Struggling to lower my CPU fan rpm

[Sonikku]

Windows 7 64
H77M motherboard
8gb g skill ripjaws ram
radeon 7770 gpu
intel i5 2500
Antec earthwats 530watt

I use the Evo 212 on my cpu because the stock cooler on my 2500 would shoot from 2000rpm to 3000 under load and got very noisy. With the 212 heatsink the rpm seems to be at 1200 all the time, full load and no load, despite any settings I try. To be fair the evo at 1200rpm is still far quieter than the stock sink, but it's still kind of loud. My i5 2500 is locked and doesn't get an overclock outside of Turbo. It's around 25c at no load and about 38c at full load. I clearly don't need the evo 2012 spinning that fast to keep this puppy cooled. I would happily let me cpu hit 50c or even 60c under load if it meant I could lower the heat sink rpm to 800 or so. I only use the intake fan that came with the 212, I don't use an extra one for push/pull as I figure the quiet 120mm case exhaust can handle it. Things I've tried so far:

-Downloaded speedfan. It gives me great readouts and can lower the GPU fan but not the heatsink. (which is strange because it let me lower the stock sink rpm before it was replaced)

-With software failing, I figured it was up to the bios.
http://www.overclockers.ua/motherboard/intel-z77-asrock-pro3/31-big-asrock-z77-pro3.png(not mine, but a bios pic for comparison)
No matter how high I set the target temp or what I change the target fan speed to it's always spinning at 1200rpm.

Any suggestions?

 

[LTC8K6]

Sounds like it is not using PWM control for the CPU fan.

You can buy an adapter to slow the fan down, I believe.

http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NA-SRC7-Accessory-Low-Noise-Adaptors/dp/B00KG3KP1U

You can also get a quieter fan for the 212evo, which comes with the low noise adapter.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608026

 

[coercitiv]

http://www.overclockers.ua/motherboard/intel-z77-asrock-pro3/31-big-asrock-z77-pro3.png(not mine, but a bios pic for comparison)
No matter how high I set the target temp or what I change the target fan speed to it's always spinning at 1200rpm.

What options do you have at CPU Fan Setting besides "Automatic mode"?

It may require an unintuitive setup in which you set the fan setting to something like "Manual mode" or something else available and then set the appropriate target temperature and fan speed. It will still be an automatic control, but based on manual settings :sneaky:

 

[greenhawk]

dumb question , but do you have the cpu fan plugged into the correct fan header? have it set correctly for the fan (PWM/voltage controled ect)?

 

[know of fence]

dumb question, but do you have the cpu fan plugged into the correct fan header? have it set correctly for the fan (PWM/voltage controled ect)?

That's the fist thing that comes to mind, because modern boards have up to 4 fan headers. Your board has 1x 4-pin CPU header 1x3 pin (CPUfan2) and 3 x 3-pin chassis headers. And they are right next to each other.
Under which name is CPU RPM reported.

The other thing is that modern OS/Software often overrides BIOS settings, so if Asrock's Axtu is set to load at startup, it will always run at whatever RPM is pre-set in. You can either set things here, or in bios .
There are two check boxes that make all the difference.
[ ] load on Startup and
[ ] auto apply when program starts

 

[sm625]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118217

 

[Auric]

3-pin FanMate will allow a lower fixed speed but prevent variable.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=37986395#post37986395
To override the motherboard control in SpeedFan: Readings tab - Configure button - Advanced tab - Chip dropdown select - PWM mode Set to Manual.

However, a motherboard may still limit the minimum output so as to prevent stopping, and if so it depends upon the fan's spec whether the desired low RPM can be achieved.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2450690

 

[Killrose]

1200rpm should not be that loud to be a problem. Your 550watt PSU fan might be the culprit. Because you cant monitor the PSU fan speed or the temp of the PSU, other components with fans get blamed for noise caused by a noisy PSU fan.

have your mboard monitor app going and run a stress program and watch the fan speeds in relation to noise. If your fans drop RPMs after shutting down the stress app, but the noise is still there, chances are its your PSU fan which has thermal RPM control and will drop when it's ready to on its own.

I had a problem as described above and was blaming it on my R9 290 reference cooler, but then I noticed that it and all my other fans were at low RPM levels and dropping but the fan noise I heard was not. It was the Fan on my Enermax Naxn 550watt PSU.

 

[Auric]

Dunno aboot the Evo fan (other than it's not well regarded) but Foxconn OEM for Intel are certainly noticeably noisier at 1100 than 800 RPM. SpeedFan can be used to manually increase the speed for said testing. But yeah, PSU fans can be noisy and require "modding".

 

[Sonikku]

Ok I got the the rpm to about 900 using the asrock utility. Thanks for all the suggestions though, I'm still considering some. It's still making a lot of noise though so I suspect it was the power supply after all. It's a psu that came with my case back in 06 and is probably due for an upgrade.

 

[know of fence]

Ok I got the the rpm to about 900 using the asrock utility. Thanks for all the suggestions though, I'm still considering some. It's still making a lot of noise though so I suspect it was the power supply after all. It's a psu that came with my case back in 06 and is probably due for an upgrade.

Lowest setting should get you to just above 600 RPM which is inaudible, it's still plenty to keep a stressed dualcore around 60°C that is emitting about 50W of heat. Above 800 RPM you definitely hear a 212 evo.

 

[Sonikku]

The lowest setting on their fan/overclock utility gives me 900rpm.

 

[Sonikku]

3-pin FanMate will allow a lower fixed speed but prevent variable.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=37986395#post37986395
To override the motherboard control in SpeedFan: Readings tab - Configure button - Advanced tab - Chip dropdown select - PWM mode Set to Manual.

However, a motherboard may still limit the minimum output so as to prevent stopping, and if so it depends upon the fan's spec whether the desired low RPM can be achieved.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2450690

I don't see Manual for PWN 1 and 2.

 

[Auric]

Mayhaps the ASRock utility driver is interfering.