can you lower fan speed?

[asabour]

is there a way to lower the fan speed of my heatsink? I have a really fast and loud heatsink fan, and would like to lower the speed if possible so it's not so darn loud! I have and ASUS A7A mobo. Thanks!

 

[bbarnes]

You can either use a fan controller to lower it to 7v or a Rheostat for just the CPU fan or get a Rheobus for 4+ fans for about $40-60.

 

[mechBgon]

You can also make your own 7-volt converter from a cheap 3-pin-to-4-pin adapter, if your fan is a 3-pin type of fan.

On the adapter, the male and female 4-pin plugs are connected by four wires (red, black, black, yellow). Remove the red one and the black one that's next to red. That leaves you with the yellow wire and the black one next to it.

Now you can leave the yellow wire where it is, and remove the black one and move it to the vacant end hole, where the red one was. This grounds your fan to the +5V line. Your fan now sees 12V - 5V = 7V, and will run a lot quieter. Make sure your fan does consistently start rotating from a standstill at this voltage.

To remove the wires from the adapter plugs, use something thin and pointy like a needle to press in the "barbs" sticking out the sides of the metal pins, while pulling a little.

edit: don't use the free 4-pin end of the converter to power anything like a hard drive, after making this conversion! :Q

 

[dejablue]

you don't give any info about your setup, but my bedroom computer (don't we all have one of those), is a 1 ghz t'bird, alpha 8045. i have no fans in front, two enermax thermal fans in the rear, one on the heatsink, and one in my psu (switched out). it is virtually silent, and i run temps of 27c idle and 41c at load. just a thought......makes for good surfing while the wife sleeps....hehe

 

[ModelM]

if you are looking for a low cost solution, and you don't plan on adjusting the fan speed, just buy a regular resistor for a few cents.

 

[HouRman]

A resistor won't allow adjustability which I think is crucial. Rheostats are $2-4 at Radio shack in the pentiometer section. I suggest those and hooking them inline with the negative wire of the fan. Rotary knobs can then be used to externally adjust the fan RPM. I soldered mine, but crimping them would be ok.

I've got chrome knobs on mine next to a temp gauge

 

[seymour]

<< don't use the free 4-pin end of the converter to power anything like a hard drive, after making this conversion! :Q >>



Use the method on this page and you can still use the other end to plug in a drive

 

[DJMiX]

Who do i run tne case fan @ 5 volts...
I running @ 7 volts , but would like it a bit quieter (blow hole fan on side)