Phanteks wont go lower than 900rpm..

[Copyright]

I have a pair of Phantek 140mm fans on a phantek cooler. The Asus software will not take the fan's below 900 rpm. I know at one time I had them much lower than that but for some reason I can't get them lower. These fans use a weird PWM adapter also. I am changing cases and was told my mobo doesn't have true PWM fan control on the other channels but basically has a fake 4 pin pwm for all the extra fan headers. I was curious if I should put my Noctua Redux fans on the CPU fan header for true PWM control since they are PWM fans and then run the CPU fans off the other fan headers as a 3 pin and remove the weird 3 to 4 pin PWM adapter the phanteks came with? When I game I don't mind fans throttling up to keep things cool.. I got head phones on at that point. But when I am in the office doing work I want it as quiet as I can get it. Thx for any advice!

[Abula]

Some questions,

1) Are you using ASUS AI Suite III / FanXpert2?
2) Have you ran the tuning in FanXpert2? its a test where the software establishes the min/max rpms/voltages of the fans
3) What model is your Phantek fan?
4) On what motherboard fan header are you running the Phantek fan? CPU_FAN, CHA_FAN?

[Copyright]

Some questions,

1) Are you using ASUS AI Suite III / FanXpert2?
2) Have you ran the tuning in FanXpert2? its a test where the software establishes the min/max rpms/voltages of the fans
3) What model is your Phantek fan?
4) On what motherboard fan header are you running the Phantek fan? CPU_FAN, CHA_FAN?

1) Yes I am
2) Yes I did and for some reason it thinks 900rpm is the minimum it can do
3) Older 3 pin that uses a 4 pin PWM adapter. I read the new ones are true PWM.
4) I have the Phanteks on the CPU PWM header and I am thinking I might get better control on a 3 pin and not using the PWM adapter. I have a 3 pin splitter so I can run both fans off one of the other fan controllers. I have not tested this yet but my idea is to run my new Noctua Redux case fans all off the CPU Fan header for true PWM control. I Have a swiftech Adapter to run multiple fans off the single CPU PWM Fan header. Than just run the PHanteks in 3 pin mode. That way I have control of the case fans and control of the CPU fans separate from each other. If I had true PWM cpu fans I could run all fans off the CPU PWM fan header but then I would not have individual control between case fans and cpu fans.

I think my plan will work ok? My only concern is if the PHanteks will throttle down enough when on the regular (Fake 4 pin) voltage controlled fan headers. I would like to see closer to 600rpm if they can do it. They are just to loud at the ~900 rpm they are spinning.

[Abula]

3) Older 3 pin that uses a 4 pin PWM adapter. I read the new ones are true PWM.
4) I have the Phanteks on the CPU PWM header and I am thinking I might get better control on a 3 pin and not using the PWM adapter.

Try to connect the 3pin directly to the CPU_FAN header (no adapters), enter the bios, go into Monitoring and then to CPU_FAN, search for Q-FAN, switch it from AUTO to ADVANCED, this will change the CPU_FAN header from 4pin pwm to 3pin voltage control, re run the FanXpert2 tunning and see if it goes lower than 900rpm.

I have a 3 pin splitter so I can run both fans off one of the other fan controllers. I have not tested this yet but my idea is to run my new Noctua Redux case fans all off the CPU Fan header for true PWM control.

Well to run on PWM you need the fans to be PWM and the header to be true PWM header, a 3pin Y splitter wont work, if you connect a 3pin splitter into 4pin pwm fans they will simple run at 12V, as in PWM the voltage never varies. Now if you run PWM fans on voltage control it can work, its just simply you are running lower voltage into the motor, some say its not recommended for PWM fans as the motors are not meant to be ran lower than 12V, but then agian you get resistors on the Noctua PWM fans that lower some the voltage, so in reallity only the manufactuers knows if its acceptable to run their PWM fans undervolted, for this alone its much better to chose proper fans for each header and the way you want to control them.

I Have a swiftech Adapter to run multiple fans off the single CPU PWM Fan header. Than just run the PHanteks in 3 pin mode. That way I have control of the case fans and control of the CPU fans separate from each other. If I had true PWM cpu fans I could run all fans off the CPU PWM fan header but then I would not have individual control between case fans and cpu fans.

I think my plan will work ok? My only concern is if the PHanteks will throttle down enough when on the regular (Fake 4 pin) voltage controlled fan headers. I would like to see closer to 600rpm if they can do it. They are just to loud at the ~900 rpm they are spinning.

What i would do in your case, is to get the noctua redux but the 3pin (not the PWM) and connect them into the CHA_FAN headers, your motherboard should have 3 that matches your 3 fans you wanted to buy (2 front and 1 back).

The second solution is to grab the PWM fan splitter (can be the swiftech, although not sure what model you own) and run the PWM fan from it and the splitter connected to the CPU_FAN. Now you have the issue that you own phantek that are 3pin, you either have the option of running them on CHA_FAN headers or get some Noctua PWM for the cpu cooler also.

[lodestar]

The Z87 Pro has a CPU_OPT header which mirrors the settings of the CPU header. Given that you have 3 Redux PWM fans of the same spec it would make sense to run them from both of these headers. This would require a PWM Y cable to run 2 fans from one header, or the existing Swiftech Adapter could be used to run all of them from one header. Using the Silent settings under FanXpert 2 I would expect to see the Redux 1500 PWM idling in the 350 to 450 range if run from the CPU/CPU_OPT headers. The best way to go for the 3 pin Phanteks fans, as you have already mentioned, is to run them from the Z87 Pro chassis fan headers and apply FanXpert2 tuning to them. It would reduce the Phanteks fan speeds to the minimum possible as 3 pin fans.

Another option you could consider is the use of Fan Stop. This is an option for the chassis fans on the Z87 Pro if FanXpert 2 is used. It allows a fan to be held off until a target CPU temperature is reached. So when the system is idling you could use Fan Stop to keep one of the CPU fans off, and only run both of them when say the CPU temperature exceeds say 50C. The potential issue with Fan Stop is yo-yoing where the fan constantly cycles on and off. It is less likely if you pick a temperature like 50C which should be well above idle or low system stress temps and yet significantly below the temperature when the CPU is fully stressed. At idle you would not need 2 CPU cooler fans to keep temperatures within bounds and Fan Stopping one of them would reduce noise levels.

[Copyright]

Thank you for the tips! I prefer to do a manual speed setting instead of silent mode.. I can dial it in exactly how I want that way. I will play around wtih the fan stop option but my system is overclocked so more than likely Ill keep the fans going all the time but just at a low rpm when the system is mostly at idle or lower usage. Thanks again for everyone's help!