System fan curves
System fan curves
Hi.
So, I want to mess around a bit with the fan curves in the bios to achieve optimal airflow for better temperatures. I'm using an ASRock Z790 mobo. My system airflow is as follows:
2x Arctic P12 120mm as intake at the bottom
3x 120mm from GPU radiator (Sapphire RX 6900 XT Toxic Extreme Edition)
3x Arctic P12 120mm as exhaust at the top (CPU Radiator for Arctic Liquid Freezer II)
1x Arctic P14 at the back as exhaust.
Case is an E-ATX Fractal Meshify 2 Lite TG.
All the Arctic fans can be controlled trough the BIOS, and the GPU ones are automatic from GPU load.
This means that most of the time, when browsing, watching videos or playing lighter games (Death Stranding per example was really light, GPU fans were off most of the time) I'm running negative pressure. GPU fans will only start sucking in air when GPU gets more load. When playing FH5 (all maxed out at 1440p), CPU will sit around 55°C on average and GPU at same temperature.
So, taking all this in mind, what's the best fan curve I can set? Leave it in performance mode? Noise levels is not a factor, as I can't hear it with headphones, even at top prolonged loads.
The details about the case's make and model were omitted, along with the specific fan curves displayed in the BIOS.
the optimal fan curve you can adjust is something you can discover through your own testing. It offers a much better setup than anything else could provide. With nine fans and numerous combinations, you'll probably notice that many produce very similar temperatures. The main challenge lies in determining when "good enough" becomes acceptable. If you aim for the absolute lowest temperatures across hundreds of fan setups, it will require significant effort—possibly dozens of hours. You must weigh whether that investment is justified. If you're particularly concerned about heat levels, you might feel it's worth the time. Ultimately, the decision remains yours, as you control the process.
Damn, you went philosophical and I loved it!
Interesting fact: I also found out how to adjust the GPU fans. They start at 0 RPM until 40°C (hot-spot), but after testing, I set a minimum of 38%. I experimented with FH5 benchmark and before realizing it was measuring the hot-spot, I set 100% at 70°C. It turns out it's quite noisy at maximum RPM xD.
Now that I can tweak these settings, I'm working on optimizing the curves for better temperatures. I'm considering negative pressure for CPU temps below 45 and positive after that. This is because I noticed that when the CPU goes above 45, it's during gaming with GPU at 70% load. I'm trying to balance everything.
In my latest test, during the FH5 benchmark (always running at maxed out at 1440p), the average CPU and GPU temperatures were 50 and 53 respectively. I think that's acceptable, though I'm not sure.
I also realized these numbers reflect a Portuguese Northern Summer climate, with ambient temps around 30-35°C. For winter, I'll likely adjust the curves as well, lowering the ambient temperature to between 0-10°C.