Maximum PC

Bought this card used on Craigslist, got it plugged in and it's working fine, except the fan sounds awful. I have an 8600GT in my computer so I know what a fast fan sounds like, but this fan sounds terrible even at low speeds. I only paid $25 for it and after looking at aftermarket fans online it appears I'd be doubling my initial investment just replacing the fan. I'm looking for any and all suggestions that pertain to inexpensive remedies, things to look for, check, adjust, cheap aftermarket fans, whatever. Not sure if this should go in the help me buy/build forum and if so, please feel free to move it.

Is it clean? If the heatsink is dusty the fan will grind and have to run faster to keep the card cool. If that doesn't work, you can try oiling the fan.

As far as I can tell it's pretty clean. I haven't taken anything apart to look at it, but from all the angles I checked it's actually cleaner than my 8600. How do I oil the fan, and which oil do I use?

WD40 But Remove The Fan First

WD40 is a solvent, not a lubricant.

sewing machine oil is good, so is Mobile 1, just peel back the sticker in the center of the fan back a bit, enough to put a drop or two in the bearings. no need to remove it.

it might not work, depends on how long the guy you got it from ran it that way, if the bearings froze and wore themselves a flat spot, it wont work

Correction...... A Solvent AND A Lubricant

which is exactly why it is not good, same for 3 in 1.

they are meant to break loose frozen, rusty nuts and bolts, not lube multi thousand rpm fans.

You Could Simply Strip The Heatsink Down To Just The Bare Sink With No Fan, And Adapting A 60mm Case Fan To It With Some Short Self-Biting Screws.

Would you do the knuckle shuffle with WD40? I wouldn't...it's not a lube. WD40 is just a water dispersant, but does wonders in that sense. 3-in-1 oil is pretty common, but it's not a great lube either. Turbine oil (it's a dated term and is basically calling any spinning thing a "turbine") is really good for this sort of thing. It's not too thick, not to thin, and is made for lubing motor bearings. If you have trouble finding it, it's mostly found in the HVAC area for heater blower motors and squirrel cages.

It's more than likely a sleeve bearing so you'll have to do this every 3 months or so. A lot of HS/F's work on other cards, a lot of people pull them off and have them laying around, so you might have luck finding a brand new/never used 7xxx series cooler on the cheap. Water cooling guys usually have 'em around and bagged up since they never intend to use the air cooler one second.