Hi,
I bought a Dell Optiplex 9010 SFF with an i7-3770. The cpu fan is really loud and has one speed - fast! It's annoying as I use it as a streaming box and can hear it when watching movies.
Can I alter the fan speed? I've researched but it seems to be locked to one speed. I don't do anything that would really stress the CPU either.
The model number of the fan is J50GH-A00
What's the simplest solution? Any help would be much appreciated.
Check the BIOS, there's an option "Fan Control Override". Description: "When enabled, the system fan runs at full speed. Warning, the system is very loud at full speed".
Maybe that's enabled?
As above, check the bios, if te fan isn't being overridden, then I guess the PC is full of fluff blocking the airflow.
Remove the cover, remove the black plastic thing in front of the cpu heat sink, and don't forget to remove the front cover too.
Blow the crap out of it to get all the dust and hair out of it and try again
I checked Fan Control Override, it wasn't enabled.
There's no fluff in the system.
I've removed, cleaned and remounted the cooler with new thermal paste. I don't think that's the issue.
Still the same.
How do I change the fan speeds manually?
SpeedFan software perhaps. https://www.howtogeek.com/275339/how-to-auto-control-your-pc…
Otherwise you can buy a resistor cable from eBay or Amazon or similar and use it to cap the fan speed. If you have a 3-pin fan connector, you can try Noctua NA-SRC10 3-pin low noise cables or if you have a 4-pin PWM fan you'll need the 4pin version
Unfortunately you can't really adjust the fan speeds on prebuilt PCs. I would assume the temperatures on the CPU are better after you changed the thermal paste?
The temperatures have never been a problem. Just the cpu fan is loud even when doing mild cpu tasks.
I've tried software but to no avail.
Interesting, how do the resistor cables work?
Thanks for all the suggestions!
Literally what it says on the tin, it's a cable that includes a resistor, it reduces the amount of power flowing through the cable so essentially it prevents the fan from receiving 100% of the power causing it to spin slower
Will it cause your computer to overheat and shutdown? Well, technically yes, if you're running your processor full tilt running Prime95 I suppose it might be too much for the heatsink to handle.
If I use the resistor cables will I have to monitor temps?
The noctua one reduces speed by 30%, so it'll be noticably quieter. but won't limit the fan so much that the cpu overheats.
I'd reccomend stress testing the cpu when you install them just to see how hot it goes. Unless its getting stupid hot, you should be fine under normal use without the need to monitor it.
Is the fan connected to the motherboard using the standard 4-pin PWM or 3 pin cable? If it's wired correctly and to the correct header (usually labelled CPU_FAN), the motherboard should be using it's temperature diodes to correctly sense temps and run the CPU fan according to a built in fan curve.
Another thing to check is if your heat sink is actually making proper contact with the CPU. Remove the cooler, slap on some fresh thermal compound and follow manufacturer instructions on remounting the cooler.