Intel stock cooler starts at full speed on boot

[Euro Budget Gamer]

Hi guys,

 

I am tinkering with a pair of i3s I salvaged from a previous workplace. After moving everything into a new case (the old ones were SFF) with a new PSU, one of them boots up with the CPU fan at full speed. I am fairly sure it was not doing that while in the old case. It can take sometime about a minute after entering Windows to throttle down to normal usage and until then it sounds like a jet plane.

 

When moving things over I did clean the heatsink and CPU and reapplied thermal paste but I don't understand why the full throttle happens. There's nothing in the BIOS that I can see about changing the fan speed and its "brother" does not make the same amount of racket.

 

Any tips on how to tame the shrew would be appreciated. 

[kelvinhall05]

How loud is loud? Some people think that Noctua fans at super low RPM are loud, while some think that an actual jet turbine is silent.

[A Silver]

When I got my i7 it did that but I soon replaced it with a hyper 212 evo. 

[xentropa]

Just hearing those three words "Intel" "Stock" "cooler" in that order makes me want to build a trebuchet loaded to the brim with the aforementioned part, and launch it at their HQ.  

[Euro Budget Gamer]

3 hours ago, kelvinhall05 said:

How loud is loud? Some people think that Noctua fans at super low RPM are loud, while some think that an actual jet turbine is silent.

It's going full speed for about a minute or until it loads into Windows. Then it slows down to a low humm.

 

Today it seems to rev down a bit faster. Could it be because the thermal paste is "settling down"?

[Euro Budget Gamer]

3 hours ago, xentropa said:

Just hearing those three words "Intel" "Stock" "cooler" in that order makes me want to build a trebuchet loaded to the brim with the aforementioned part, and launch it at their HQ.  

I don't think I need an aftermarket cooler for an i3-2120.

[LogicalDrm]

If they are full speed just during boot screens, until maybe OS loading screen, thats normal part of POST prodecure. Mobo is testing that everything is working properly.

[Euro Budget Gamer]

2 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

If they are full speed just during boot screens, until maybe OS loading screen, thats normal part of POST prodecure. Mobo is testing that everything is working properly.

It takes past the loading screen. I did a Windows Reset (where it wipes all user data, like when giving away the machine) and the fan went full speed for all the 20 minutes it took to complete the process.

 

This machine is part of a pair of identical PCs I got from the same place:

 

This is the "noisy" one

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/jvq575j/configuration

 

This is the quiet one (it doesn't go full speed at all during boot)

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/4wq575j/configuration

[LogicalDrm]

8 minutes ago, Euro Budget Gamer said:

It takes past the loading screen. I did a Windows Reset (where it wipes all user data, like when giving away the machine) and the fan went full speed for all the 20 minutes it took to complete the process.

 

This machine is part of a pair of identical PCs I got from the same place:

 

This is the "noisy" one

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/jvq575j/configuration

 

This is the quiet one (it doesn't go full speed at all during boot)

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/4wq575j/configuration

Have you tried to reset BIOS on both? The noisy one might have some extra config done in BIOS. CPU fan follows CPU temps by default, usually default is what you are hearing. If someone has put on some turbo mode, it will be louder. Or silent mode for quieter. Clearing CMOS would reset those.

[Euro Budget Gamer]

22 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Have you tried to reset BIOS on both? The noisy one might have some extra config done in BIOS. CPU fan follows CPU temps by default, usually default is what you are hearing. If someone has put on some turbo mode, it will be louder. Or silent mode for quieter. Clearing CMOS would reset those.

Nothing changed. There is no option related to the fans in BIOS that I can see. It went full speed for about 30s, went down to "normal" then after a few minutes went full speed again. Now as soon as it slows down, it picks up again after just a few seconds.

 

Should I apply the paste again perhaps? I used Arctic MX-2 but perhaps I didn't use enough...

[Euro Budget Gamer]

I downloaded the Aida64 trial. The CPU stays between 33 and 40 degrees Celsius. CPU fan idles at around 1500-1600rpm then out of the blue it jumps to 4500rpm. It seems to trigger when one of the cores reaches 40 degrees. Also the temp seems to fluctuate fairly fast between 33-34 when the fan stops and 40 again where it engages full speed once more.

[LogicalDrm]

12 minutes ago, Euro Budget Gamer said:

Nothing changed. There is no option related to the fans in BIOS that I can see. It went full speed for about 30s, went down to "normal" then after a few minutes went full speed again. Now as soon as it slows down, it picks up again after just a few seconds.

 

Should I apply the paste again perhaps? I used Arctic MX-2 but perhaps I didn't use enough...

Paste isn't issue here. Its either faulty header or faulty fan. You can try to force it follow curve with Speedfan, but I don't know how well Speedfan covers Dell's OEM boards.

[Euro Budget Gamer]

Perhaps I damaged the header when I took it off to clean it? I'll try and find another fan (maybe take it from the other machine) and see if it happens the same.

[Euro Budget Gamer]

I took the cooler from an HP slim machine (the heatsink is actually taller than the one on the Dell) and it has the same behavior.

 

I installed Speedfan and set up the desired temperature at 55 and the warning at 65 (the i3-2120 has a maximum temperature allowed at the processor Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS) of 69 degrees (http://ark.intel.com/products/53426/Intel-Core-i3-2120-Processor-3M-Cache-3_30-GHz) As soon as I trigger any Aida64 tests, the temperature spikes and the fans start blowing full speed.

 

Any further advice?

[Euro Budget Gamer]

I think the only solution for my problem is to find a silent aftermarket cooler or even a passive one. The i3 has a listed TDP of 65W. What would you recommend me that won't break the bank?

[Euro Budget Gamer]

13 hours ago, Euro Budget Gamer said:

I don't think I need an aftermarket cooler for an i3-2120.

Me and my big mouth 

[Euro Budget Gamer]

I ended up ordering this cooler - upHere Premium Quality Quiet CPU Cooler with 4 Direct Contact Heatpipes - and it finally arrived today. It matches nicely the blue fan of the case.

 

Now the high pitching noise of the CPU fan is gone, but the PSU fan still makes a fairly ammount of noise when the system goes full throttle. Not sure I want to invest into a quiet PSU though.