4 pin PWM

D

devman

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
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Is there anything wrong with cooling an OC'd cpu with a cooler that uses 4-pin PWM? This may seem like a silly question but I see a lot of coolers that come with manual fan controls, and I'd rather not bother with it. However it makes me wonder if there is something inherently wrong with PWM that some aftermarket cooler manufacturer's don't seem to use it.
 
Fans: They spin.

someone explain to me why a PWM fan is worse than a non-PWM one?
 
There is nothing wrong with using PWM fans. I'm the same as you I don't want the hassle of controlling the fans manually. My system has 3x 120mm fans running off the 4pin mobo header, when the system is idle the fans run slowly (silent), then as the load/ temperature increases they speed up. I can set different profiles in the bios/ windows or even make them run full-speed.
 
If you don't set your profiles manually, PWM can suck, b/c default settings allow for CPU temps to get quite hot before kicking in.

I run my CPU fans on a manual controller, and a couple case fans on PWM. When it gets real hot, the PWMs starts bringing in more air.
 
How do you control the fans if there are no BIOS options to do so and Speedfan won't recognize your I/O chip? Well, I've got a few fan related options in BIOS, but they don't seem to do anything.
 
If your fans are quiet enough, I would suggest to turn off the BIOS automatic fan controls. They should run at 100% but still be able to be monitored for RPM speed. If you just put a 3 pin fan in a 4 pin header it should do just that.
 
Technophobe said:
If your fans are quiet enough, I would suggest to turn off the BIOS automatic fan controls. They should run at 100% but still be able to be monitored for RPM speed. If you just put a 3 pin fan in a 4 pin header it should do just that.
Click to expand...

The fan controls in my BIOS are very vague and really don't do anything. I want my fans to spin faster, but not at 100%. I've got one 3pin and one 4pin (case and cpu respectively) and neither one move enough air to get my temps down where I want them. But it seems that my motherboard just gives them enough juice to make them spin and that's it. In fact my system is almost completely silent and I don't like it.
 
If you can be absolutely certain what board it is, you can always flash back to the official, normal BIOS for the board... but screwing this up will obviously brick it, and be rather difficult to explain should you RMA (if that's even an option).
 
silent-circuit said:
If you can be absolutely certain what board it is, you can always flash back to the official, normal BIOS for the board... but screwing this up will obviously brick it, and be rather difficult to explain should you RMA (if that's even an option).
Click to expand...

Well, it's definately a DG33SXG2. But that board isn't listed on Intel's site.
 
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