Don't let your CPU spin too fast when you aren't using it much with a 3900X and Noctua fans.
Don't let your CPU spin too fast when you aren't using it much with a 3900X and Noctua fans.
I just bought my second desktop computer and made the first one myself. My goal is to keep things quiet. The parts are a 2900X processor, 32 GB of RAM from Corsair, a hard drive from Samsung, an Asus motherboard, and a specific cooling setup: a Noctua fan, a mesh case with fans for air intake and exhaust. I started by using the default settings out of the box. At first, the fans kept spinning up and down a lot, jumping between 20% and 60%, even when nothing was happening. When I checked the computer's temperature, it stayed around 43 to 55 degrees. The temp would also jump by as much as 10 degrees every few seconds, which surprised me because I thought CPUs usually just go up slowly. The voltages on the processor cores were all set to about 1.5 volts. After reading a bit more info, I learned that these temps are too high for basic tasks like sitting still. This gave me relief because I could confirm it wasn't a mistake from my cooling paste placement. I think I got the cooling right so far. I'm not 100% sure yet since I tweaked and smoothed the paste about ten times, but I want to make sure it's even or dry out properly while I do that. Also, is it normal for temp jumps to happen like this? It sounds like the CPU gets hot quickly from heat buildup. Regarding cooling, people suggested lowering voltage settings, but I thought that was too advanced for me. So I started by adjusting fan curves instead: letting the computer run a bit hotter before the fans started spinning up. That helped quietness a little, but now the average temp is closer to 50 degrees. I thought maybe I should try the "easy" setting in the BIOS instead of manual tweaks since I'm still a newbie. I set it to "daily computing" mode and selected "tower cooler." Now the idle temps are looking better, around 40% capacity. But if something happens in the background, the temp does spike again up to 48 degrees. The average is down by about 5 degrees now. At idle, voltages dropped to around 1.1 volts. I ran a fan calibration test; it seems like this sets the lowest RPM that makes fans work. It lowered the speed quite a bit since the Noctua fans are good, and I mimicked the "quiet" preset but adapted the new lowest RPM. Still, I get occasional fan spikes when doing very little work on the computer. Is there anything else to do about this? A standard practice is usually to kick in fans around 45 degrees Celsius. But since that happens so often now, I keep getting those small temp jumps. What should I do? Should I run the CPU hotter with fans coming later, or are there any steps for a beginner that stops it from hitting 48 for tiny background tasks? I want to stay safe and only ramp up fans when I'm actually using the computer more than about 20% of the time. Currently, this happens constantly even at just a few percent usage.
I use a piece of fan control software called Argus Monitor in order to set the behavior of various fans in my system. They are set to specific parameters to avoid the ramping up and down that I experience with pretty much any of the Asus BIOS settings available for fan control, when my computer is under light use. I use it to override the BIOS fan settings, but you can run any combination between keeping BIOS to control some fans, manual constant RPM settings for other fans, and software control for another set of fans (or all three) - also adjusting according to different temp sensor sources. You can also specify if you want a certain fan to react to "average temperature" or "maximum temperature" to minimize rapid...
In the BIOS, if you press F6, you should see a fan control screen. I'll try changing that curve. See section 3.2.3 at this link: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...4....1576592336
Thanks for your reply. Yeah, I already tried that tweak back there. (It was a long message, sorry about that!) I've tried a new curve where the fan doesn't go past 30% speed until the CPU hits 55 degrees C. That does lower the intensity, but the fan still moves up and down to reach those higher speeds. I really want it to stay steady for longer periods instead of ramping back and forth. Basically, if it's working on its average load for about 30 seconds, just keep spinning at that speed without any ups and downs. My guess is this isn't a problem with my motherboard's fan control logic. Maybe the 10-degree jump in temperature caused by thermal paste? Or maybe it's just how it works right now?
I use a little piece of software called Argus Monitor to make my computer's fans behave the way I want them to do. Without it, my fans just turn up and down randomly when I am using light things like my laptop or games. It lets me override the built-in BIOS settings so I can get exactly what I need instead of fighting with random changes. You can mix and match different controls for each fan—sometimes use the BIOS to control some fans, other times let software handle them manually at a steady speed, or even do all three at once. You can also tell it whether a fan should react to average heat or just maximum heat so that it doesn't switch speeds too fast, and you can set how often the temperature sensor checks up on things. There is a free 30-day trial with everything available in there if you want to test it out. After that, it costs about $9.99 for one year or maybe a cheaper $4.99 deal for three years. It takes some time to set up at first, but I think it's pretty useful after all.
I know computers with Intel CPUs can get hot and fluctuate a lot when they are idle, just like your Ryzen chips do too. I didn't want that happening on my 9900K because the fans were making annoying noises while running a bit hotter than usual. So I ditched the BIOS control and bought this software to make things quieter and smoother. Here is an example of how I set three different curves for three separate fans:
* **The CPU Cooling Curve:** This stays flat until it hits about 46 degrees Celsius because my computer never gets hot enough to turn on extra fans early. Once it goes up past that point, the fan kicks in and keeps going steady at high loads between 50 and 65 degrees Celsius, while during heavy stress tests like Prime95 or AVX testing, it hits a peak of around 74 degrees Celsius.
* **The Top Exhaust Fans:** The top exhaust fans only spin up a tiny bit when the computer is under load.
* **The Front Intake Fans:** These front intake fans turn on to suck in cool air whenever the system needs more cooling, which helps keep things running smooth.
I also made one curve for the rear exhaust fan (CHA_FAN1) similar to my intake fans but adjusted it so that when the CPU gets really hot, the rear fans spin up at the same speed as the cooler does. This stops high-pressure air from building up behind the CPU and helps cooling overall. I have several profiles saved in there: one for gaming with lots of activity, one for quiet operation with a steady fan speed, and another for maximum performance if needed.
I also found it helpful to let the case fans react to both GPU temperatures and CPU temps because some games don't use my CPU much but make my graphics card get very hot. This made my GPU run hotter than usual, which actually slowed down its boost clocks and shortens how long it stays active in those games. But since I also have intake and exhaust fans on the case that react to both the CPU and GPU heat, gaming performance is slightly better overall, and I like that too.
I am running five Noctua Redux 1200RPM PWM fans for my case and a Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.Black cooler for my CPU, all controlled by this software. (The two intake fans are connected together with a splitter). Sorry if the long text was a bit overwhelming; I wrote more details here hoping it would help someone who already knows their setup well.
I hope you can find a way to get the quiet and smooth fan behavior you want from your machine too!
Thanks a bunch! This was really helpful info. I am going to check out the Argus Monitor and see if I can get better results with it. I just saw a video about 3.6 GHz and sub-1 V being normal at idle on the 3900X, but my machine is running at 1.1 V and 4 GHz at minimum. So I think I might have to look into adjusting some settings there too. Using the EZ Tune preset in BIOS helped with temperatures already, so if that works right, temps and fan response would be much better as well.
There is also a free program called SpeedFan that used to have many fans using it. It hasn't been updated since 2015 and unfortunately my motherboard's sensor chip and fan controller didn't work with the current version of this software. If your computer was supported by an older version, you could use it as a free option. But I am personally very happy with Argus Monitor even though it isn't free to download. EDIT: Updated with link