Noctua NB-B9 Fan and Aspire TC-885 Problem

Just got the Noctua NF-B9 redux-1600 PWM grey 92mm fan with 4-pin connector a few days. Plugged to the "SYS_Fan" header on motherboard of my Acer Aspire TC885 UA-91 (other reviewer of TC885 PC seemed to have some problems of this fan too). During cold boot, I could not see the fan turn. After boot up, I run the CPUID HWMonitor program and could not see a new fan under "Fans" or "Fans PWM" sections. Unplug and plug back in tightly the 4-Pin connector, it was the same, no info and the fan won't turn. However, after using the PC for more than two hours during hot summer afternoon, I could see from CPUID HWMonitor there was a new entry under "Fans", indicated a FANIN2, showed it was running around 150 RPM, and I could see the fan physically barely turning. I was running CrystalDiskInfo by that time and I could see one 3.5" 7200 RPM SATA HDD was in the red zone briefly at 50 degree C. Why the fan won't turn on earlier? I suppose it should turn on well before the HDD hitting 50 degree C.

In the past few days, I could not see the fan working 95% of the time. What puzzled me was why the fan won't turn during boot up? Is it supposed to be working this way? I have never added a case fan for for PCs, and the first time encountered something like this. Don't know if the fan is good or bad? Or it is the Noctua PWM Fan and TC-885 PC combination is just not compatible?

The connection cable came with the fan arrived in a folded condition. It was like a shape "V" shape, in such a manner that the "FOLDED" cable can touch each other. The cable, even though very flexible, should not be folded like that. I wonder if any of the inside wire got partially broken and caused the situation that I encountered.

Accepted answers

Commodore_1995#

I don't know this program, but you can download it to see if the program allows you to make any adjustments to the fan: https://www.argusmonitor.de/en/fan_control.php

All comments

Commodore_1995#

Try disabling the smart fan in the bios. The fan will probably be working all the time.

ttttt

Dear Egydiocoelho,

Yes, I have disabled Smart Fan in the BIOS, then the fan comes on all the time running at 1800 RPM+, and makes plenty of noise. It's supposed to a 1600 RPM fan, running as high as 1880 RPM. Tried to run SpeedFan program but the program did not recognize the fan, and there is no fan entry when trying to configure the program.

It will be good that I can use a software that I can control the speed, even doing it manually every time.

Maybe I should not add a case fan to the PC.

Commodore_1995#

When you turn off the smartfan, does the fan run as soon as you turn on the computer? Also, does hwmonitor recognize the fan when the smartfan is disabled?

ttttt

Dear Egydiocoelho,

Yes, the fan ran as soon as I booted up after disabling the Smart Fan. Hwmonitor recognize the fan as soon as the Smartfan is disabled, that is where I saw that the fan was running at 1800 RPM+. Just no fan entry under SpeedFan program.

Commodore_1995#

I don't know this program, but you can download it to see if the program allows you to make any adjustments to the fan: https://www.argusmonitor.de/en/fan_control.php

ttttt

Dear Egydiocoelho,

I gave the SpeedFan program one more try. I uninstall it first, rebooted, ran the HWInfo program made sure the fan was running. Then I downloaded and installed the SpeedFan program again, still no fan discovered.

Thank you very much for your time. I 'll keep the fan running all the time during the whole summer season, and may enable the Smart Fan during winter.
Just not worth spending too much time on a $10 case fan, as long as it is working, though not fully the way that I anticipated.

Commodore_1995#

Does the bios provide any option to control fans?

ttttt

Dear Egydiocoelho,

The BIOS of my PC only has the option to enable or disable Smart Fan and nothing else. I guess that is the best I can do now. Thanks again.

Commodore_1995#

Colleague @billsey may know something. That's why I'm calling him to participate in this topic

ttttt

Dear Egydiocoelho,

Thanks for your recommendation! I have installed the Argus Monitor and finally can take control of the case fan manually without letting it running at full speed or not running at all. Now, I have to adjust the settings not allowing the CPU fan running too fast ( the CPU temperature dropped below 35 degree C). Currently I am allowing the CPU fan running around 1380 RPM (CPU temperature around 37 C) , and the case fan running at 840 RPM and the x4 M.2 NVMe SSD at 36 C. I believe this is healthy condition for my PC.

The important point is the PC is now pretty quiet, barely can hear the fan turning. I am very happy now.

Thanks again!

Commodore_1995#

@ttttt Congratulations on your success. Can you upload a video, adjusting the fan with the argus monitor?

ttttt

Dear Egydiocoelho,

Here are some pictures.

To adjust fan speed, (in the bottom picture) under the MAINBOARD tab and the FAN CONTROL section, just move the right side sliders to the desired %.
Note that the fans cannot be set below a certain percentage under "Manual Controlled". This drop down tab section has three options: BIOS Controlled, Manual Controlled and Software Controlled. This is shown in the bottom picture. If I select to use Software Controlled, both fans will run on 80% of maximum and created some noises . The manual setting that I have is already a little bit overkill, so I'll use manual setting without creating noise. If using BIOS Controlled, both fans are running at full speed and make the most noises.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/gp/5qqdiyn9k4rn.jpg

And the CPU Temp. for the 4 cores are like that in top picture. This is under normal light duty operations like surfing the web.
Just do not know what is a healthy low CPU temperature should be? 35 degree?