PWMs v DC fans ?

venomx · 28 Jan 2021 at 07:30

Got myself 2x140mm and 3x120mm corsair RGBS and they're awesome.
They are all DC.
I have made a fan curve in the bios and they're pretty much silent all the time.

What is the difference between PWM fans and DC ? All I know is PWM are 4 pin and DC are 3 pin

venomx · 28 Jan 2021 at 11:50

Ah excellent thanks

venomx · 29 Jan 2021 at 13:08

I put an SP120 on the right of my heatsink, and put the stock Noctua one on the left ( push pull ) not only does it look good, it has also bought my temps down nicely too.

venomx · 4 Feb 2021 at 13:53

PC777 said:
Only real downside of DC fans is that bios usually won't let them run as slow at minimum than it will with PWM ones.

In my bios DC minimum speed is about 50%, PWM around 25%. I have a silent system at idle with mostly PWM fans and almost had to get rid of 2 x 140mm DCs for being too noisy at bios minimum.

Luckily the excellent Argus System Monitor lets you set DC fans safely at PWM speed ranges in Windows on launch, so you can override DC limitations in software.

Not sure what % your fans are now, likely 50% minimum or so in bios, but if you ever do want even quieter, Argus is also a good option.

I use smart fan mode with a custom curve. Pretty much silent, temps are still excellent, about 31c idle, and 65c under full load ( 3600 )