one in the power supply and the CPU one. What I want to ask is, how do you properly oil these cooling fans? I hope those who know can give me some advice, thanks!

Floor2　如是大师	Posted 2003-05-03 00:00
元老会员　Posts 3,351　Credits 9,654　From 湖北
That depends on whether you're using a ball-bearing one or an ordinary fan.

Floor3　nre	Posted 2003-05-03 00:00
银牌会员　Posts 361　Credits 1,210
Wait until it starts making noise, then add some. Peel up that label and add a little machine oil, that will do, but the effect usually only lasts about 2 weeks. Better to just replace it; a 10-yuan one is enough.

Floor4　红色狂想	Posted 2003-05-04 00:00
金牌会员　Posts 1,501　Credits 4,289　From 河南省
My cooling fan is ball-bearing, a mid-range one, bought for 50 yuan. So what should I do?

Floor5　nre	Posted 2003-05-04 00:00
银牌会员　Posts 361　Credits 1,210
First remove the fan from the heatsink. There's usually a label on the back (a sticker), just drip a little machine oil onto the bearing, but don't add too much. If it spills out, the label won't stick back on. (Next time, a 10-yuan fan is enough, don't listen to sellers bragging about fans. A 50-yuan one and a 10-yuan one work about the same; you'll know after you try it. If you really want a good one, use a genuine INTEL one, a completely oil-free fan, with the lowest noise and the best durability.)

Floor6　红色狂想	Posted 2003-05-04 00:00
金牌会员　Posts 1,501　Credits 4,289　From 河南省
There's such a big difference between 10 yuan and 50 yuan—are the cooling fans you buy really not different at all? Also, are Intel cooling fans the best?

Floor7　nre	Posted 2003-05-04 00:00
银牌会员　Posts 361　Credits 1,210
INTEL isn't the best when it comes to cooling, but if you don't overclock heavily, it's definitely enough. What I meant by good is durable. If you've taken apart an INTEL fan, you'll see it's completely oil-free. I have several boxed INTEL CPUs like P54C/P55C/PII266, and the longest-used ones have been running for over 5 years; their noise is almost no different from when they were new. There is definitely some difference between a 50-yuan fan and a 10-yuan one, but the difference may be very small, while you pay 4 times more. If you buy a 10-yuan one and replace it once a year, then 50 yuan buys 5 of them for 5 years; but if you buy the 50-yuan one, you may not even get 2 years out of it. As for how good fan cooling is, the fan itself is secondary; the main thing is the heatsink's design and material, and the material is the most important. A 50-yuan fan isn't going to use any high-tech new materials for you. At most it just has a nicer-looking design and a more powerful fan, enough to satisfy your aesthetic taste.

Floor8　红色狂想	Posted 2003-05-04 00:00
金牌会员　Posts 1,501　Credits 4,289　From 河南省
My CPU is a slot-type Celeron 800, not overclocked. Can I use an Intel one?

Floor9　nre	Posted 2003-05-04 00:00
银牌会员　Posts 361　Credits 1,210
For SLOT1-structure CPUs, I really haven't seen INTEL fans sold separately on the market. (INTEL fans only come with boxed CPUs.) At Zhongguancun, so far I've only seen 478/370 INTEL fans. (370 ones are also hard to find now.)

Floor10　红色狂想	Posted 2003-05-09 00:00
金牌会员　Posts 1,501　Credits 4,289　From 河南省
nre, are those 10-yuan cooling fans you mentioned very noisy?

Floor11　nre	Posted 2003-05-09 00:00
银牌会员　Posts 361　Credits 1,210
*The following is quoted from 红色狂想 at 2003-5-9 17:17:32:* nre, is the 10-yuan cooling fan you mentioned very noisy? I've used several kinds of 10-yuan fans. One type called "风神" is really bad; in less than 2 weeks it definitely gets very noisy. The others were all pretty good. Both the noise level and cooling were quite good.