Minimum Fan Speeds?

[Dogway]

A continue from this thread, I'm thinking on running fan speeds at their minimum when PC is idling. I wonder if this can be harmful to the fans (like not designed for such low speeds).

 

In SpeedFan I can configure speeds lower than 60%, but RPM fluctuates a lot, sometimes reporting 0RPM when they are still working, I would probably want to set them up to 50 or 40%, and only raise when GPU is getting hot. I own an Asus Gryphon Z87, a NF-P12 and a Bitfenix Spectre 230mm.

 

Another question is about speed graph in Fan Control. There are too many knot points to set when I find that only 4 could be enough. Can this be configured at all, since it's very time consuming whenever I want to change the graph.

[Enderman]

it depends on the fan

if you notice its fluctuating a lot then dont put it so low

PWM fans can typically go down to 20 or 30% while 3 pin voltage control fans usually have a 40 or 50% minimum

[Dogway]

Fans are PWM, but they are connected to 3 pin plugs in the mobo since the Gryphon (and I assume most mainstream boards) rarely have more than one real PWM header, which I decided to reserve to the CPU fan. Here I want to control the 2 other fans for the case.

you say the minimum for 3pin is 40 or 50%, what happens if you set them lower than that?

As a side note, I read this here. "One downside to SpeedFan (and others): the BIOS settings typically have to be "full on", which means that the fans run full tilt each time you reboot until you log in and SpeedFan starts up."

When using SpeedFan, do I have to disable BIOS fan control?

[Samsterstorm]

Fans have a starting voltage which is normally 5-6volts they will not spin any slower than this with out the possibility of them stopping

[Dogway]

How do I know the minimum rotational speed at 5 or 6 volts?

edit: I read this somewhere else: "in analog mode (3pin), it's just the voltage percentage of 12v. So 6v would be 50% speed."
But I don't know if that percentage correlation applies to SpeedFan as well.

[Dogway]

On 60% it spins at 540RPM

if I set the minimum speed to 50% it drops to 300RPM and fluctuates a bit, sometimes reporting 0RPM.

[blackadder]

On 60% it spins at 540RPM

if I set the minimum speed to 50% it drops to 300RPM and fluctuates a bit, sometimes reporting 0RPM.

leave it on 60% if you can then. You feel like you need more crank them up. I have mine 50% till 50c on cpu then they kick up. If you set them to low they can click.

[Dogway]

I see 

They are a bit too noisy, specially deep in the night...  it might be the GPU fan as well, not sure, that one doesn't go below 40%

[blackadder]

I see

They are a bit too noisy, specially deep in the night... it might be the GPU fan as well, not sure, that one doesn't go below 40%

are they stock fans? If you are really unhappy we can recommend some quiet fans. Or a fan controller.

[Dogway]

I listed them on OP.
They are Noctua NF-P12 PWM with LNA cable and a Bitfenix Spectre 230mm.

I would like to get away without fan controllers, since I have no more space in the case.

[blackadder]

I hope is the 230mm, noctua really shouldn't be noisy at 40% and pmw too hmmm maybe you got a bad fan. Also noise damping foam can be had for cheap if you want to look into that.

[Dogway]

Yeah, the problem as I said is that the noctua can only go as low as 60% without losing stability.

The case is dampened with foam, although most of the noise gets out from the aperture of the Noctua exhaust fan, close by is the GPU, so it must be one of those 2. The Spectre 230mm shouldn't do a very high freq noise, so I ruled it out. (edit: and the PSU is fanless)

[blackadder]

Idk 60% just sems high for min of a pmw fan. Only think left is to change them. Every other idea has been shot down. I have my cpu fan off at idle but, we cant do that with a exhaust or intake. I wish you the best of luck.

[Dogway]

it's a PWM fan plugged into a board 3 pin header.

There's only one PWM controller on board and it is assigned to CPU fan, the one I got for the radiator.

[blackadder]

it's a PWM fan plugged into a board 3 pin header.

There's only one PWM controller on board and it is assigned to CPU fan, the one I got for the radiator.

ah change them your rad will be fine on voltage only i think. If all else fails split those suckers. Use pmw for pmw fans, it should be able to go lower.

[Dogway]

Thanks man, splitter, sounds good. Splitter or a proper 3 pin fan I guess, I was told PWM fans don't go well on 4 pin headers (at low voltages)

[blackadder]

Thanks man, splitter, sounds good. Splitter or a proper 3 pin fan I guess, I was told PWM fans don't go well on 4 pin headers (at low voltages)

pmw gives it 12v the whole time. It modulates the width of the wave, google it its cool shit. No problem, a proper 3 pin and low voltage adapter can give really low noise and rpm. Also i would just grab a splitter, you have one of the better fans on the market, hard to go up.

[Dogway]

I will do the cheapest, probably the splitter. I hope with that the fan keeps stable at 40% or even less.

I guess with a 3 pin fan SpeedFan could unlike the 4 pin fan modulate voltage, even without LNA adapter, but I'm not sure on that.

[blackadder]

I will do the cheapest, probably the splitter. I hope with that the fan keeps stable at 40% or even less.

I guess with a 3 pin fan SpeedFan could unlike the 4 pin fan modulate voltage, even without LNA adapter, but I'm not sure on that.

http://www.amazon.com/JBtek%C2%AE-Sleeved-Splitter-Cable-Converter/dp/B00OZ10FI2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426288159&sr=8-1&keywords=4+pin+fan+splitter

they may be cheaper from something like monoprice, i would just get them locally if you can. 

the lower rps the less air they move, after a point they move almost nothing. i think a good 3 pin with voltage adapter can get to 20% but, i'm not sure too never did it. 

[Dogway]

With voltage adapter you mean cable or fan controller?

Today components are so power optimized that I don't think there's much need to spin fans on idle. Only GPU and CPU. I will try with 40% or 30%.

For GPU I guess the only way is to patch firmware, I already did patch it, as the 750 Ti seems to be power throttled (over 38 watts it would throttle), but it's not something I enjoy doing.

[blackadder]

With voltage adapter you mean cable or fan controller?

Today components are so power optimized that I don't think there's much need to spin fans on idle. Only GPU and CPU. I will try with 40% or 30%.

For GPU I guess the only way is to patch firmware, I already did patch it, as the 750 Ti seems to be power throttled (over 38 watts it would throttle), but it's not something I enjoy doing.

depends on temps. i think we are talking about the same thing, something you already tried. fpr gpu if you already have a custom fan curve set and its at its lowest  not much you can do besides mod the bios (don't), mine is a 34%. 

 

http://www.amazon.com/JBtek%C2%AE-Sleeved-Splitter-Cable-Converter/dp/B00OZ10FI2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426288159&sr=8-1&keywords=4+pin+fan+splitter

the may be cheaper from something like monoprice, i would just get them locally if you can. 

[Dogway]

Yes I was already reading about modding the BIOS around here. I already modded the BIOS of the 750 Ti, as I said because the core clock was power throttled, I just checked the kepler bios tweaker (the maxwell II tweaker won't work on 750 Ti) and it doesn't allow to change fan speeds, not sure if because hardware locked, or because the tool is kepler oriented.

The default minimum fan speed is 40%, but at idle this GPU is very cool ~30ºC. 30% could be good.