Help me understand

[paulmohr]

I decided to switch out some fans in my case today and noticed some "odd" things.

 

To start I have a ma597 plus Asus motherboard with an AMD FX4350 processor. I also installed the Fan Expert software that came with the motherboard.

 

In fan expert it shows the max rpm of the cpu fan being something like 2200, fan1 being 858, and fan2 being like 920 rpm. No matter what fans I plug in this is what the software "says" is the maximum fan speed. However depending on the fan I plug in I can actually get between 800 and 1500 rpm on the fan 1 and 2 headers.

 

2 of my fans are actually rated at 5,000 rpm and will hit it if I connect them to a power cable instead of the header pins. They are both 3 pin fans. If I plug one into the cpu fan header it will rev to 5,000 rpm, but will not regulate down at all. It just runs at max rpm. On the fan 1 and 2 headers they will regulate just fine, but they won't go over 1500 rpm. I am assuming the motherboard is either regulating the rpm, or just doesn't put out enough voltage to spin them at full rpm even though it says it is at 100%.

 

Speedfan will not work on my system either. The program will start, then it locks up and won't respond and lags out my whole system causing me to manually shut the system down.

 

I want to run these fans at higher speeds when needed, but I want to regulate them. I don't want them running full out all the time. They are 5,000 rpm 250 cfm fans. They are a "bit" loud at full speed lol.

 

Is my only option an outboard fan controller? And I know nothing about these things. Can they be programmed to run off sensors or do I just control them via a knob manually when I want more air? I am not opposed to a fan controller. I have plenty of room to mount one on the front of my case and some of them look pretty cool. I just don't know anything about them.

 

In all my years dinking with computers I have never ran into this problem. I guess I just always got lucky and the fans worked how I wanted them to.

 

Can someone help me make sense out of this?

[WoodenMarker]

What fans are you using? 

[paulmohr]

Currently I have a 92mm ID Cooling fan on the cpu cooler. It is rated for 600-2200 rpm with a 4 pin PWM connector.

 

And I have a 120mm rosewill fan that came with the case. Then I added two Delta AFB1212GHE-CF00 120mm fans. They are rated for 5200 rpm and 240 cfm. I wanted one on the back and one in the front in a push/pull config. Except I found out after getting them they are thicker than 25mm and won't fit behind the front grill lol. So I put one on the side of the case blowing on my graphics card. While they are rated at 5200 rpm they won't go over 1500 rpm when plugged into the motherboard fan headers.

 

I have another shipment coming tomorrow hopefully. I ordered a nzxt grid+ V.2 fan controller and another Delta fan. An FFB1212EH-F00 that is rated at 4000 rpm and 150 cfm. And this one is 25mm thick so it will fit behind my front grill.

 

I know these fans are all way overkill on rpm and cfm. If I run them at full speed it sounds like a vacuum cleaner lmao. I don't intend on running them that fast though unless the temps really spike. I won't need an alarm to know if it is overheating because I will hear the fans rev up just fine.

 

Not sure what my final fan configuration will be either. I will have to wait until I see all of it laying in front of me. I also plan on making some ducting for the cpu cooler so the one delta fan can push air threw it and right out the front of the case.

 

And yes I realize I will be shoving more air in my computer than a v8 engine needs at 6000 rpm. I mainly got the high rpm fans just as a "what the hell" kind of thing. If I decide I don't like them I can re purpose them for another project. Like cooling fans in my garage or for an amplifier or something.

 

I really thought hard about getting a cool looking LCD touch screen fan controller just because it would look bad ass in my case. But I decided on the less flashy grid+ because I can set up custom fan curves for each fan with the software.

 

I just thought it was odd that the motherboard was limiting my rpm, never seen that before.

[WoodenMarker]

3 hours ago, paulmohr said:

I just thought it was odd that the motherboard was limiting my rpm, never seen that before.

It may depend on which headers the fans are being plugged into and possibly related settings.

You need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

[LukaH]

Have you tried pressing the test button in fanXpert? i know that tests your fans from 0-100% and updates the rpm list

 

and from my own experience stay away from the touch screen fan controllers they look cool but if i had a buy over a couple years back i would go with a knob style fan controller... but the grid is the better option anyway.

[paulmohr]

no I hadn't tried the test function with the new fans installed. I am going to be pissed if that fixes it lol.

[paulmohr]

Well I got my third delta fan and the grid+ controller today. Put everything together and fired it up. "Fired" is the correct word here. I smoked the Grid+ fan controller. I will start a new thread about this lovely experience. I got some re education in basic electrical theory today.