[SOLVED] Fan speeds - What is a safe RPM?

[ShangWang]

My laptop fans went up to 5000 RPM at some point from playing a game that didn't generate much heat in the past, likely have some thermal paste issues and have to redo the job.

In general what is the highest safe constant RPM a fan speed can have?
Can any kind of outdated driver cause heat issues when playing games or running a lot of programs?

 

[Phaaze88]

100%, literally. That's what they're designed around. That you have the freedom to run them lower as you choose is the icing on the cake.
It's a little easier on the motor to operate at a constant speed, Vs frequently revving up and down.

 

[ShangWang]

100%, literally. That's what they're designed around. That you have the freedom to run them lower as you choose is the icing on the cake.
It's a little easier on the motor to operate at a constant speed, Vs frequently revving up and down.

I see, I just think that since higher fan speeds are likely not to stay high constantly and likely would cause more wear than a lower speed, it's probably better to go at a lower frequency.

Also just wondering do you think outdated drivers could cause CPU heat? I don't know if any of mine are outdated but I did a clean install of windows a few months ago so I shouldn't have any issues.

 

[Phaaze88]

Yes, it's totally a possibility.
For example, higher low load gpu power consumption when running more than one monitor off a gpu. Driver updates have improved it, but it's still kinda lackluster.

 

[ShangWang]

Yes, it's totally a possibility.
For example, higher low load gpu power consumption when running more than one monitor off a gpu. Driver updates have improved it, but it's still kinda lackluster.

All I'm running is a laptop, I updated my drivers within the year. I don't think there could be any significant issues for my case?

I used driver booster 9 just to see what possibly needed to be updated and the only thing I can suspect is intel R management engine interface 1, which I don't think has anything to do with CPU game performance.

 

[Phaaze88]

All I'm running is a laptop, I updated my drivers within the year. I don't think there could be any significant issues for my case?

No, probably not, but dust is a bigger threat to laptops due to their smaller packages and areas to intake/exhaust air.

I used driver booster 9

Never use those applications. They can do more harm than good, such as installing outdated/incompatible drivers. Install your laptop's drivers from the manufacturer's website.
Just last month, my brother was experiencing system crashes - it was on desktop, but still - from one of these things.
I had him uninstall that app, and manually reinstall his gpu, chipset, lan, audio, wifi/BT drivers all over again. It resolved his problems.
Apparently, that app told him he had 19 - NINETEEN drivers that needed updating. Ridiculous. At most, there's a select few that should be updated every so often.

 

[USAFRet]

I used driver booster 9

NooooOO!

Never, ever.

 

[ShangWang]

No, probably not, but dust is a bigger threat to laptops due to their smaller packages and areas to intake/exhaust air.


Never use those applications. They can do more harm than good, such as installing outdated/incompatible drivers. Install your laptop's drivers from the manufacturer's website.
Just last month, my brother was experiencing system crashes - it was on desktop, but still - from one of these things.
I had him uninstall that app, and manually reinstall his gpu, chipset, lan, audio, wifi/BT drivers all over again. It resolved his problems.
Apparently, that app told him he had 19 - NINETEEN drivers that needed updating. Ridiculous. At most, there's a select few that should be updated every so often.

Yep, I don't plan to update with the app itself, I just wanted to check what could potentially be outdated.

In any case it's probably poor pasting or the quality of the paste, I haven't removed the heatsink yet so I don't know.

Without using driver booster, how would you know which drivers need updating? I don't know how without driver booster.

 

[ShangWang]

NooooOO!

Never, ever.

Sorry, old habit of using software to easily solve my problems. Wasn't planning on really using it to update, just wanted to scan.

 

[USAFRet]

Sorry, old habit of using software to easily solve my problems. Wasn't planning on really using it to update, just wanted to scan.

There is absolutely NO reason to have that stuff installed, even to just 'scan'.

 

[USAFRet]

And for your fan longevity...
Of the hundreds of fans I've had in personal systems, cumulative millions of hours of running time, going back over 3 decades....I've had maybe 3 or 4 fans die.

 

[Phaaze88]

how would you know which drivers need updating?

Laptop users have it a little easier. The manufacturer usually has all the necessary drivers(gpu, chipset, lan, cpu iGPU, audio) lined up on a single page for you.

 

[USAFRet]

Without using driver booster, how would you know which drivers need updating? I don't know how without driver booster.

Drivers don't need 'updating' all the time.

If and only if a problem arises, then you go to the manufacturer website.

 

[ShangWang]

Drivers don't need 'updating' all the time.

If and only if a problem arises, then you go to the manufacturer website.

For what you mean by "manufacturer website" I'm assuming you mean like the laptop support site for mine?

I have all my drivers updated in that case and was just wondering if my heating issues might be because of outdated drives but likely not since everything comes with the laptop:
Product Support | Acer United States

 

[USAFRet]

For what you mean by "manufacturer website" I'm assuming you mean like the laptop support site for mine?

I have all my drivers updated in that case and was just wondering if my heating issues might be because of outdated drives but likely not since everything comes with the laptop:
Product Support | Acer United States

For a laptop, yes...whoever makes it.
In your case, Acer.

 

[ShangWang]

For a laptop, yes...whoever makes it.
In your case, Acer.

Sounds good, so in general for laptop users they never need to update drivers until the support page is updated? Sometimes ACER won't update for older model laptops, so I don't know when a driver might be outdated.

Would it be practical to look up the latest driver for example an Intel one and update it even though the support website doesn't show any need to?

 

[USAFRet]

Sounds good, so in general for laptop users they never need to update drivers until the support page is updated? Sometimes ACER won't update for older model laptops, so I don't know when a driver might be outdated.

Would it be practical to look up the latest driver for example an Intel one and update it even though the support website doesn't show any need to?

You don't need to update the driver until there is an actual problem, and a new driver addresses that problem.

You don't always need 'the new one'.

 

[ShangWang]

You don't need to update the driver until there is an actual problem, and a new driver addresses that problem.

You don't always need 'the new one'.

I see, I probably don't need to update but I guess I would be hard to sometimes find which driver needs updating depending on what issues I'm getting. As for drivers that could affect CPU or GPU heat, do you know any common drivers that could cause these issues?

 

[ShangWang]

Yes, it's totally a possibility.
For example, higher low load gpu power consumption when running more than one monitor off a gpu. Driver updates have improved it, but it's still kinda lackluster.

I don't have two monitors but I'm curious about what you meant, I don't think I read this correctly.
You mean a GPU that normally takes a low load can't handle a high load due to outdated driver and that causes heating issues?

 

[USAFRet]

As for drivers that could affect CPU or GPU heat, do you know any common drivers that could cause these issues?

Highly unlikely that is a 'driver' issue.

 

[ShangWang]

Highly unlikely that is a 'driver' issue.

Yeah, just wondering though which ones would they likely be if there was an issue?

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah, just wondering though which ones would they likely be if there was an issue?

None.

 

[conofroc75]

So all you really said is that your fans ramped to a high level in a game which isn't a crazy thing to have happen. you didn't mention if the temps actually got high or if there were any problems with thermals at all? I wouldn't worry a lot about drivers or if your fans are running at 100% if your temps arent a problem. Depending on what controls the fans it could be based on load so it might've just gotten spiked at a demanding section of the game. Unless its running the fans at 100% all the time with no load i wouldn't worry too much about it and its more likely that you'll have an issue with dust before anything else going sideways. Also if your temps have been reasonable i wouldn't worry about repasting either opening things up in laptops can be tricky sometimes. When it comes to driver updates i wouldn't download some 3rd party program like that if anything you can go into device manager and go into properties and find driver details and there is a button in windows to check for updates. Also as a laptop you'll probably have some sort of manufacturer program to manage things and that can probably update drivers as well but its always best to go to the website and find the page for your model.
Still unless your having temp issues fans ramping isn't a thing to worry about and drivers arent super high on the list for things to cause your system to run hot. Reducing overall usage with extraneous programs in the background would be more beneficial than a driver update in the majority of cases

 

[ShangWang]

So all you really said is that your fans ramped to a high level in a game which isn't a crazy thing to have happen. you didn't mention if the temps actually got high or if there were any problems with thermals at all? I wouldn't worry a lot about drivers or if your fans are running at 100% if your temps arent a problem. Depending on what controls the fans it could be based on load so it might've just gotten spiked at a demanding section of the game. Unless its running the fans at 100% all the time with no load i wouldn't worry too much about it and its more likely that you'll have an issue with dust before anything else going sideways. Also if your temps have been reasonable i wouldn't worry about repasting either opening things up in laptops can be tricky sometimes. When it comes to driver updates i wouldn't download some 3rd party program like that if anything you can go into device manager and go into properties and find driver details and there is a button in windows to check for updates. Also as a laptop you'll probably have some sort of manufacturer program to manage things and that can probably update drivers as well but its always best to go to the website and find the page for your model.
Still unless your having temp issues fans ramping isn't a thing to worry about and drivers arent super high on the list for things to cause your system to run hot. Reducing overall usage with extraneous programs in the background would be more beneficial than a driver update in the majority of cases

Thank you, and no. My temperatures were not significantly higher and remained about the same. The issue was at that specific temperature my fan speeds were much lower in the past, so the temperature was definitely an issue because it required a much higher fan frequency to cool it down. It was not a specific part of the game, I just started it up.

I likely just have bad paste and it started to show issues in 9 months.

 

[MR_BROCK]

NooooOO!

Never, ever.

Used it once in an old win7 machine it fubard my os took 3 hours to update my drivers and ended up causing issues. Un install it. And probably remove and reinstall the major drivers.