Aug 24, 2011
tom
No Comments

Case Fan Speed – Control via BIOS, Vista, or otherwise?

Question

I just bought a replacement case fan (link to Tiger Direct here) and the fan seems to be working great, but unfortunately I was under the impression this fan had speed control. I have checked my BIOS and I can see “SYS FAN 1 SPEED” although it is read-only. Is it possible for me (using Vista) to control the speed of a case fan connected to the motherboard?

Answer

Look at Wiki – Fan Control

Fan Types:
Common cooling fans will have either two, three, or four pins on the connector.

Two-pin fans operate either as an on/off fan, or can be controlled by varying the voltage.
Three-pin fans add a tachometer reporting wire so the controlling system can measure the actual speed.
Four-pin fans add a fourth wire to control fan speed using PWM (Pulse-width modulation.)

4-pin connector enables fan speed control. 3-pin connector just enable fan speed sensing. The one you’ve got is unfortunatelly with a 3-Pin connector.

You need something like this ZALMAN FAN MATE 2 Fan Controller to control the speed.

Check more discussion of this question.

Related posts:

  1. why does my dl380 G3 crank the fan up so high (and how do i stop it?)
  2. What are my options in replacing the noisy fan in my Linksys Cisco SRW2008P managed GigE switch?
  3. How do I lubricate a noisy system fan?
  4. Are there general guidelines for fan configuration/capacity for operating at altitude?
  5. CPU Fan Failure

Leave a comment