Hi friends
It's in the title really. My rear case fan is an Antec Tri-Cool, running at Low.
CPU fan is standard 3-pin Orange Nexus Real Silent 120mm, connected to CPU-Fan (4-pin) header, and the front case fan is the same fan type, connected to a 3-pin power_fan header.
I have been trying to use Asus Q-fan, and latterly Speedfan 4.40, to reduce the Nexus RPMs, but no success.
With Q-Fan, both fans remain at around 900-1100 rpm despite temps well below those specified in BIOS.
With Speedfan set up to configure fan speeds automatically, with min 0% and max 100% per fan, and "debug" mode unchecked and PWM modes set to software-controlled, and Asus Q-Fan turned OFF in BIOS, Speedfan pretends it is reducing fan speeds (% values slowly drop to zero) but the RPMs reported remain exactly the same and looking at the fans, they're still going at full speed.
I heard somewhere that Speedfan can control standard 3-pin "non-PWM" Nexus fans without problem, and one poster here in 2005 said he was using Speedfan to control 4 such Nexus fans.
The motherboard itself cannot be the problem - it's been reviewed on this site with Speedfan:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article967-page9.html
Where am I going wrong?
Also, what does the PWMOUT value in Speedfan > Configure do? It was on 48 but i changed it to 3 (made no difference)
How to slow Nexus 120mm fans on Asus M4A785TD-V?
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It took me hours to get my speedfan config to my liking. (i now have it backed up in 3 places cause it's that valuable to me).
You are correct in your hearing that Speedfan has no problem controlling 3-pin, non pwm fans. I have it controlling my chassis fans, it works very well.
I have never ever been able to get speedfan to control my pwr_fan header. It just outputs max voltage at all times for some reason. I have no idea why, but I just worked with it and it's fine with me.
First, try connecting your chassis fan to a CH1_fan header. or whatver is closest. Don't use the pwr_fan header for it. See if speedfan can control it when you change it's header.
About your CPU fan, I've never hooked up a 3-pin fan to a 4-pin PWM header. I wasn't even aware that would work..as an ME, i'd much rather spend my time on stuff like heatsinks and ducting etc.
Let me ask you this..do you want your CPU fan to be adjusted with temperature? Or would you be content with leaving it at one, quiet speed. If you wouldn't mind leaving it at one quiet speed, I would hook your CPU fan up to the PWR_fan header (which is always 100% for some reason on my board), and put a fanmate in series. That will let you dial down the voltage untill the fan is quiet enough for your liking, then you can just leave it like that. The beauty of that system is you don't need to be loaded into windows and speedfan before it kicks down the speed. I like my heatsink fans to be "dumber" than my chassis fans, simply cause simple setups are less likely to fail. Software has issues...hardware is more reliable IMO.
Hope that helps, let me know what you think and ill give you some more help.
You are correct in your hearing that Speedfan has no problem controlling 3-pin, non pwm fans. I have it controlling my chassis fans, it works very well.
I have never ever been able to get speedfan to control my pwr_fan header. It just outputs max voltage at all times for some reason. I have no idea why, but I just worked with it and it's fine with me.
First, try connecting your chassis fan to a CH1_fan header. or whatver is closest. Don't use the pwr_fan header for it. See if speedfan can control it when you change it's header.
About your CPU fan, I've never hooked up a 3-pin fan to a 4-pin PWM header. I wasn't even aware that would work..as an ME, i'd much rather spend my time on stuff like heatsinks and ducting etc.
Let me ask you this..do you want your CPU fan to be adjusted with temperature? Or would you be content with leaving it at one, quiet speed. If you wouldn't mind leaving it at one quiet speed, I would hook your CPU fan up to the PWR_fan header (which is always 100% for some reason on my board), and put a fanmate in series. That will let you dial down the voltage untill the fan is quiet enough for your liking, then you can just leave it like that. The beauty of that system is you don't need to be loaded into windows and speedfan before it kicks down the speed. I like my heatsink fans to be "dumber" than my chassis fans, simply cause simple setups are less likely to fail. Software has issues...hardware is more reliable IMO.
Hope that helps, let me know what you think and ill give you some more help.
Your motherboard has two fan speed controllers. One is on the CPU header, but will work only with 4-pin PWM fans (several are available, including a Nexus), and the other is on the Chassis header (3-pin, compatible with many more fans). The PWR header does not have a controller and always outputs 12V.
So, in your case, the optimal solution is to get a 4-pin PWM fan (they are a bit expensive) and a regular 3-pin fan. This will allow you to control the speeds of two fans in your system.
(Some high-end motherboards allow selection of 3-pin or 4-pin mode (called DC or PWM although both are really PWM) on several headers, but this has become much less common in the last couple of years.)
So, in your case, the optimal solution is to get a 4-pin PWM fan (they are a bit expensive) and a regular 3-pin fan. This will allow you to control the speeds of two fans in your system.
(Some high-end motherboards allow selection of 3-pin or 4-pin mode (called DC or PWM although both are really PWM) on several headers, but this has become much less common in the last couple of years.)
i see. that clears it all up completely. shame it's not common knowledge. (or is it?) Certainly I rarely see mobo specs mentioning this sort of thing.
I could buy the Nexus PWM fan but I've heard poor reports of its noise response. my rear case fan is an Antec Tri-Cool set to Low, and this is now the main source of noise in my case. I'm too stingy to even replace that one, so will see how things go for now.
thanks again.
I could buy the Nexus PWM fan but I've heard poor reports of its noise response. my rear case fan is an Antec Tri-Cool set to Low, and this is now the main source of noise in my case. I'm too stingy to even replace that one, so will see how things go for now.
thanks again.