Question Fan control on my B550-F

[rominho]

In my new build, I have a ROG STRIX B550-F Gaming motherboard with 3x Deepcool FC120 RGB fans and 3x regular Corsair chassis fans.

I thought I'd have full control of the fans in Armoury Crate, but unfortunately that's not the case. For instance, if I select Silent Mode, I’d expect at least some of the fans to switch off completely. But while the numbers indicate that the fans slow down, it doesn’t seem to make a significant difference in the noise level. What is the easiest way to set this up?

I’ve daisy-chained the RGB fans and connected them to the 3-pin RGB header on the motherboard, along with a couple of Phanteks neon strips. These are also powered by the PSU. The 3 regular fans are connected to 3 individual headers on the motherboard.

My intention is to have a "quiet mode" where only the CPU and back extractor fan would work.

After doing some reading a see that a lot of people use Fan Expert alongside Armoury Crate... is that the way to go?

 

[Colif]

There is a program called Fan Control on github that would probably help you, provided all fans are pwm

I will attach a link later if I can

 

[Brian Boru]

@rominho Welcome to the forum

link

Is this it?

GitHub - Rem0o/FanControl.Releases: This is the release repository for Fan Control, a highly customizable fan controlling software for Windows.

This is the release repository for Fan Control, a highly customizable fan controlling software for Windows. - Rem0o/FanControl.Releases

github.com

 

[rominho]

That is very helpful - Thank you.
Turns out only the CPU fan and 2 chassis fans are controllable, but better than nothing.

 

[Colif]

What case is it? Curious if it has a fan hub. If it did you could attach some to it. They would all run same speed but you could control them, provided they are 4 pin.
Hub needs to be attached to a motherboard header to work.
You could always buy one if you don't have one now.

So deepcool fans aren't linked to motherboard at all? Can't control them that way (if they 3 pin you can't anyway)

What are the 3 fans attached to motherboard? Might need to daisy chain some if you have more fans than headers

I had to replace my chassis fans to get control over them. Just realised I only have one fan attached to my hub so could just link fan direct to motherboard and not use hub. But it works now so why change.

 

[rominho]

it's a Corsair 4000D Airflow. I would think that the 3 RGB fans that are daisy-chained together would be controlled as 1 entity, right? Although I cant control them at all via fan control.
What really surprises me is that 1 of the 3 simple chassis fan that I have on the front of the case cannot be controlled either even though they all look the same.

 

[Brian Boru]

What really surprises me

I bet the dead guy sitting on the floor of your case is messing things up

 

[Colif]

How slack, 4000D doesn't have a hub as its not an Icue Case

so they all seem to be PWM fans so should be able to see all of them.

I would think that the 3 RGB fans that are daisy-chained together would be controlled as 1 entity, right? Although I cant control them at all via fan control.

FC120-3 IN 1 - DeepCool

The DeepCool FC120 performance A-RGB PWM fan simplifies cable management with a novel daisy-chainable cable that carries both A-RGB and power functions that interconnects between fans and reduces cable clutter. - DeepCool was founded with the mission of providing professional, innovative...

www.deepcool.com

Are they wired up right?

All fans on one header are seen as same fan.

What really surprises me is that 1 of the 3 simple chassis fan that I have on the front of the case cannot be controlled either even though they all look the same.

Case comes with three of these:

AF120 ELITE High-Performance 120mm PWM Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan

The CORSAIR AF120 ELITE High-Performance 120mm PWM Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan combines a low-noise design with CORSAIR AirGuide technology for powerful cooling, quiet operation, and exceptional durability.

www.corsair.com

so you moved them all to front - assuming it was on rear of case? I wonder why one is going rogue.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I seem to remember that you can set fan ports to be controlled by DC or PWM in the BIOS. Worth checking in BIOS that the ports are set to PWM with your fans.

 

[rominho]

so they all seem to be PWM fans so should be able to see all of them.

FC120-3 IN 1 - DeepCool

The DeepCool FC120 performance A-RGB PWM fan simplifies cable management with a novel daisy-chainable cable that carries both A-RGB and power functions that interconnects between fans and reduces cable clutter. - DeepCool was founded with the mission of providing professional, innovative...

www.deepcool.com

Are they wired up right?

All fans on one header are seen as same fan.

So, I am probably being a complete idiot here. But according to the diagram above, do I need to have these connected to the 3-pin RGB header AND the 4-pin cpu fan header?

Because I only have them connected to the RGB header and SATA for power (the RGB stripes are also in the same connection)

 

[rominho]

Case comes with three of these:

AF120 ELITE High-Performance 120mm PWM Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan

The CORSAIR AF120 ELITE High-Performance 120mm PWM Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan combines a low-noise design with CORSAIR AirGuide technology for powerful cooling, quiet operation, and exceptional durability.

www.corsair.com

so you moved them all to front - assuming it was on rear of case? I wonder why one is going rogue.

Not that I think it makes much difference, the the case came 2 of these:

4000D/4000D Airflow 120mm 3-pin Fan, Black, 1200 RPM

4000D/4000D Airflow 120mm 3-pin Fan, Black, 1200 RPM

www.corsair.com

I bought one extra and moved them to the front.

 

[Colif]

If it is only attached via rgb and not powered by the motherboard, then you can't control it. Running off sata doesn't let you. Pwm Fans need to be powered by a board header to be seen andcontrolled.

My pc isn't working at the moment and trying to look at that picture on my phone is pointless. Funnily enough, I have a broken fan on aio and until it is replaced, I am on my phone.



Video below might help

 

[Colif]

Two kinds of fans.
3 pin dc fans, and 4 pin pwm fans.
Pwm ones are easier to control via software, you can only really use bios to control dc.

PWM vs. DC: Which fan is better for PC cooling?

Deciding between PWM and DC case fans can be confusing. At the same time, it is important for the optimal performance of your computer.

www.pcworld.com

It's normal for case fans, that come with cases to be dc, I replaced mine so I could control them.

 

[Colif]

Since all 3 front fans are 3 pin, I wonder how fan control sees two of them as I thought it only saw pwm. That is curious

 

[rominho]

Thank you so much, now I know where I went wrong with the RGB fans. Out of interest this is what fan control shows me at the moment. I am sure fans 1, 5, 6 are the RGB ones, and fan 7 is the one DC fan that for some reason cannot be controlled, even though it shows speed:

 

[Colif]

its strange it can even see fans that are only connected by rgb.

The fans 3 and 4 are more mysterious as to why 2 dc fans let you control them, they really shouldn't.

looking at fan 1 I think you find its the 3rd front fan... running at same percentage as 3 & 4

5. 6 & 7 might be the rgb ones . though it is odd 5 is running slower. or speed even showing if they only attached to rgb.

I did know case only came with 2 fans, i just got their models wrong first time.

You need to attach the rgb fans to a fan header. then you should be able to control their speeds.

speedfan can test each fan and slow it down so you can identify it exactly. Some of the fan numbers I said could be wrong

rgb fans are confusing, two cables need to be attached, one for the lights and other to actually power fans. if they run off PSU you can't control speed.

 

[Colif]

I haven't re calibrated fans recently so Fan Control not running my GPU. It is only recently it could control AMD fans, so I generally use Afterburner on it.

Nice having my pc working again, my phone was starting to drive me mad.

 

[Colif]

Corsair 4000D Airflow

Finds where he thought it had 3 AF120 RGB Elite fans, they are in the 4000D RGB Airflow... slaps Corsair for having too many choices.

Those controllable 3 pin fans have me stumped. They should behave same way as the new one you bought, only way to control DC is through voltage. Not percentages.

Makes me wonder if they miss identified. I wonder if they the RGB ones (if this was once those are attached to motherboard) but that doesn't work as they all daisy chained, should just show as one fan. not show as two different sensors.

Fan Control
To identify fans, click the wrench icon and choose identify fans at end of drop down. It lets you stop/slow down fans to identify them. Then I would label them or hide them if not needed.

Greyed out fans don't have speed controlling chips. You seem to have 4 of those... one could be an empty fan header maybe? Looking at motherboard you have 3 chassis fan headers, and one CPU one.
Number 4 = Chassis fans

I have 3 greyed out ones myself - I just hide them

I think my fan 4 is an unused header on motherboard.. GPU fan is a left over from when I had an Nvidia GPU and I never removed NvApiWrapper out of sensor sources. AIO pump just doesn't show its rpm anywhere in system.

How to use Fan Control

Want to set up Fan Control to manage your system fans? Here's how.

www.xda-developers.com

If you want to control all of their speeds I would get 3 more of the Deepcool fans and replace the chassis ones. As I said, I did that myself but one year after I got PC as I didn't feel like spending any more money.

Its also possible the 3 pin chassis fans don't have a 0 RPM mode.

The Deepcool fans can only go as low as 500

FC120-3 IN 1 - DeepCool

The DeepCool FC120 performance A-RGB PWM fan simplifies cable management with a novel daisy-chainable cable that carries both A-RGB and power functions that interconnects between fans and reduces cable clutter. - DeepCool was founded with the mission of providing professional, innovative...

www.deepcool.com

P12 RGB has 0 rpm mode though slowest I run mine is 900, I can hardly hear them. Some constant Airflow is good as not all parts can cool themselves. My Nvme acts as a canary in a coalmine, if its temp rises I need to to adjust fans. Both of my 140mm chassis fans are set to monitor its temp, it rarely gets over 49c now.

P12 PWM PST RGB | 120 mm RGB PWM Fan with Cable Splitter | 3 Pieces | ARCTIC

ACFAN00230A | ARCTIC's semi-passive RGB fan with 0 decibel mode | Available now in the colors: white and black as well as in the Value Pack | Fast processing in the ARCTIC webshop | ARCTIC Store

www.arctic.de

That and you might find you don't need as many fans. I had 3 x 140mm exhaust fans in here but I didn't notice a difference removing one from roof. My front roof fan was just sucking cool air out of PC before it could be used. Yours could be doing similar and taking cool air away from CPU cooler. It didn't matter so much in my PC since AIO gets its air from outside case.

How do I optimise my fan settings?

In the following guide we want to give a brief introduction to setting manual fan curves. PWM vs DC Fan Control There are two main options for adjusting the fan speed via a computer’s motherboard: The fan speed can either be regulated by adj...

faqs.noctua.at

 

[rominho]

Number 4 = Chassis fans

ok, after a bit fiddling around I git a bit of control back.

The 3 front fans are connected to the two headers at the bottom of the motherboard with third one connected to the the chassis fan header next to the AIO fan header. The RGB fans are now connected to the "CPU OPT" header at the top of motherboard. Now this is what I see:

The fan labelled RBG, I suppose is the the control for for the daisy chained fans, although it does not seem to let me control speed as you can see above.

That being said, I achieved what I wanted. Even the pre-sets on Armoury Crate are a lot more responsive now and I don't have all fans running at 100% all the time. I can now have a quiet PC when I am only surfing the internet.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[rominho]

One thing that is curious, is that the DC fan that could not be controlled before was connected the "CPU OPT" header, which is the header I now have the RGB fans connected to. So I wonder if the lack of speed control has something to do with that particular fan header.

 

[Colif]

The CPU OPT header is an additional connection for special processor cooling accessories, such as specialized coolers with multiple fans or water-cooling components. Functionally, CPU OPT is identical to CPU FAN.

CPU OPT only supplies power to the connected device, while CPU FAN both supplies power and communicates with the motherboard’s BIOS or UEFI system to provide statistical data.

CPU-FAN versus CPU-OPT on motherboards: What's the difference?

You may notice a CPU OPT connector on your motherboard. Although its function appears clear at first glance, its exact function remains a mystery for many users.

www.pcworld.com

That second part could be why you can't control it directly, BIOS can't see it.

i would be tempted to put RGB on the Chassis fan header near AIO Pump header, as maybe that let you control all 3 and only sacrifice one fan to the CPU Opt. I haven't needed to use that Opt fan header myself, AIO uses CPU Fan header & an Argb header. Just as well as PC won't boot without a fan on the CPU header.

Your plan of only having the rear fan and CPU running is hard to do with 3 RGB fans that all act as one unit. You would be well served by having that one intake you can't control blowing air through system as then you could turn exhausts off instead. So putting it on CPU_Opt is not so bad after all. I would make it the top front only as it would blow air right at CPU all day, or bottom to feed GPU... your choice. Just ideas

I wonder what fans 5 & 6 are.

Your controllable 3 pin fans will remain a mystery. I see they did come with that case
ICUE 4000X, 4000D, 4000D Airflow