CPU Fan Getting Louder when Switching Programs

[ThatGuyTre]

I've noticed this small "issue" when trying to change between programs. Basically, when I tab out or click into another window, I notice my CPU Fan kicks the speed up by about 10-15 percent for about 3 seconds. It's a minor issue, but still kind of annoying. If any of you can fix this, it would be appreciated.

It also seems to happen sometimes when I switch tabs in Chrome.

SPECS:
CPU : Intel i7 6700K
CPU Fan: CRYORIG H7
RAM : 16gb Corsair Vengeance LPX (I don't think this matters but just in case...)
OS: Windows 10

I don't think anything else matters...but if anything else does, I will be ready to answer them

Thanks for the future help!

 

[CountMike]

When opening programs CPU has to work harder so heat and fan speed increase accordingly.

 

[Dustybin]

Have you checked your CPU temps are normal, if you're just browsing the web the CPU shouldn't be running too warm. Also what is your motherboard and does it have any fan profile settings in BIOS.

 

[ThatGuyTre]

When opening programs CPU has to work harder so heat and fan speed increase accordingly.

The thing is, I haven't had any fan speed increases when opening programs, only when switching to and from them. It's not even games, either, like tabbing in and out of something minimized. It mainly happens when switching to, say, Skype to Chrome, or Chrome to iTunes, pretty much any regular application.

 

[ThatGuyTre]

Have you checked your CPU temps are normal, if you're just browsing the web the CPU shouldn't be running too warm. Also what is your motherboard and does it have any fan profile settings in BIOS.

My CPU is running at roughly 22-23 C while browsing. The load is hard to tell. Sometimes it gets as low as 1.5%, and sometimes as much as 13 percent by just idling: it keeps fluctuating. Currently I have Chrome, SpeedFan, Razer Synapse, and Steam(no games) running.

My mobo is the Gigabyte Z170-HD3. It says the CPU Fan Speed is calculated like this:
.75*PWM / CPU Temperature in C
Could this be the problem? Also what is PWM?

 

[CountMike]

PWM = Pulse With Modulation, fan speeds are controlled and induced by sending shorter or longer pulses of current to fan's motor and so regulates it's speed. In effect it turns it on and off faster or slower.
Non-PWM fan speed is regulated by changing voltage of current to it, lower voltage makes motor weaker and air resistance slows it down.
PWM controls react faster than voltage controlled and is also more precise.

 

[Dustybin]

What are you using to measure the CPU temp, inside a house that is fairly close to the ambient temperature unless you keep your house really quite cold. The reviews I've seen suggest 29-31C at idle in a 22C room. If you run something to stress the CPU what does your CPU temp go up to, in the past I have used things like Prime95 which if left running for 20 minutes will have your CPU running at its peak.

I should have also asked, as you're using an after market cooler and have a K series CPU are you running an OC? If you are I would start by setting things back to default. If you're running any fan control software or have profiles setup etc I would remove all of that as well although I assume you would have mentioned anything like that.

 

[ThatGuyTre]

What are you using to measure the CPU temp, inside a house that is fairly close to the ambient temperature unless you keep your house really quite cold. The reviews I've seen suggest 29-31C at idle in a 22C room. If you run something to stress the CPU what does your CPU temp go up to, in the past I have used things like Prime95 which if left running for 20 minutes will have your CPU running at its peak.

I should have also asked, as you're using an after market cooler and have a K series CPU are you running an OC? If you are I would start by setting things back to default. If you're running any fan control software or have profiles setup etc I would remove all of that as well although I assume you would have mentioned anything like that.

https://gyazo.com/38078fe3412f2aa7164ae9dba7a686fc
Here are my computer temps now, I think they were a bit off before. Also, I keep my house at around 23-24 C, so my CPU is right at room temperature. How can I increase this temperature? (sorry I have no idea on temperature management, most of my stuff is factory default.)

My processor is overclocked to 4.2 ghz as anything more than that is highly unstable for some reason. Temperatures while gaming are roughly 35-42C. Average temps when using a CPU Burner are about 45-50C. An added note, the CPU fan under load sounds the same as when it randomly jumps while browsing - they are the same speeds. Maybe the computer is thinking the CPU is under load even though it isn't?

Also this seems to be getting off topic, so could you explain how temperatures could cause a fan speed issue? I would really like to learn as much as possible on this issue.

 

[Dustybin]

Simply because the fan is variable speed (it reads a temp sensor) and increases the RPM if it senses that the temp is rising. Your fan can run between 330 and 1600 RPM and obviously as the speed increases the fan gets louder. That is why I am suggesting you disable your OC on the CPU and monitor your temperature what you're noticing is the obvious speeding up and slowing down of the fan when the temp spikes slightly.

You probably don't notice as much when you're playing a game that your CPU fan starts to ramp up in speed as the CPU is worked. I notice when my GPU turns its fans on but I don't notice the noise of them so much while actually gaming (if you see what I mean).

 

[ThatGuyTre]

Simply because the fan is variable speed (it reads a temp sensor) and increases the RPM if it senses that the temp is rising. Your fan can run between 330 and 1600 RPM and obviously as the speed increases the fan gets louder. That is why I am suggesting you disable your OC on the CPU and monitor your temperature what you're noticing is the obvious speeding up and slowing down of the fan when the temp spikes slightly.

You probably don't notice as much when you're playing a game that your CPU fan starts to ramp up in speed as the CPU is worked. I notice when my GPU turns its fans on but I don't notice the noise of them so much while actually gaming (if you see what I mean).

Are you suggesting that the fan spikes just because, and that's how the computer was designed to work? In other words, there's no fix for my problem?

 

[Dustybin]

No, I was suggesting you notice it when using apps because the small spikes in noise are glaring while the fan running faster all the time just becomes background noise you tune out.

The CPU has a temp sensor that tells the motherboard controls the CPU fan (essentially) and for some reason the motherboard is telling your fan to go faster to cool the CPU. Normally that is because 1. The CPU is hot 2. The sensor is misreading the temp or is in some way not working 3. Some weird electrical thing (I will ignore that one for now).

If it is 1 the best thing to do is to try and make your CPU cooler i.e. undo your overclocking, make sure your CPU cooler is seated correctly and is making good contact with the CPU (not too much thermal paste). If you're using fan control software then get rid of it or disable it, improve cable management.

If it was a option 2, probably your first point of call would be to see if there were any Bios updates for the motherboard that seem relevant to the problem. I don't normally advise updating your BIOS unless you have good reason to think it will solve your specific problem.

Lastly and I should mention this for completeness, are you sure the increased noise is coming from your CPU and not your GPU fan? Many modern cards have semi passive fans. You'll only hear them when they're needed. If your GPU is borderline it might be spinning up ready to go at times.

 

[ThatGuyTre]

No, I was suggesting you notice it when using apps because the small spikes in noise are glaring while the fan running faster all the time just becomes background noise you tune out.

The CPU has a temp sensor that tells the motherboard controls the CPU fan (essentially) and for some reason the motherboard is telling your fan to go faster to cool the CPU. Normally that is because 1. The CPU is hot 2. The sensor is misreading the temp or is in some way not working 3. Some weird electrical thing (I will ignore that one for now).

If it is 1 the best thing to do is to try and make your CPU cooler i.e. undo your overclocking, make sure your CPU cooler is seated correctly and is making good contact with the CPU (not too much thermal paste). If you're using fan control software then get rid of it or disable it, improve cable management.

If it was a option 2, probably your first point of call would be to see if there were any Bios updates for the motherboard that seem relevant to the problem. I don't normally advise updating your BIOS unless you have good reason to think it will solve your specific problem.

Lastly and I should mention this for completeness, are you sure the increased noise is coming from your CPU and not your GPU fan? Many modern cards have semi passive fans. You'll only hear them when they're needed. If your GPU is borderline it might be spinning up ready to go at times.

Yes, I am completely sure my CPU fan is the issue, and I will try to fix it by reapplying thermal paste. I think this may be the issue as I think I went heavy on the thermal paste, using at least a quarter of the tube as this was my first computer and I didn't want my at the time $350+ cpu to die of heat. As soon as I can find the paste I used, I will reapply it and report back to you.
Also, the CPU is definitely not overheating, it is at the same temperature as my room. Actually, now that I think of it, the fan increase speed could be a percentage, and since a 1-degree increase in degrees is technically a 4% increase total. This might be telling the fan to work overtime to stop such a sudden increase in temperature percentage wise.