Case fan way too loud

grantwolf

Honorable
Oct 11, 2013
7
0
10,510
I have a Lenovo M91p, and since the day I got it, the case fan has been extremely loud. While not consistent, it often times runs at (what seems like) 100%. This is extremely loud (I get a reading of around 75db a few inches from the case).

I installed Speedfan, but it doesn't recognize any case fans at all.

The Lenovo bios doesn't seem to have any fan control options. In fact, I can't find the word "fan" in any of the bios settings.

As a last resort, I replaced the fan, thinking that perhaps it was just a noisy fan, but the new fan has the same issue...basically blowing way too hard.

On the Lenovo board, this rear case fan is connected to the "system fan" slot.

Would connecting the fan directly to the power supply change its behavior?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Connecting the fan directly to the power supply would have it run 100% all the time; with it plugged into the motherboard, there should be a way to control it, unless they are 3-pin fans and your motherboard does not supply voltage regulation. (These days, it's hard to come across one that doesn't.)

What fans are you using? Also, any chance you can take a screenshot of Speedfan?
 

grantwolf

Honorable
Oct 11, 2013
7
0
10,510
I'll screenshot when I get home. The case fan that came with the system had a 4-pin power connection. I replaced it (two days ago) with a Synex 3-pin, which I've got plugged in to the MB at the same 4-pin power spot.

 

AskKyle

Commendable
Jul 21, 2016
1
0
1,510
I am also getting an issue with max fan speeds. I've re-cased this machine and added a Gigabyte GTX 970 and thought it might just be a cheap stock CPU cooler. I swapped the cooler out today for the 212 Evo that is so highly regarded as quiet and efficient. The result...fan still runs at max speed. It's quieter, but still hella loud. I'm also noticing that there is nothing in the BIOS for fan speeds and nothing shows up as available in SpeedFan to adjust manually either. I'm sad to say that I don't think this motherboard has any fan controllers or even monitors on the CPU fan socket, but I'm hoping someone will prove me wrong. Unfortunately, the motherboard manuals for this thing are pretty horrible (do not completely match board) too...
 

grantwolf

Honorable
Oct 11, 2013
7
0
10,510


In retrospect, it was my CPU fan that was causing the noise, not the case fan. I also swapped out my stock fan for an aftermarket cooler and actually did notice a pretty significant difference in noise. In the process, I also blew all of the dust out of the case (which was a significant amount).