Case fan speed?

CAaronD

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Feb 27, 2014
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How am I able to adjust it? I have two fans, one stock which came with CM Elite431+ which is relatively quiet, and one Coolermaster 120 Sickleflow I bought (which is about twice the noise). And then there's one fan (also Sickleflow) connected to PWM fan. I heard PSU connected case fans aren't adjustable. Is that true? Also, I used speed fan, and it doesn't display my PWM connected fan. Why is this? I do not have the 4 pin connector on my fans either.
 
Solution


1) It's PWM not PWR. It stands for "Pulse Width Modulation".

2) Your board is modern so the CASE FAN headers are likely 4-pin. That means it can vary PWM fans that are also variable (i.e. 500RPM to 1800RPM) and MAY also support variable 3-pin (voltage) fans.

*So your fans are VOLTAGE controlled but not necessarily variable.

3) Don't use "SPEED FAN" use the fan control software from the motherboard site which may be...
Some motherboards can control 3 pin fans by voltage but most cannot and so they are stuck at full speed all the time and fans connected to molex adapters are also not adjustable.
 
If I am using an Asrock H97 Pro4, does it automatically adjust my fan speed? Seems to have been very loud earlier on, now the noise has been reduced nearly half. I can only hear a faint sort of turbine generator sound, and the sound of the air. What programs would you suggest for me to control my PWM fan's speed?
 


1) It's PWM not PWR. It stands for "Pulse Width Modulation".

2) Your board is modern so the CASE FAN headers are likely 4-pin. That means it can vary PWM fans that are also variable (i.e. 500RPM to 1800RPM) and MAY also support variable 3-pin (voltage) fans.

*So your fans are VOLTAGE controlled but not necessarily variable.

3) Don't use "SPEED FAN" use the fan control software from the motherboard site which may be part of a program.

4) REPLACING FANS?
If you decide to buy a replacement fan be sure it has the following specs:
a) PWM
b) variable
c) lowest speed isn't greater than 600RPM, and
d) highest speed isn't greater than 2000RPM.
e) 12cm (probably)

INSTRUCTIONS:
a) Plug in fan to motherboard
b) use fan control software to see if you can control it
c) adjust profile as desired (My Bitfenix PWM fans are silent)

OTHER:
a) There are fan control units you can buy but I don't recommend one since it would make more sense to buy a PWM fan or two instead and have the motherboard control it.

b) Many fans that are 1000RPM or below are quite sufficient and very quiet even if you can't control them.

 
Solution
*The fan software is part of the "A-Tuning" program.

It's under "Tools" and called "FAN-tastic":
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H97%20Pro4/?cat=Download&os=Win8a64

THIS FAN is $8: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/bitfenix-case-fan-bffscfp12025kkrp

If you need one it should work fine. It's 700RPM to 1800RPM. Most motherboards only allow 40% full speed as the lowest which would be (0.4)X1800 = 720RPM.

It's likely the fan would stay just above 700RPM which is likely inaudible. I suggest using about 40 to 70degC as your ramp (1800RPM at 70degC but you'd never get there unless your house is burning down).
 
Thanks. Turned out the "silent" mode on the fans weren't too silent. I set the fans to 40% and I seem to be alright. I guess I should have picked more silent fans. I only needed one extra, but I wanted the aesthetics 😛 Oh well. If I want the thing to be completely silent, I'll probably have to remove one fan. The fans did not come with the 4 pin connector though.