GA-EP45-UD3P PWM Fan Control

[Ken429]

I wanted to try and quiet down my GA-EP45-UD3P/Q9550/H50 system by install two Cougar PWM fans in a push/pull configuration. The fans run from 800 to 1500 rpm. I have used these fans on a GA-Z77X-UD5P/3570K/H60 system and was amazed at how quiet they were even when the cpu was running at 100%. That does not seem to be the case with the older Gigabyte MB. The fans run at 1235 rpm and go up from there as the cpu load increases. Am I doing something wrong or is the MB putting out too much voltage for these reasonably efficient fans to run at the minimum speed? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I found a couple of Noctua voltage reducers for their PWM fans that I did not need on a very old ASUS (P5B Deluxe) board and connected them to this system. That reduced the fans rpm to ~900 @ idle. Not good but at lease relatively quiet.

[wazza300]

does adjusting the cpu fan slider in easytune slow them down?

[Ken429]

Yes, but... I have to lower the percentage to 20% to get the fans to run at ~840 rpm - without the Noctua low noise adapters. That's ok except now I have to load ET6 when I reboot to get the #$%^ things to slow down again. I don't think I had this issue with the original Corsair fan. I guess I should not mix old hardware with new stuff?? Still looking for a solution - I don't want to load ET6 every time I reboot. Are these fans too efficient for the Fan settings in the BIOS?

[profJim]

I prefer to use a manual fan controller, but ...

1. Some controllers have a limited range of adjustment.
2. Some fans don't under-volt well and some higher quality fan's will start with as little as 5-6 volts.

It's safe to use a Y-cable to connect the push/pull fans together when attached to a fan controller as long as the combined amperage of the fans doesn't exceed the capacity of each of the controller's channels. You might need to modify the 3-wire splitter cable to connect with each 4-pin PWM fan cable. You can also buy a 4-pin PWM fan splitter cable.

I avoid having ET6 running except when I want to check some of the proprietary bios settings.

[Ken429]

profJim,

I don't like ET6 running all the time either but it does do the job of overriding the lousy fan control on the GA-EP45-UD3P MB. Like I said above, I used a set of these fans on a GA-Z77Z-UD5H MB/H60 and everything worked as expected. I tried to buy a PWM fan controller awhile back but it seems they have stopped producing them since all I see is "out of stock". I have a Zalman ZM-MFC1 3-wire fan controller that I retired a few years ago which I can install to quiet this machine down as a last resort. I'm not trying to set any overclocking records with this machine so I am going to try connecting one of the Noctua NF-F12 PWM fans (with and/or without the low noise adapter) and see what it sound like. I thought I liked Cougar PWM fans since they cost less than half the cost of the Noctua fans but we'll see if you get what you pay for when the unofficial noise test results are in!

[profJim]

One Noctua fan versus two Cougar fans?
Another option: use the Voltage option in CPU Smart Fan Mode in the PC Health section of the bios.
I tested this setting in my P35 and it worked with an Xigmatek 2000 rpm PWM fan.

[Ken429]

Nobody said I wanted to make it a fair fight. I have a pair of the Noctua fans in a push/pull setup using a H60 cooler on an old ASUS P5B Deluxe/E5800 system that I use for a music server. It has absolutely no need for a water cooler let alone two fans but the OLD ASUS board controls the PWM fans correctly! So... I was going to burrow one for this machine.

I tried your suggestion and set the BIOS tos Voltage instead of PWM. That change made the fans drop down to ~1025 RPM versus the ~1250 RPM when it was set as PWM. Using ET6 I have to set the percentage to at 40 to get the fans to run at ~825 RPM. When the BIOS was set to PWM I had to set the percentage to 20 to get to the fans to run at ~825 RPM. I must admit that the Cougar fans are very quiet at 1025 RPM but the @#$% MB wants to speed them up as soon as the cpu comes under any load - like when the cpu temp increases by a couple of degrees C. That is the same "problem" I had with the original Corsair fan. Minor problem I know but it is a rain day in Valparaiso, IN.

Got any other suggestions?

[profJim]

Try using SpeedFan instead of ET6 to manually set fan speeds.

[Ken429]

I've got Speedfan 4.46 installed on every system I own and use it to check fan speeds, voltages and charting but I have not taken the time or had the need to figure out how to use it to control a fan. Is there a real simple step by step tutorial out there on how control a cpu fan? I have all the help files etc., but seem to miss the point on how to make it work.

[profJim]

You can teach me once you've figured it out.
I tried using SpeedFan's speed control function several years ago and apparently it's too simple for me to figure out.