EMachines T3508 cooling fan is loud as all get-out: How to quiet it?

Question

I have an eMachines T3508 running XP on not that much memory. (384MB? That can't be right. ;) )

Well, the cooling fan revs up and gets very noisy when I do something that stresses the CPU like, oh, watch a video or visit a site with flash advertisements. It's so loud that I can't hear the audio track in some videos I watch.

What it's doing makes sense I guess: The more the CPU runs, the more heat that's generated, and the more cooling it thinks it needs, but is there a way to make the fan work just a tad less?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

it could be that the original heatsink compound isn't doing the job. I'd try pulling the heatsink, cleaning it and the top of the proc really well (rubbing alcohol, cotton cloth) and then using some good thermal paste and re-attach it.

Of course, you might open the case and make sure you haven't obstructed ventilation with any large dust bunnies first!