Fan speed control utility?
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Is there such a thing as a software that will control the speed of my case fans? I just added 2 in order to get a better airflow in there, but now the thing is pretty noisy. I'd like to slow them down a little bit. Thanks!
If your motherboard supports it, it should have come with software to do so. Otherwise, some fans come with built-in thermometers and will adjust speed based on internal temperature.
Shog9
I'm not the Jack of Diamonds... I'm not the six of spades. I don't know what you thought; I'm not your astronaut...
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Is there such a thing as a software that will control the speed of my case fans? I just added 2 in order to get a better airflow in there, but now the thing is pretty noisy. I'd like to slow them down a little bit. Thanks!
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Is there such a thing as a software that will control the speed of my case fans? I just added 2 in order to get a better airflow in there, but now the thing is pretty noisy. I'd like to slow them down a little bit. Thanks!
Ordinarily only the speed of the CPU and one other fan on the Motherboard can be speed controlled. The fans you connect directly to the power supply will always run at 12 volts. Unless, of course, you swap the 12 and 5 volt wire. Decent fans work just fine when they get only 5 volt and become nigh inaudible. Some websites suggest using the 12V wire as +, and the 5V wire as ground. This does result in a nice 7V difference, but your power supply might not like to too much. This solution doesn't cost anything, and it's guaranteed to work. When you want to build a silent PC it's important to remember that having a second element making the same amount of noise as the first one only result in a 3Db increase. Whereas the noise made by a fan running at higher voltages increases far more rapidly.
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Ordinarily only the speed of the CPU and one other fan on the Motherboard can be speed controlled. The fans you connect directly to the power supply will always run at 12 volts. Unless, of course, you swap the 12 and 5 volt wire. Decent fans work just fine when they get only 5 volt and become nigh inaudible. Some websites suggest using the 12V wire as +, and the 5V wire as ground. This does result in a nice 7V difference, but your power supply might not like to too much. This solution doesn't cost anything, and it's guaranteed to work. When you want to build a silent PC it's important to remember that having a second element making the same amount of noise as the first one only result in a 3Db increase. Whereas the noise made by a fan running at higher voltages increases far more rapidly.
Diederik van Houten wrote: This does result in a nice 7V difference, but your power supply might not like to too much. As an electronic engineering student, it took me a long time to realise that 0V is a convention. Voltage (potential difference) is always a relative value. If you connect a '5V' supply (i.e. a 5V difference from the wire labelled '0V' or Ground) to the 'ground' wire, and a '12V' supply (a nominal 12V difference from '0V') to the 'power' wire, the fan will indeed see a 7V difference between the two. Fans are just blades connected to an electric motor, and an electric motor is fairly simply just a set of electromagnets placed in close proximity to a set of fixed magnets. The voltage controls the amount of current flowing through the electromagnets, which in turn controls the strength of the magnetic field. Reducing the voltage reduces the current which reduces the strength of the field, causing the motor to spin more slowly. Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder
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Diederik van Houten wrote: This does result in a nice 7V difference, but your power supply might not like to too much. As an electronic engineering student, it took me a long time to realise that 0V is a convention. Voltage (potential difference) is always a relative value. If you connect a '5V' supply (i.e. a 5V difference from the wire labelled '0V' or Ground) to the 'ground' wire, and a '12V' supply (a nominal 12V difference from '0V') to the 'power' wire, the fan will indeed see a 7V difference between the two. Fans are just blades connected to an electric motor, and an electric motor is fairly simply just a set of electromagnets placed in close proximity to a set of fixed magnets. The voltage controls the amount of current flowing through the electromagnets, which in turn controls the strength of the magnetic field. Reducing the voltage reduces the current which reduces the strength of the field, causing the motor to spin more slowly. Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder
Naturally, but the power supply itself suddenly receives 5V on the ground. Because several different components are connected to the same ground (I assume) the power supply has to guarantee that the other components get enough juice even though the ground has 5 volt going through it. I don't know the how, what and why, but it just doesn't seem healthy to me. Then again, the ground of the PSU is connected to the ground of the fuse box (?) therefore it shouldn't really matter. Hmm. I never claimed it was bad for the fan, I claimed it might be bad for the PSU. Now it looks like it's just a minor short-circuit, which probably can't do any harm at all.
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Naturally, but the power supply itself suddenly receives 5V on the ground. Because several different components are connected to the same ground (I assume) the power supply has to guarantee that the other components get enough juice even though the ground has 5 volt going through it. I don't know the how, what and why, but it just doesn't seem healthy to me. Then again, the ground of the PSU is connected to the ground of the fuse box (?) therefore it shouldn't really matter. Hmm. I never claimed it was bad for the fan, I claimed it might be bad for the PSU. Now it looks like it's just a minor short-circuit, which probably can't do any harm at all.
Diederik van Houten wrote: Naturally, but the power supply itself suddenly receives 5V on the ground. Unless the fan shorts its "low volt" input to the case, 5V wouldn't make its way to ground. If it did, then it would be "not working, or blowing things up", rather than "struggling". But I've never seen any exposed metal on a PC fan, so that is very unlikely! If it was a very low impedance fan, the 12V might pull up the 5V a little, but the effect should be negligible. But I speak as someone waving their hands about with a bit of electronics knowledge, not as someone who has done this! Iain.