How should I tune my fan curves for quieter gaming and editing?
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MellowCedar42
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?
Answers
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.
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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.
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MellowCedar42: 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.
BlueKite_81: 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.