Why does fan control software suck so bad?

[TechWea]

Seriously, why!? Fan control is something that is essential to everyone who builds a computer. I would think that as the market demand has gone up for building your own PC, someone would've taken it upon themselves to make a great fan control software. The only one that seems tolerable is SpeedFan, and even that is insanely outdated. Most motherboard manufacturers have options in the BIOS, but they often leave out GPU temp which makes it useless.

 

This is something that I just struggle to understand. Why is it so hard to make a piece of fan software that:

• is lightweight
• intuitive to use
• clean GUI
• fast and hidden startup
• flexible speed configurations

On paper it doesn't seem like it should be rocket science, yet even manufacturers fail at it. A fan control server that you can access from your browser seems like a no-brainer.

[RejZoR]

Because it's made by Asian companies and they are notoriously crappy when it comes to software design. Do you remember how bad ASUS or Gigabyte software was around 2000-ish? Massive software made of BMP images, jagged edges, big buttons and ugly graphics? They've improved a bit, but still...

 

It must be something with software design mentality that is different there. They want all to be flashy with animations and all. Where west mostly focuses on function and reliability. SpeedFan is an example of function over form. It looks like it escaped from late 1990's, but it's a powerful tool for advanced users. Problem I think is that developer of SpeedFan is a single dude and he's so occupied adding support for controllers that he can't even consider updating the whole design.

[Pixel5]

the reason why it doesnt exist is because there is no market for it and no money to be made.

 

All PC´s handle fan speeds on their own and 99% of all users will never touch anything so there is really no reason to invest any time to make a piece of software that looks nice just so that you can set your fan curves once and forget about them the next day.

[TechWea]

11 minutes ago, Pixel5 said:

the reason why it doesnt exist is because there is no market for it and no money to be made.

 

All PC´s handle fan speeds on their own and 99% of all users will never touch anything so there is really no reason to invest any time to make a piece of software that looks nice just so that you can set your fan curves once and forget about them the next day.

Sure, but I would still imagine there are people who would be willing to contribute to an open source project. It isn't just about looking nice, it's about functionality as well. Backing up your fan curves, smart learning, remote access, and seamless startup would all be welcome additions, for example.

 

I'm using SpeedFan at the moment and it takes a long time to initialize on startup. There isn't an option to "start minimized" either. It's 2018 and it's just strange that fan software hasn't progressed at all.

[Pixel5]

27 minutes ago, TechWea said:

Backing up your fan curves, smart learning, remote access, and seamless startup would all be welcome additions, for example.

the thing is thermal control in modern computers is working so well that its simply not needed, the only thing on that list that would make sense is backup up custom fan curves but than again the number of people creating custom fan curves is minimal.

 

there is no reason and no benefit for any kind of smart learning, fan control is as simple as "if temp higher than X set fan speed to Y" and for remote access its the same thing, if you are not home your computer should either be turned off or if its running the fan speed doesnt matter anyways.

 

All of this would be nice bling bling features with absolutely no value beside the first 5 minutes of playing around until it becomes not important anymore.

[Guest]

For now my bios suffices... under or equal to 40 degrees it will spin on max 40% of the max rpm ( i'm still lobbying for another method because at normal internet/videowatching use it never even reaches 30 ( start temp usually 25 ) 
This speed gradually increases to it reaches 100 % of the rmp at 60 degrees. 

I can understand that someone with different needs could find it a bit troublesome to change rpm values manually 

Maybe power management from windows offers another solution? I thought you can set your cooling settings in 3 ways from there 

[Turtle Rig]

9 hours ago, Pixel5 said:

the reason why it doesnt exist is because there is no market for it and no money to be made.

 

All PC´s handle fan speeds on their own and 99% of all users will never touch anything so there is really no reason to invest any time to make a piece of software that looks nice just so that you can set your fan curves once and forget about them the next day.

Well said my friend...

[_Hustler_One_]

I think no problem to set the fans from BIOS.

MSI Command Center is basically the software I use to control all the OC setting and fan speed and more from windows without entering BIOS and it's solid, and MSI Afterburner is for the GPU. I'm sorry, I use these because my motherboard is MSI and I installed all the utilities, including Comand Center and Afterburner.

[LogicalDrm]

MSI Afterburner for all the fans, basically. But there's catch to this. It would need to be either paid or standard. The main issue with Speedfan is that there are too many controller chips for fans, and rgb isn't making it easier. There's paid software, Argus Monitor, and for the rest you pay with mobo. Or buy external controller from Corsair or NZXT. I think there's one more, but I can never remember it. Its from one of those more enthusiast WC manufacturers.

 

I haven't used Argus, and don't know how much points it would hit on your scale. Link and CAM are kinda good for UI, with CAM having issues on performance and accuracy on times.

[RAS_3885]

On 12/7/2018 at 6:54 AM, TechWea said:

...

I'm using SpeedFan at the moment and it takes a long time to initialize on startup. There isn't an option to "start minimized" either. It's 2018 and it's just strange that fan software hasn't progressed at all.

I have SpeedFan configured to auto-launch via Task Scheduler at the log on of any user.  it's up and running within around 20 seconds of the computer hitting the desktop.  Also...

 

 

But, I agree an updated software-based fan controller would be nice.