I'm trying to find a better balance between noise and cooling. My current fan curve becomes noticeably loud around 70°C, and while playing VALORANT my CPU tends to hover near that temperature, causing the fans to repeatedly ramp up and down. My CPU reaches about 75°C in VALORANT and around 72°C during video editing. I'm using a Ryzen 9 9950X, RTX 5080 16GB, Gigabyte X870 AORUS Elite WiFi7, and 64GB of RAM. The BIOS allows separate control of CPU_FAN, CPU_OPT, SYS_FAN1–4, SYS_FAN5_PUMP, and SYS_FAN6_PUMP, but I've only adjusted CPU_FAN so far. Should I configure the other headers too? Should they use the same curve, or should the CPU, case, and pump fans be staggered differently to reduce noise and prevent constant ramping?
2 Answers
A smoother, gradual curve should help more than a steep jump at 70°C. As a starting point, you could keep the fans near 40–50% at lower temperatures, increase them progressively through the 70s, and reserve 100% for around 85–90°C. Add a temperature response delay or hysteresis if your BIOS supports it so small temperature changes don’t constantly change fan speed. CPU_FAN should react to CPU temperature, while case fans can use a slower CPU-based curve or, if your control software supports it, respond to GPU temperature during gaming. Pump headers should normally run at a constant high speed unless your cooler specifically recommends a curve.
Start conservatively, monitor temperatures and noise, then adjust one step at a time. For example, keep roughly 40% below 60°C, 55–60% around 70°C, 75–80% around 80°C, and 100% near 90°C. If temperatures remain stable, you can lower the middle points for less noise.
Try a mild undervolt if your system is stable, and adjust the curve so it doesn’t reach full speed until roughly 80–85°C. Your current temperature range is not necessarily dangerous, so there’s room to prioritize lower noise.
That makes sense, but I’m still unsure what exact curve to start with. I don’t want the system to run too warm while editing.