Is my MSI G45 Z87 Gaming supposed to be able to control the RPMs of my Noctua NH-D14 fans?

Pavel Pokidaylo

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Hello. I have an MSI G45 Z87 gaming mobo and an NH-D14 cooler. The coolers fan connectors are 3pin and the motherboard has 4pin. When I connect the fans to the mobo they spin at around 1200-1300 RPM even though the CPU is at 25 degrees and I can't control them. I tried through Bios and through MSI command center and nothing works. I had to put on low voltage filters to keep them from spinning so fast.

This mobo is actually a 2nd RMA because I had problems with the original after my computer guy messed something up. The first RMA they sent me was also having issues so now I'm one.
I'm pretty sure the first mobo was controlling the fans.

If anyone knows if this mobo should be able to control these fans please let me know. Thanks.
 

Pavel Pokidaylo

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Hey thanks for the reply. I didn't set up the bios. Actually, my computer guy put the PC together for me as I don't know how to fully assemble a PC. He has done it like 3 times already since this started. What I did was I used MSI live update to download the latest bios and install it. I've tried going into the bios and mess around with the settings for the fans but it does nothing.

I've been told that since these fans have 3pin connectors, some of the newer motherboards will not control their RPMs since the motherboards are 4pin but these fans were dead silent on the original Mobo.

Right now all of the fans in the PC are spinning too fast/making noise. The original build was dead silent. The 2 front fans and one 200MM side fan were very silent even with the controller turned up to the highest setting. I will list my hardware here...

Case- Corsair Carbide 500R
Mobo- MSI G45 Z87 Gaming
CPU- i5 4670k
CPU Cooler- Noctua NH-D14
GPU- MSI 780 ti Gaming
PSU- Seasonic 1050W Gold
RAM- 8Gig Gskill RIpjaw 1600xmp
SSD- Samsung 840 Pro 256
Also have 2 HDDs.

What happened was my computer guy made a mistake with where he put the RAM originally he put them in first and second slots because he didnt see the mobo said to put it in 2nd and fourth slots first. This was fine but then he installed the CPU Cooler and didn't notice that the outside fan casing was lightly pressed up against one of the RAM stick heatsinks. After a few weeks I started hearing a noise coming from the CPU and didn't know what it was, I should have realized its because the fan casing is touching the RAM. Anyway, after he messed with it we turned it on and ran heaven and 10 seconds in it froze. We tried to reset but it said no power, finally he hit the mobo reset. After this it booted back up into windows as normal but everything was making noise now. The Video card was making noise from the power connectors, all the fans were spinning too fast and there was even noise coming from the PSU and Mobo.

I've changed everything I could think of. I got Corsair to send me new fans and a new I/O panel with the fan controller on it.
I've RMA'd the video card and motherboard like 3 times to MSI because they keep sending me back defective stuff. The first video card they sent me as replacement was broken, would black or blue or purple screen every ten seconds so I sent it back. They sent me a brand new card in sealed box as replacement and it's making coil whine and crashing in Wolfenstein telling me my computer is low on memory. I'm going to send this card back AGAIN =/. The second motherboard they sent me was doing the same things as the first and also had a USB issue so I sent it back. The motherboard they sent me the 2nd time is the one that's in now. At first it would hang for 10-15 seconds on start up and also the PC would reset on its own after shut down. I fixed this by draining the power and hitting the mobo reset.

Right now pretty much all the fans are spinning too fast and/or making noise they should not be making. I've tried to take it to a few stores but they just tell me that it's normal and they can't do anything about it. I know it's because they are probably too lazy and it's not worth it for them to try and figure out what is causing this.

I had a perfectly silent PC and because of the mistake this guy made I've been in a never ending nightmare with this rig for the last 2 months.

For right now, I just want MSI to send me a properly working card.
 

Pavel Pokidaylo

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Ok Thanks. I have no clue how to do that stuff but maybe the MSI rep can help me with it. He's also near clueless though since he could not tell me this himself.

Do you think the case fans are spinning too fast/making noise because of this too? These 3 fans are controlled by the fan controller on the I/O panel and not by the mobo but it's all connected.
 

Pavel Pokidaylo

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I don't think the fans are loose and they are connected to the fan controller on the I/O panel of the case. So I guess they are plugged into the power supply. I could still hear them at the lowest the speed and if I turn it up to the highest they get really loud. Before all this happened these fans were dead silent. Corsair sent me new fans and a new I/O panel and they are still doing the same thing.

The PSU was also changed. When the PC froze it had the 875W PSU from my old Alienware. After the PC froze like that and we hit the mobo reset, the PSU was making a buzzing noise so I put in a new Seasonic PSU. Right now I have low voltage filters on all the fans and I guess they make less noise but I can still hear them and I don't have control of them because of the filters. I want all the fans to work like they did originally. They were all dead silent and I had control of them.

Can you tell me how to set up the mobo again correctly? I think the only place in the Bios where I have the settings you mentioned is in the overclocking part.
 
Boot into BIOS and set optimized defaults. Might be called something else with MSI. Then enable XMP profile1 should do it for the memory. Go through the rest of the BIOS and set anything else that needs to be set up. If you don't have a MB manual, you can download a PDF of it at the MB's web site at MSI. Don't forget to save and exit.

There are small explanations in the BIOS about the settings when high-lighted. When I do not understand the lingo in the BIOS for a setting, I google it and figure it out. After you set your BIOS up once or twice, it becomes easier.