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SOLVED: Case fan curves and presets

cnhoff
By cnhoff
in Cooling
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Hi,

 

just got back into PC gaming and built myself a nice rig. The motherboard is a MSI X570 Tomahawk Wifi.

 

- My initial issue might be well known. In order for the case fans not changing rpm during Windows idle times, i would need to set the inital curve flat until around 60C (the Ryzen 3700x changes freqs. etc. and although running at 35C most of the time, has sudden short jumps over 50C). So far, so good.

 

- But what about gaming? Running Red Dead Redemption 2, my CPU hovers around 20%load/ 50C, but my GPU starts to generate a lot of heat at 100% load, so i would actually like my case fans to increase rpm already far below 50C.

 

- In order to "buffer" the jumps under Windows, i have looked at the BIOS hysteresis options, but the MSI board only allows to set Up/Down times up to 1s which does not help to buffer sudden jumps in temperature (deadtimes of xx s would be needed).

 

- so i thought about preset fan profiles: downloaded MSI Dragon Center (with a bad gut feeling) and you can actually change the profile in Windows, but the software sucks, no option to e.g. save a silent and a gaming profile for my needs

 

So forum experts, any thoughts on my issue? Is there a tool, that allows for easy (one-click?!) fan curve changes, maybe even triggered by starting specific programs like games? Maybe use a dedicated case temp sensor and decouple the case fans from the jumping cpu temps? Any other thoughts?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Chris

 

EDIT: found out, that the BIOS actually allows to use different temp sensors (see attached picture), but am not 100% sure, whether e.g. system would be a good measure of "slow-changing" case temperatures. Can anyone help me out?

 

 

20200804_020230.jpg

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Not even close to an expert but no one else has said anything so I’ll poke my nose in. If I’m wrong and we’re lucky it will get chopped off by someone with better knowledge.

 

Short version: not that I know of

As far as I know case fans are controlled by a temperature sensor.  You seem to want your case fans controlled by a temperature sensor on the gpu not the cpu but only sometimes.  Afaik gpu fans and motherboard fans are totally separate.  There might maybe be some sort of system built into the gpu software (so AMD or Nvidia would matter) but I don’t know what it would be. AMD has stuff like that but afaik it only controls the GPU fans. (It would be nice to be wrong about that one) If your cpu is heatiing past 50c idling though you have a case airflow or cpu heat problem independent of the gpu thing though. 60c cpu idle is hot.  You COULD change the sensor your case fans pay attention to from one on your cpu to one on your motherboard (it has them too). This wouldn’t solve any cpu heat problems you may have though and could make them worse.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Thanks for your reply Bombastinator,

 

i think my cpu temps are fine, hovering around 33-35 C on average with 57C after some minutes of Prime95 on all cores.

 

What I am seeing is the cpu temps being very reactive to slight load changes it seems which results in the cpu temp jumping above 50 and going back down to low 30s in a couple of seconds.

 

I guess, that would be normal behavior, but please correct me if I am wrong.

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23 minutes ago, cnhoff said:

Thanks for your reply Bombastinator,

 

i think my cpu temps are fine, hovering around 33-35 C on average with 57C after some minutes of Prime95 on all cores.

 

What I am seeing is the cpu temps being very reactive to slight load changes it seems which results in the cpu temp jumping above 50 and going back down to low 30s in a couple of seconds.

 

I guess, that would be normal behavior, but please correct me if I am wrong.

So your cpu is running 35°c idle not nearer 60°c. That changes things a bit.  Running a motherboard sensor for case fans is safer then.  Might see some uplift in cpu temp.  Hopefully not much but one never knows. You’ve got some room at least. Might need to test.  Part of the problem is systems were designed back when CPUs created more heat than GPUs. These days a GPU can produce as much as 3 times what a CPU does though.  I’d like to see a way to control case fans according to GPU heat.  I don’t know of one but it may have happened. If it did it will be in the GPU software so AMD or Nvidia depending on your card. 

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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There are a couple different ways you can do this. But there are some other factors too.

What cpu cooler do you have? 

What case do you have?

What type of fans do you have?

How many fans do you have?

What GPU do you have?

 

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Narrdarr,

 

3700X Noctua NH-U14S

2 120mm case fans in a NZXT H510 (both back exhaust, as that is according to YouTube and my own tests the best configuration, front fans do basically nothing to temps)

Gigabyte 2070 Super
 

The underlying problem is imho, that I am using the cpu temp as the reference, when I should actually use the case air temperature.
 

Given the lack of ressonance I assume this is not an issue for most of you...how have you in  general configured your case fans then?
 

Thanks

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1 hour ago, cnhoff said:

Narrdarr,

 

3700X Noctua NH-U14S

2 120mm case fans in a NZXT H510 (both back exhaust, as that is according to YouTube and my own tests the best configuration, front fans do basically nothing to temps)

Gigabyte 2070 Super
 

The underlying problem is imho, that I am using the cpu temp as the reference, when I should actually use the case air temperature.
 

Given the lack of ressonance I assume this is not an issue for most of you...how have you in  general configured your case fans then?
 

Thanks

I’ve got an old 4770k so it’s a different thing.  I don’t even remember which sensor it’s reading off of.  CPU probably.  You may be able to get what you asked for.  AMD cards are least can vary GPU  fan behavior by app.  I just don’t know if it can do it with case fans as well and I don’t know what the Nvidia app can do at all.  You’ll be using the Nvidia app so there may be something there.  I don’t know.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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1 hour ago, cnhoff said:

Narrdarr,

 

3700X Noctua NH-U14S

2 120mm case fans in a NZXT H510 (both back exhaust, as that is according to YouTube and my own tests the best configuration, front fans do basically nothing to temps)

Gigabyte 2070 Super
 

The underlying problem is imho, that I am using the cpu temp as the reference, when I should actually use the case air temperature.
 

Given the lack of ressonance I assume this is not an issue for most of you...how have you in  general configured your case fans then?
 

Thanks

the underlining issue is the case, but i m guess you probably don't want to change that. anyways, even tho you not using any corsair products you can use the commander pro to control your fans the way you want to(from gpu temps). it is a bit pricey @ 75$ US( it took me some time i got mine for 40$ on ebay new but good luck with that it was a lucky find), but there are lot of configs you can do and if you ever decide to go RGB you'll have a controller for that too as long you use corsair RGB environment.

 

 

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Try using FanControl, in this sub forum. I love it. It allows you to control any fan on any temp sensor. Tons of options for fan control.

 

I have my side intake running on GPU die temp, my bottom and rear fans are set to a mix of CPU and GPU (goes to the higher speed based on which temp is higher), and my top and CPU tower fans are just on CPU temp.

 

You can adjust hysteresis, min/max speeds, linear curves, mixes, fixed speeds, synchs (offsets) and all kinds of stuff.

 

If you want to stick with motherboard control, I find it's best to just set your case fans to the highest speed you are ok with noise wise and leave it alone. Or if you have a temp sensor option for the motherboard, you can mount it on or near the GPU and play with that for control.

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4 minutes ago, Demonic Donut said:

Try using FanControl, in this sub forum. I love it. It allows you to control any fan on any temp sensor. Tons of options for fan control.

 

I have my side intake running on GPU die temp, my bottom and rear fans are set to a mix of CPU and GPU (goes to the higher speed based on which temp is higher), and my top and CPU tower fans are just on CPU temp.

 

You can adjust hysteresis, min/max speeds, linear curves, mixes, fixed speeds, synchs (offsets) and all kinds of stuff.

 

If you want to stick with motherboard control, I find it's best to just set your case fans to the highest speed you are ok with noise wise and leave it alone. Or if you have a temp sensor option for the motherboard, you can mount it on or near the GPU and play with that for control.

Third party app I take it?

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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  • 1 month later...
Posted
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Hi guys,

 

thanks for all the help. Just wanted to share the final solution for me, as a lot of those threads keep open without the actual clue in my experience.

 

After letting that topic rest for a while, i have finally stumbled upon the piece of SW that solves all my issues...AWESOME!

 

I have tried "Argus Monitor" and it let's me configure my whole system in a very detailled way, key features are being able to couple fan speeds to the 10s average of CPU temps and to the GPU temp-sensor:

 

- CPU fan speed curve is coupled to the cpu temp-sensor (10s average): Fan silent at a constant 500rpm up to 50C then increasing; keeps system whisper silent andcpu temps low, unless there is actually load on the cpu; fan does not react to fast transients in cpu load anymore

- case fans coupled to GPU-temp: once my GPU reaches 50C (only when running games) case fans speed up; constant low rpm for whisper silent operation in Windows, higher airflow, once i play games

- graphics card fans coupled to GPU temp-sensor obviously, configured for whisper silent Windows operation but high rpms for below 65C at full load

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