How to make CPU fan slower on ASRock H61M/U3S3 H61?

[wolfv]

I have a ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX.
I want to make the CPU fan speed slower to make the PC quieter.

The UEFI CPU Fan Setting is: Automatic
Target CPU temp: 50 C
Target fan speed: Level 1 (the slowest)

The slowest the CPU fan turns is 1950 RPM, when the CPU is 45 degrees C or colder.

The fan is a Rosewill RCX-Z90-CP:
RPM 600 ~ 3000 ±10%
4 Pin (PWM) power connector
92mm PWM Fan

Is there a way to get the fan speed down to 600 or 700 RPM to make it more quite?
The speed control does work, the fan runs faster and noisier when I run intense graphics and in the summer when my room is warm.

Thank you.

[parsec]

Two possibilities I see. First, do you have the AXTU utility installed, and on Auto Run? If so, the fan speed control settings in AXTU will override the UEFI settings. If it is installed, bring it up and check the CPU fan speed settings, if they don't match the UEFI settings, change them and apply.

Otherwise, the Rosewill fan may be very efficient, meaning it starts up and runs fast on a very low voltage. The lowest setting may not be low enough for the fan's sensitivity. I've used boards whose CPU fan control software has a calibrate feature, that tests/checks the fans speed at various voltages, and adjusts it accordingly. The ASR fan speed control seems a little simple IMO, and the lowest setting does not match the characteristics of your fan.

[wolfv]

Thanks parsec.

I installed ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) as you suggested.
Unfortunately the lowest CPU fan RPM with AXTU was 1950 RPM, so AXTU did not lower the fan speed.

Then I uninstalled AXTU and installed SpeedFan. That didn't work too well either.
SpeedFan in Manual mode got the CPU fan RPM down to 680 RPM, which is much quieter.
But SpeedFan's automatic fan speed control idled at 1950 RPM.
The fan should have automatic speed control for when CPU gets hotter.

I give up. I will have to live with a noisy motherboard until I get a new PC.

[kick]

Unfortunately 92mm fans just spin faster to move the same volume of air compared to 120mm
You can get inline resistors,or actual variable rheostats in a manually adjustable form.
These can be used in conjunction with the asrock pwm speed control.
Both the cpu coolers in my sig below have one or other of those.They were supplied tho I wasnt actually looking for them.I dont use the inline one that came with my asrock pc cooler cos it prevents it spinning fast enough for me

Aside from getting a new pc you could either buy a resistor/rheostat or a new cooler or an efficient low rpm (silent) 92mm fan or a 92 mm fan supplied with one of the above devices(which will fit your cooler) or if your cooler can hold a 120mm fan?
Other options are manual fan speed controller units(kinda expensive) which you would have to wire up to work in conjunction with the asrock cpu temp monitoring or perhaps even a temp probe(thermocouple) fan,but I dont know if they are available in 4pin form.

[parsec]

That's to bad, the only other thing I can suggest is setting the CPU Target Temp very high, in case that will lower the fan's speed. Frankly, I don't think that setting does much if anything, and my CPU temp never matches the setting at all... which is good IMO.

Another idea is replacing that fan with another, if a standard 92mm fan would fit on the cooler. Sometimes coolers are designed for their own custom fan, and your fan is not the typical square frame style. Unless you can compare the mounting holes with another 92mm fan to check, buying another might be a waste. 92mm PWM fans are not common, and the ones I saw on Newegg cost as much or more than your entire cooler. Plus how do you know if another fan won't work the same way?

You've done all the right things, given your last post. So SpeedFan still runs it at 1950 RPM on Automatic?

Part of the problem is that there are no standards for fans regarding their speed vs input voltage, and fans are very different in their characteristics. Some will start spinning with only 4V or less applied, while others need 6V - 7V+. Then their RPM range is very different too. PWM fans work differently of course, but in general the PWM control adjusts the voltage the fan gets, so the end result is the same.

Given that, fan control software tries to accommodate all fans, which is difficult. The main thing the software must avoid is causing the fan to stop running. Since the fans being used are random, the software's lowest voltage output is kept high so all fans will always start. The tradeoff is, sensitive/efficient fans like yours run faster than necessary. The fan control software provided with an ASUS board I use is running two 120mm PWM fans on the CPU cooler at ~750 RPM when the PC is idle or low load. But as I mentioned earlier, it has a calibration function for the fans, and can run them as low as ~450 RPM. IMO, the ASR fan control software is the only thing that is not to good about my ASR boards.

[wolfv]

Thanks parsec and kick.

A 120mm fan would be quieter, although a good speed controller on a 92mm fan would be even quieter. My CPU fan is idling 3x faster than necessary. Otherwise my ASRock mobo has been great.

Mother board fan-speed controller specs are not published as far as I know. My next PC will be fanless.

[kick]

Unfortunately yeh its a case of the settings vs your fan the temperature setting has nothing really to do with it,you could set it at 65c and it wont make any difference.
The temp setting only controls the point at which the fan goes to full speed..in a gradual fashion.

What you could try(cheaply)..if your fan never does speed up beyond lvl1 is connect your cpu fan up to speed adjustable non cpu temp related headers.(if there are any on the board..and see what results you get..4 pin fan will connect ok toa 3 pin header.
. or even ..shock horror going extra cheap configure the fan power supply for 5volt or 7.volt.. 7 volt will leave your cpu fan running at around 1600 rpm allways. 5 volt .about 1100rpm allways.
the 5 volt is the easiest to do.

This really is .. the very cheapest way....forget about the 4 pin aspect of the fan.
for 5 volt . you would need to invert the connection from a molex connector to get the supply at 5 v to the fan.. there is a chance it wont start at all ,with the inertia aspect,but its allways worked for me.to cut fan speed to less than half max.
Disadvantage is its no use for overclocking.. or if your cpu really needs speed variable cooling.

[wolfv]

ASR fan control software is the only thing that is not to good about my ASR boards.

I agree. It really is just the software. I suppose eventually ASRock will upgrade their fan control software.

if your cpu really needs speed variable cooling.

I have heard the fan spin faster than the usual 1950 idle for short times, but I don't remember what activity caused it. I will monitor the temperatures to see how variable my CPU loads are.

[parsec]

I agree. It really is just the software. I suppose eventually ASRock will upgrade their fan control software.



I have heard the fan spin faster than the usual 1950 idle for short times, but I don't remember what activity caused it. I will monitor the temperatures to see how variable my CPU loads are.

I should say it is really the CPU fan speed control that is not as flexible as I would like it to be. The chassis fan controls are better than some other boards, but some do have temperature variable settings on those fans too.

You CPU fan will increase its speed with CPU temperature, which increases with CPU usage. Run a virus scan or CPU benchmark test and that fan should speed up.