3-pin CPU fan and fan control

strumpusplunket · 30 Nov 2011 at 13:58

Just found that Asus FanXpert won't control my 3-pin Sharkoon. At 1800rpm, it's too damn noisy!

I could set fan control profiles in Windows with the Abit Utility on my old board, but I know usually 3-pin fans can't be controlled from software (can they?).

Is there any way around this other than buying a new 4-pin PWM controlled CPU fan?

pc_monkey · 30 Nov 2011 at 14:41

Have you tried the bios?

strumpusplunket · 30 Nov 2011 at 14:45

Yeah, just tried using q-fan in the bios. No dice.

Looks like the board won't do fan control unless with a 4-pin PWM fan.

Oddly enough when I check the fans for sale at OcUK, it says "3/4 pin" for the Sharkoon, but mine only has 3 pins...

So... any recommendations for best available PWM controlled fan for a Megahalems?

Tealc · 30 Nov 2011 at 16:58

The 3/4 pin usually refers to a separate adapter that comes with the fan so you can plug it into a Molex connector for power, if say you didn't have a spare motherboard header.

My Gigabyte BIOS and software is the same in that it wont let me control my 3 pin fan. However for some strange reason Speedfan allows me to throttle the fan down to a certain speed (I chose 60% ~ 600rpm) when the temperature is low and crank it back up to 100% (1000rpm) when over that threshold. Not quite sure what is allowing this to occur.

I've no idea about Asus boards but you never know.

setter · 30 Nov 2011 at 17:13

Asus removed speed control of 3 pin fans on the cpu header a few years ago. I mailed their support regarding this with a p5q deluxe s775 board. The same applies to my current p6t deluxe and p6 x58 de. Hence i always use pwm fans for cpu cooling, all my case fans though are ran of a fan controller. The akasa vipers are pretty good.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-059-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=4

Got two on a prolimatech super mega, ran via an akasa pwm splitter cable.

strumpusplunket · 30 Nov 2011 at 17:48

Ah... useful info. Thanks. Think I will do just that.

strumpusplunket · 2 Dec 2011 at 17:30

Ahhhhh..... the silence! I can hear myself think again! 664rpm and my old HDD back to being the loudest thing in my system. Idle temps unaffected too, apparently, compared to 1800rpm on my Sharkoon.

That Sharkoon 1800 is a good CPU fan for cooling, but man it's loud at full whack!

Thanks for the tips. Don't have the PWM splitter cable yet, but will look into that and getting another fan if I need it once I start overclocking this chip.

setter · 2 Dec 2011 at 17:42

The sharkoon 2000's i had on my old q6600 were loud at full speed, thankfully they were on a controller. Use nothing but pwm fans now for cpu cooling, so much quieter when doing menial tasks like browsing. Even with two vipers running theres little noise.

strumpusplunket · 2 Dec 2011 at 17:45

Yeah, I will definitely follow that line too.

I was surprised, though when browsing 120mm fans, how few had PWM control. Because my old Abit board could do voltage regulation to change fan speed I'd not really noticed it before, but now it seems that (on OcUK at least) there's the Vipers, the Apaches, and... only a small handful of others. Would have thought it would have been a key feature.

setter · 2 Dec 2011 at 17:58

A few ive used and found to be very good are.

Sharkoon silent eagle se's, (modular cable fans)
Arctic cooling F12
Arctic cooling 12025, may be discontinued now though.

The sharkoons were very expensive though at £13.00 each, while the arctics cost £5-6.00 each iirc.