How do I adjust fan speed

A few years ago I decided that I was going to overclock my PC so I'd need as many fans as the case could take. Worked a treat, nothing ever got hot and I was very happy.

Fast forward to today and I've upgraded the PC many times and now have no real need to overclock (OK, it's overclocked a tiny bit). Hence, now when the mature and grown up me start the computer up, it sounds like someone's turned on a hairdryer! It's not quite that loud but it sits in the room next to my new baby girl and it got me to thinking about how to quieten it.

I have a Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3r motherboard and there are four case fans I'm trying to slow down.

The manual says to ensure CPU Smart fan control is on - tick
Says I can then adjust the speed using a program called Easytune (downloaded and installed) - tick
Thing is, no matter where I move the slider the fan speed doesn't change (on any of the fans (even if I move it to zero)). Do I need to restart the PC for it to take effect or is it not working?

I'm wondering if I can't slow the fans. They're all connected to power though a single cable (the one cable from the PSU has five power connectors on it). Only one fan (the first in the series) has an additional cable which I've hooked up to the fan_1 connector on the motherboard (none of the other fans have this).

I'm even just considering disconnecting them and leaving the CPU fan and graphics card fan to do the work.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

David

 

To adjust the fans like that, they would need to be plugged into the motherbord. Some boards have 3 pin plugs on them (FAN 1, FAN 2 etc). If you are plugged directly into the PSU and don't have fan plugs on the motherboard, you will need a fan controller.

Something like this should work. Should fit in an empty drive bay in your case. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2559758&Sku=ULT40061 :cool Note: I have not used that fan controller, just linked to the first one I could find.

 

My board does have the 3 pin plugs though only one of the four fans has this connection, the others just have the power connector.

If I grab a fan controller will it be able to control the fans that don't have the 3 pin plugs or will I need to replace them with new ones?

Perhaps there is a pack I can get with four fans and a controller, will have a look.

 

Hi David,

I have not tried any of this but, see it often on forums. You can move the wires in the adaptor to the 12V fans to pick up the Yellow and Red leads in the PSU plug. This will give you 7 Volts instead of the original 12 volts and will slow the fans. Another way might be to add resistors or potentiometers in one fan lead.

Good Luck, Jim

 

You can get an adapter so the fans will run on the 3 pin plugs. As for the fan controler, I don't know, it would depend on the specs of the fan controller.