[SOLVED] Side fan way too loud and fast spinning

[Michael Brenton]

Hello everyone. So i just bought the Arctic Bionix F120 white and installed it into my A320M-DGS motherboard, but the fan is TOO loud and is spinning at about 2800RPM(its max RPM should be about 1800). I connected the fan to CHA_FAN 2 into the mobo(because cha_fan 1 is already occupied) and i cant seem to see the cha_fan 2 option in the BIOS. I can only see the cpu and the cha_fan 1 option. I even tried some third party software like SpeedFan but it didnt work either. I dont really want to buy a new fan and im worried that it would eventually give up, because not only it is spinning at 2800rpm+, but it also sounds like a jet engine about to take off. Im pretty sure its bearings will die soon if i dont do something about that.

 

[Kracken2342]

are they pwm or voltage controlled fans?

 

[Michael Brenton]

They are PWM controlled

 

[Michael Brenton]

Actually i think the only way i can fix this is by getting these things: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KG8KCK4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

 

[Kracken2342]

They are PWM controlled

is it plugged into the 3 pin or 4 pin fan header

 

[Michael Brenton]

its plugged into the 3 pin header

 

[Kracken2342]

its plugged into the 3 pin header

it needs to be in the 4 pin header for pwm to work

 

[Michael Brenton]

I dont think my motherboard even has 4pin headers. I dont really know much about motherboards so im just gonna insert the manual link http://asrock.pc.cdn.bitgravity.com/Manual/A320M-DGS.pdf skip to page 12

 

[Kracken2342]

you have to plug your fan into cha_fan_1. go to page 6 on the manual and it is right next to the cmos battery. also your cpu fan should be plugged into cpu_fan_1. which is to the left of your ram

 

[Michael Brenton]

Yep, problem solved. Thank you so much!

 

[Michael Brenton]

By the way i should set the fan to Silent mode in the BIOS for pwm to work right?

 

[Satan-IR]

No, silent mode is a preset fan profile, with a different curve than say the 'normal' or 'turbo' or whatever the other modes are called. Silent modes usually have a more tolerant curve so the fan starts to really rev up at higher temps and tends to remain slow to make less noise at lower temps.

PWM is a method of reducing the average electrical power delivered to a device/component by by chopping it up into 'smaller' parts.

It is used as a method of fan speed control regardless of what mode you set it to if the board that is providing the signal supports PWM and, as said above, your CHA-FAN_1 is a 4-pin header which supports PWM. So CHA-FAN_1 on your board can control a fan's speed using PWM regardless of the mode you set in BIOS.

 

[Michael Brenton]

Thanks for explaining, but what mode do you think is the best one:Silent, Standard or Perfomance?

 

[Satan-IR]

That depends on what load the system goes under and how the temps are. You can set profiles for CPU and case fans through the profiles in BIOS and through utilities motherboard manufacturers have for these purposes.

Also depends on the user's preference as far as noise goes. Some people, including me, prefer silent systems so tend to go for fan/cooling profiles that make less noise.

You can also set custom fan speeds to come into effect once the sensor senses a certain temperature. You can see how the system behaves under different loads and what the temps are like and change fan profiles accordingly.

For starters you can get it to 'Standard', if temps go a bit high you can set to 'Performance', if temps are OK and it's noisy you can opt for 'Silent'.

 

[Michael Brenton]

Alright, thank you so much

 

[Satan-IR]

No problem, glad to help.