The sound (and vibration) is coming from the gpu side. The sound is not always start-stop like it is in the video, when the fan is running the sound is occurring. Would replacing the GPU fan solve the problem?
I have had the laptop for 5 years now and have had a great time pushing it to its limits and not thinking about it or doing any maintenance aside from blowing dust out the fans. Unfortunately that time is over. About a week ago my laptop began to make a loud buzzing sound at all rpm's that is also vibrating the case and desk it was on https://imgur.com/a/TmknNra . I am 99% sure it is the GPU fan as the sound/vibration is coming from that side. As the week progressed the sound got slightly worse and the gpu fan began to occasionally spin up rapidly and immediately shut off https://imgur.com/a/3tO0eEw When playing games the fps drastically drops every 1-2 seconds and the temperature is higher under lower load than before.
When I cracked open the laptop nothing seemed to be physically clipping or rubbing on the fan that would cause the sound/vibration https://imgur.com/a/DTMTvOY (pre-clean). Cleaning it as regular didn't solve the issue, although to fully clean the fan it requires taking off the heat sink to get under the chassis. Taking off the heat sink is something I've never done and will also (I think) make it so I have to replace the thermal putty/liquid metal, which is something I need to do anyway. The service manual says to use FCR-AS grease for the applicable parts. Is Thermal Grizzly TG Putty Pro able to be used in place of that? Then the liquid metal on the CPU as I have found out is not great in asus laptops so ill be replacing that with PTM7950. Following the comprehensive guide for LM on this subreddit, will this process be difficult for someone who isn't experienced?
I have already bought a replacement gpu fan from ebay just to cover that angle of the issue. Is this sound familiar to anyone and do these seem to be the right steps to take for the fan/maintenance? TY for any help !
TLDR: Laptop making loud buzz sound/vibration. Most likely GPU Fan. Problem not fixed with basic cleaning and no visual indication of problem. To replace fan I will have to take off heat sink which will then need re application of thermal compounds. Is Thermal Grizzly TG Putty Pro a substitute for FCR-AS Grease? Is the cleaning of liquid metal and application of PTM7950 on a CPU difficult for someone without experience?