How to use FAN controls in BIOS to reduce fan noise

[MiniManiac]

Greetings,

There's a thread below which isn't exactly clear on how to reduce fan noise. I've tried the BIOS route by going to advanced and clicking HARDWARE MONITOR --



-- which brings the user here... where I clicked SMART FAN FUNCTION



-- and that leaves you here.



UPDATE --

Thru experimentation I've learned from this point you can increase the FAN START TEMP LIMIT with the '+' key. I'm currently experimenting with 65 instead of 45. This quiets things down a LOT but when under heavy load I sense temps climb a touch higher than wanted. High 80s. I wonder if dropping the full speed limit down would help.

A variant of the Radeon Software permits actual fan adjustment. I have a feeling Minisforum could adjust this system to allow that version of the software. Or Minisforum could tweak settings themselves.

Are you reading these words, MF? Is there something you can do?

 

[Batdad]

I checked. There's no option in the Radeon software to adjust fan settings. Must not be supported with this PC

 

[joey]

In fact, DMAF5 has optimized the fan speed. Of course, users can change the fan speed according to their personal needs. If the fan sound becomes louder for no reason after starting up, maybe you can find the reason according to the following situations.
1. Silicone grease does not fully contact the heat sink and CPU, resulting in insufficient heat transfer.
2. System problems. Perhaps it is caused by 100% CPU usage or 100% disk usage.
3. The machine is abnormal. You can clear the CMOS recovery by pressing and holding the reset hole for 30 seconds when plugged in.

 

[Batdad]

In fact, DMAF5 has optimized the fan speed. Of course, users can change the fan speed according to their personal needs. If the fan sound becomes louder for no reason after starting up, maybe you can find the reason according to the following situations.
1. Silicone grease does not fully contact the heat sink and CPU, resulting in insufficient heat transfer.
2. System problems. Perhaps it is caused by 100% CPU usage or 100% disk usage.
3. The machine is abnormal. You can clear the CMOS recovery by pressing and holding the reset hole for 30 seconds when plugged in.

I don't think you understand the issue here. Its not that the fan becomes louder for "no" reason. The fan becomes very loud the instant that you try and do anything. So if the PC is idle fan noise is acceptable but as soon as you try to open an application then whoosh the fan noise is unbearable. it pretty much keeps at that level in use. Raising the fan start temperature limit to 65 definitely improves the noise but what it does for the longevity of the PC I don't know.

IF as you say DMAF5 has an optimised fan speed then this PC is fundamentally flawed.

 

[MiniManiac]

Hello Joey. Like Batdad, I am not sure you understand the issue.

In fact, DMAF5 has optimized the fan speed.

I believe you mean the DMAF5 has been optimized to run as cool as possible. Which is okay, if you are playing games. But it has not been optimized to be --



This fan is not silent. That is okay, because a moving fan cannot be silent. Impossible. But I have a Lenovo laptop with this same Ryzen chip and you almost never hear the fan. That's a big difference.

So the problem for MINISFORUM is how to offer a FAST MINI PC that doesn't make a lot of fan noise. They work against each other.

Ryzen Software offers a version of their software that allows the user to adjust the fan intensity.

If I were MINISFORUM I'd find a way to allow that software to support these Mini PCs. Then the user could decide how they want their DMAF5 to behave.

I hope I can make you understand that many people might just return this Mini as too noisy. I found a workaround that's okay for me. It seems Batdad is okay with it too, but that is not optimal. We want a solution that is more organic to the unit.

But you otherwise have a nearly PERFECT Mini. The fact I can get in the bottom and clean the fan is AMAZING... because... I'm not an engineer like you guys. So keep engineering and find a way to FIX this so I can recommend it to ANYONE.

 

[MiniManiac]

IF as you say DMAF5 has an optimised fan speed then this PC is fundamentally flawed.

So Batdad. I've been trying to find someone on the net that can explain these BIOS settings. I stumbled on someone with helpful info here --

smart fan control in bios - SPCR

www.silentpcreview.com

Now listen-up everybody. Just because this information is here doesn't mean it is accurate. Or helpful to all users. Or any users. I am not a tech expert. I do not work for Minisforum. So be VERY VERY CAUTIOUS about the info contained in the following image --



Now, before anyone messes with any of these -- I highly recommend opening Task Manager, clicking the PERFORMANCE tab, and making this part visible at all times during experimentation.



The reason why is if your system SPIKES and becomes WAY TOO HOT you need to see it coming and DITCH. (Ditch = reboot back into BIOS and put that setting back where it was!)

Secondly, keep a snapshot of the default settings of your BIOS. Mine should be yours and mine are at the top of this thread.

Now, this 'Jesse' person in that thread believes (it is Jesse's opinion) that keeping a system below 60C is not necessary. That it is maybe extreme to keep it in the 30s to 40s at all times. I have no idea if that is true. I suspect in gaming and video editing and heavy CPU loads -- you want it as cool as possible. What might be called 'performance' mode. But otherwise -- lighter activties may simply not require such dramatic and noisy fans responses.

Minisforum -- do you fear that the unit will burn out if not kept in the high 30s low 40s?

Since it is my opinion the fan is on too much, I'm going to try to find out if that person's opinion is accurate. I'm going to proceed cautiously and report back.

I have already changed 'Fan Start PWM' to 50 instead of 60. According to those notes above it slows down the fan. I can report right now that the fan's pitch is much lower. It's on -- but it sounds like it's 8 feet away from me instead of 2. While I currently type with the computer otherwise idle I'm at 36 degrees.

So I opened YouTube and played a 1080p60 video off YouTube. (That 60fps can upset many computers. I also added in a Quick Defender scan at the same time.)




The temperature went up to this --



The audio of the YouTube (the smart and beautiful Pratima Adhikari) drowned out all fan noise. When I paused the video I heard no loud fans. There is only a faint hum of sorts. This may have already resolved my problems.

 

[Gianni]

Cciao MiniManiac;
seguo i tuoi interventi per cercare di ottimizzare e risolvere i problemi che possono presentarsi ad una macchina come il DMAF5.

Vorrei chiedere una cosa relativamente alla voce "PWM slope setting", presente sulla schermata Bios all'inizio del post che indica il valore 2.
Se io imposto il valore 1 cosa cambia? Tutte le altre impostazioni rimangono le stesse.

Il fine è cercare di capire come funzionano i sistemi di controllo ventola.

Spero di essere stato chiaro nella richiesta.

grazie se vorrai rispondere o anche se qualche altro nel forum vorrà rispondere.

Cordialmente
Gianni

 

[MiniManiac]

Ciao Gianni.

Non capisco "Impostazioni pendenza PVM".

Jesse suggerisce:

'Fan Start PVM' = la velocità di rotazione del ventilatore
'PVM Slope Setting = quanto velocemente aumenterà se la ventola deve andare più veloce

Potresti provare a scendere a uno. Tuttavia, queste sono le impostazioni che ho in questo momento e funzionano bene.





Vedi se ti piace? Ma fa attenzione! Forse un male per i giochi o una stanza calda?

(Translation in English)

Gianni asked me what PVM Slope is about. I am not sure. Jesse indicates the slope is the percentage that the fan will increase if it turns itself up. Whereas the Fan Start PVM is the speed at which the fan will start.

The pictures indicate where I have mine set RIGHT NOW. So far, so good. But be CAREFUL people. I wouldn't game this way OR have it set this way in a hot room.

 

[Gianni]

Le impostazioni del Bios sono uguali a quelle che ho io, che sono le impostazioni di fabbrica, ma la temperatura cpu è di circa 40 ° C, con 4 pagine Youtube aperte e video musicali. Io non utilizzo giochi di nessun tipo.

proverò a utilizzare con programmi che possono mettere sotto i difficoltà la cpu.

 

[MiniManiac]

The easiest way I know how to test a CPU is a FULL SCAN with Windows Security. For some reason it uses %100 of the CPU and the fans go wild. It can be like 40 minutes if you do nothing else. It can be hours if you try to use the PC too. (Don't do that.)

To get to a full scan go HERE --



then do this




Anyone who wants to try this I recommend putting the PC temps in front of you. So that you can quit if you get nervous. This app will show you everything --

https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy (Download FREE version and avoid installing additional software)

This is why my system looks like in Speccy with the BIOS changes --



With a FULL SCAN running temperatures SHOW UP to 80s and 90s. It made me nervous so I stopped it. This is why I say BE CAUTIOUS.

 

[MiniManiac]

So. I set the fan section of the BIOS back to default. It did a better job keeping things cool during the Windows Security Full Scan.

This presents a dilemma for the consumer. Minisforum (smartly) tuned this PC to protect itself from overheating in extreme circumstances. The cost is that the fan is TOO NOISY in 'normal' situations. Surfing, YouTube, opening a word processor. Touch ANYTHING and WHOOSH/WHIRR.

Users, therefore, must make one of these choices --

1. Leave BIOS on default and have constant fan noise WHOOSHING, going UP and DOWN when you touch anything.
2. Altering the BIOS so that it is much quieter... but losing gaming and doing extremely taxing things with the CPU.
3. Manually alternating between both. (Doable but cumbersome.)

Since I rarely do taxing things -- I think I can live with option 3. And with these settings in the BIOS.

 

[Gianni]

Ciao a tutti;

Vorrei considerare l'effetto Whoosh / Whirr che diventa fastidioso durante l'utilizzo del pc.
l'impostazione del BIOS "PWM slope setting", ha un valore 2 pwm. Sembra che questo PWM slope setting sia la velocità con sui la ventola aumenta / diminuisce i giri durante il normale utilizzo. Provando ad abbassare il valore a 1pwm, senza cambiare tutti gli altri parametri, il lavoro della ventola sembra più delicato e meno fastidioso e quindi whoosh / WHIRR risulta meno evidente.

Se puoi fare una e poi dimmi se mi sono sbagliato.

Per adesso fare una scansione completa non ho tempo; tengo in considerazione e vedremo più avanti.

 

[Gianni]

Se Puoi fare una prova per verifica...

 

[MiniManiac]

Hello Gianni.

I think you ask me to put all settings back to normal... except PVM Slope Setting. Then you ask me to from 2 to 1. I did this. I even went lower.

It improves noise level problem. Somewhat. But there is still noise when you open a browser, close a browser.

Hmm. I will play with it more tomorrow.


Ciao Gianni.

Penso che tu mi stia chiedendo di ripristinare tutte le impostazioni alla normalità ... eccetto PVM Slope Setting. Poi mi chiedi di passare da 2 a 1. L'ho fatto. Sono persino andato un livello sotto uno.

Migliora il problema del livello di rumore. Un po '. Ma c'è ancora rumore quando apri un browser, chiudi un browser.


Hmm. Lo suonerò di più domani.

 

[Gianni]

Si, chiedevo di provare a passare lo PWM slope setting da 2 a 1 e quindi confermi che si ha un miglioramento e questo va bene.

le altre impostazioni, a mio avviso, sarebbe da non variarle perché penso siano ottimizzate per il sistema del Pc e non si va a compromettere nulla.

MiniManiac grazie per le prove fatte.

Gianni

 

[Batdad]

Hello MiniManiac, thank you for the research and thoughtful insights. I did find @joey response a little frustrating. I'm surprised that (a) this left the design stage/factory with this fan noise (b) Minisforum aren't looking at a bios update to optimise the fan characteristics. I wish I was a hardware engineer to have a better handle on this.

I think Minisforum should really be providing better guidance here i.e.
. can we safely up the starting temperature?
. can we reduce the slope so the speed ramps up much slower?
. Can we reduce the PWM so the fan spins more slowly?

Out of the box this mini pc is ruined by the fan noise. if it really does require the "stock" settings minisforum should be ashamed of themselves for letting this leave the factory. If they can reduce the fan noise with a bios update then perfect BUT to simply say users can change fan speeds to their "personal needs" is at best no guidance at all and at worst a deliberate avoidance of admitting the issue.

I do think you may be onto something with the lower PWM. to my ears this fan is simply spinning way too fast too quickly. If the PC really does need this kind of airflow they need a bigger fan and heatsink combo I think

 

[MiniManiac]

I'm surprised that (a) this left the design stage/factory with this fan noise (b) Minisforum aren't looking at a bios update to optimize the fan characteristics.

I wish I could say I'm surprised but let me share some info with you.

1. I was a Mac ONLY user for 29 years. I switched when Windows 10 happened. I got a VivoMini PC that promised to be 'library' quiet. (WhateverTF that means.) It was quiet for like a month and then started to WHOOSH when you did anything. Just as annoying at this DMAF5 is not more so. I tried all sorts of things. Since it's INTEL I could try the Speedfan app and WOW I was able to eliminate the WHOOSHING. But soon it came back and I discovered the fan was FILTHY with dust. After I cleaned it I found a sideways solution -- vacuum in the intakes every once in a while. Oh, I know, you're not supposed to do that. But I found it was the best way to minimize internal dust without the annoying task of opening it up.

The ONE advantage this DMAF5 has is the completely EASY access to that noisy fan. It's why I didn't return this a day after I turned it on.

2. I recently bought a Beelink GK55. It's a Celeron situation but surprisingly fast for basics like surfing, streaming, LibreOffice. It's slower than the DMAF5, but (via AliExpress) I got it for $179 shipped and taxed. (That was on the Chinese version of Black Friday.) But did that fan in that make noise? Wait for it... YUP. However, it is NOT of the whooshing variety. Just a constant rather tolerable WIIIISSSSHHHH. And Speedfan did work on this Intel, which made it frickin' silent. Like you have to put your ear up to it silent. Like a finely tuned laptop. The catch is Speedfan won't come on automatically at boot. But it's no big deal to click it once every time you boot.

3. Before this DMAF5 I tried a direct competitor: the Beelink GTR. It was kinda crazy to do so. Why? It has 2 fans! That Mini has the D'5's exact same processor. Did it make noise? YUP. WOOOSHIE WISSSSSHEEEE. It's sitting on a bench ready to be sent back to Amazon. I already wrote a review explaining that all other reviews are not talking about the fan noise aren't honest reviews. And like the Beelink GK55 -- there's no easy way to get to the fan and clean it.

So I'm not the least bit surprised. And I'm starting to sober up about Mini PCs in general. As in there's no such thing as a Mini PC with some sort of power that isn't noisy. I had a Beelink Celeron from a few years ago. Fanless, silent, but sluggish at 1Ghz speeds. A 1080p60 video would choke it. Opening 8 tabs at once -- not advised.

I had a discussion on this fan topic at Ten Forums. One of the smartees over there murmured something about the fan's thickness being the culprit. That a thick fan like we have on the DMAF5 can cool the system much faster (yay) but it's physical size causes more noise (boo!). My wife has a Vivobook s15 (5 8th Gen) and I have a Lenovo Flex 14 (Ryzen 5 3000 series). Two thin laptops that are typically SILENT.

This explains why there's no way to make this unit as quiet. It's not the BIOS. Or the settings. It's the fan itself. It's big. And maybe it has too much room to make noise in somehow. Simply physics. My issue is why aren't these Minis designed LIKE laptops in this way?

What I'm contemplating now is buying a silent laptop AS my desktop. That is I'd connect my 25 inch display and have two monitors. But I'd have to detach at least once a day and also use it as my kitchen PC/TV. Right now is a lousy time to buy laptops in the supply and demand sense.

I'm also considering the new M1 Mac Mini. Funny story -- that model isn't mini. It's low but wide. But I wonder if the Apple engineers realized what I just did -- it needs to be designed like a laptop to be silent. The problem is Apple can lie like a rug. They have peeps all over the net saying "8GBs is fine!!!" But when I dumped Apple 3.5 years ago my iMac was constantly strained with 8GBs. I bought this 16GB MinisF for that reason. So to get the spec this MinisF has costs over a thousand.

So I here your frustration. Joey @ Minisforum -- we can presume no BIOS fix is coming. Right? Y'all are moving on to the 4000 series AMDs? Which used to excite me but now I fear they're only going to be worse in heat issues?

 

[MiniManiac]

MiniManiac grazie per le prove fatte.

So I try your settings. Default but PVM slope down to 1. The fans still go up and down when you do anything, but not as loud as before. When it rests, I find the PC does a constant WUUUR. Based on laptops I own (Vivobook S14 and Lenovo Flex 14) that WUUUR is still annoying.

Quindi provo le tue impostazioni. Predefinito ma PVM scende a 1. I fan continuano ad andare su e giù quando fai qualcosa, ma non così forte come prima. Quando si ferma, trovo che il PC esegue un WUUUR costante. Basato sui laptop che possiedo (Vivobook S14 e Lenovo Flex 14), WUUUR è ancora fastidioso.

These are the settings that keep the PC mostly quite.

Queste sono le impostazioni che mantengono il PC per lo più silenzioso.



The most important setting (for me) is 'Fan start PVM'. Even at 45 it makes a quiet WUUUR. At 40 it goes away. Have you tried this?

L'impostazione più importante (per me) è "Fan start PVM". Anche a 45 gradi c'è un WUUUR tranquillo. A 40 anni silenzio. Hai provato questo?

 

[MiniManiac]

So Joey. Members in this thread have been experimenting with settings. This is my video of my settings. I'm running a task called an SFC. I show it running, the percentage completed, the CPU temp in taskbar, and how much noise it makes.

Now I do the exact same test with Default Bios Fan 1 settings.

If you notice the fan is on at the top of test. Stays on the entire test. Sometimes gets louder, then backs off, gets louder again.

The default settings keep the unit cooler. But much louder. Both tests take the same amount of time.

 

[Gianni]

Buongiorno a tutti;

MiniManiac grazie ancora per tutto il lavoro di setting che fai e che hai condiviso.

ottimi i video che sanno l'idea di come lavora la ventola del DMAF5 e che conferma che abbassando il valore del PWM impostazione pendenza la ventola è meno rumorosa.
Io utilizzo il DMAF5 con programmi audio musicali e spesso con cuffie quindi per me la ventola risulta meno fastidiosa.

Anche io avevo pensato di passare al nuovo Apple M1 ma non avendo mai utilizzato prodotti Apple non ero sicuro del risultato. Inoltre su un altro forum alcuni utenti consigliavano il nuovo M1 perché non ancora testato con programmi audio.

MiniManiac, vorrei chiedere se hai esperienza su connessione DisplayPort.
Su un altro 3d, sempre relativo al DMAF5, chiedevo informazioni sul cavo da utilizzare per collegare i miei monitor. Quindi ho provato diversi cavi DisplayPort / Hdmi ma ho dovuto restituire tutto perché non funziona nulla.

Ho chiesto informazioni ma nessuno hanno dato una risposta chiara.

Questo non va bene perché sono stato attirato nella scelta del DMAF5 per la futura possibilità di collegare più monitor, vengono indicati fino a 3 monitor, ma niente DisplayPort non funziona.

Quindi ti chiedo se sai indicare un articolo che possa funzionare con DisplayPort.

Grazie ancora per il lavoro svolto.