I bought a second-hand gigabyte rtx 2060 graphics card and it has intermittently been making a 'croaking' sound. It happens every time the fans stop or start and sometimes happens persistently when playing a game.
I'm guessing it's the fan's bearings based on discussions I've seen around the web, but I'm not sure how to tackle it if that is the case.
Any tips would be appreciated.
First, check for obvious obstruction - maybe it's snagging part of the case on spinup.
If not, strip it & clean it - use vacuum or blower & also a can of contact cleaner. If that involves also stripping the heat sink off the GPU, then new thermal paste will be required.
If that doesn't fix it, there's not really much you can do for an ailing fan except replace it. Somewhere on it will be a sticker with its part number*. They're usually only a couple of quid/buck/shekels, though you might have to wait a week or three for shipping from China.
*Usually with this type of component it doesn't matter who it says made it on the front, on the back will be some ridiculously long number like ASDFGHJKL123456A - googling that is usually a direct hit to suppliers.
