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Ever wondered what that loud swoosh sound from your PC or laptop is? If yes, then the swooshing sound is made by your CPU fan speed. The CPU fan installed in your PCs is used for cooling your system when they overheat. Overheating of your system usually happens because of extensive use of your system either while working or playing a game etc. Most of the recent laptops and computer motherboards are equipped with pulse-width modulation controllers. These pulse-width modulation controllers are important, as they are used for controlling the revolutions per minute or RPM of the internal cooling fans. If you are experiencing an overheating issue, then just increasing your CPU fan speed, will increase the internal airflow, which can help your system cool down. This article will explain to you how to control CPU fan speed and how to identify the type of fan your system has.
What type of CPU fan does your system have?
Before learning how to control CPU fan speed, you will need to know what type of fan your system possesses. For that, you need to make sure that the fan’s connector lets you do so. Follow these steps to identify your system’s fan type.
Shut down your PC or laptop and disconnect the power cable.
Now, you will have to remove the left-hand side panel when viewed from the front. Before removing the left-hand side, you will have to remove a few screws. Make sure you keep the screws safe without losing them.
NOTE: In most of the systems, the CPU fan is installed on the left-hand side panel. But, in a few cases, the system has a right-hand side panel, then you have to remove that. The rest of the steps remain as it is.
You might find your CPU cooler on the top-third of your motherboard. The fans on it should have a cable that runs from it.
The end of the cable; which must be connected to some internal circuit or part, will tell you everything about your CPU fan type.
Check if the cable end has a four-pin connector that plugs into an identical-looking cable, it’s plugged in using a two or four-pin Molex connector. If the cable end is a thin cable that connects to your system’s motherboard with a three-pin connector, then it is a DC fan. If the same cable connects to a four-pin connector, then it is a PWM fan.
In case, you are wondering what these connectors and fans are, then here’s a brief explanation about those different types.
Molex connectors take all their power from the Power Supply Unit. They cannot be controlled dynamically and can only be limited using a resistor cable.
Three-pin DC connectors also run at full power, but your motherboard can limit the voltage going to them, thereby altering the speed.
Four-pin Pulse Width Modulation can be dynamically controlled by software and hardware very easily.
You can control CPU fan speed either by using a third-party solution for fan control or by checking BIOS for fan speed options.
Steps to Control CPU fan speed via BIOS
Follow these steps given below to learn how to increase the fan speed and reduce the overheating of the system.
Restart your PC and then wait for the desktop screen to pop up. Press the button that will be shown on the screen (Del, Esc, F12, or F10) to enter the BIOS.
You will need to make use of the arrow keys from your keyboard to explore the BIOS menu. From there go to the “Monitor” or “Status”.
Click on the “Fan Speed Control”. This must open the fan controls.
Scroll down till you find “Fan Speed Control”. This division should contain the revolution per minute or RPM setting for the CPU fan. Choose the fan whose speed you want to control, then select “Enter”.
Now, choose the desired speed for your fan.
After you set the speed, press the “Enter” button. This will save the changes made in the settings.
Repeat the above steps for all the fans that you want to speed up. After you are done changing the speed, you can press the “Esc” button to reach the Exit menu.
Click on the “Save Changes and Reset” button to confirm the changes made in the fan speed.
Steps to control CPU fan speed via third-party software
If you want to go more in-depth into controlling your PC or laptop, you can make those changes through some Windows software. One of the most popular software to control CPU fan speed is Speedfan.
Follow the steps below to know how to use Speedfan for controlling your system’s fan speed.
Download the Speedfan software from their official website and install it in your system.
To get familiar with the application, spend some time playing around the application. In the beginning, you might feel that the software is difficult to understand. But, don’t worry you will get comfortable with it.
Speedfan has a lot of in-built features. Some of these features may not be there in your system. Therefore, we suggest you focus only on those components that are installed in your system and ignore the others.
After you are confident with the Speedfan software, you can press the “Automatic Fan Speed” to give the app access to control CPU fan speed automatically.
If you don’t want that you can select the “Configure” button and then select on the “Advanced” tab.
Choose your CPU from the drop-down options.
Now, find your CPU fan among the options listed in it. Then, set that to “Manual”.
Repeat the above procedure if you want to control all the fans of your system. Now, set all of them to “Manual”.
Click on the “OK” button and then head back to the main page of Speedfan.
You can use the arrow keys from your keyboard to increase or decrease the fan speed. If it’s working properly you might see a rise or fall in RMP or else cooling or heating of your system.
Now, you can adjust your CPU fan speed however you want. But we would like to advise you not to lower the speed of the fan too much, as it might overheat your device and damage it. If your PC is working just fine, then hopefully this guide helps you to understand how to control CPU fan speed.