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Re: smart fans

On 9/6/21 6:03 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:

David Christensen wrote:


You seem to have got the old file again, check it out again,
because some of those issues have already been
mentioned/fixed:
   https://dataswamp.org/~incal/ebchw/cpu.txt


Much better:
   http://www.holgerdanske.com/pub/dpchrist/debian-user/20210821-smart-fans/


OK, what stuff remains, remove the spaces? Let's do it good
now that we spent so much time on it :)
Different people have different ideas of what "CSV format" means. The example CSV output I posted on 9/3/21 6:45 PM was created by LibreOffice Calc. If you can match that, you should be able to read it with most programs that accept CSV input. 



Have you isolated and identified the primary sound source(s)
in the computer?


I removed the HDD, now I have an SSD (M.2), so that should be
no more 29 dB (worst case) from the HDD. Also... the M.2 is
much faster so now Debian boots much faster and stuff
like that. Amazing :)

Where does it come from?

I still don't know the dB of the GPU

   GFX    msi Nvidia Geforce GT 710 · 2GB DDR3 · PCI-E2.0 · HDMI+DL-DVI-D

and I also don't know the dB of the PSU, however I did find
out it is a

   PSU    Seasonic Focus 100-240VAC
We need a complete model name or part number for the Seasonic -- they make several "Focus" models. 


STFW I am unable find noise specifications for either.



Have you implemented any vibration or sound
mitigation measures?


See the COMPUTER file for upgrades :)



https://dataswamp.org/~incal/ebchw/COMPUTER

I do not see any vibration or sound mitigation measures (?).


Please provide complete manufacturer names, model names, part numbers, etc..



I finally understand it, I think, the first digit isn't the
minimum duty cycle (that's the second digit) but the _minimum
speed_, so we see that the DC fans can only go as low as 60%,
while the 140 mm PWM fan can get down to 20% and the 120 mm
dittos 24%.

However one can in the BIOS/UEFI/Setup explicitly say DCs
should disable when not even 60% is needed because of whatever
temperature function one has defined (I just choose the
optimal which was computed live BTW, cool)

So the problem was, perhaps, that the 2 DCs were running at
60% all the time, even when the computer was idle?

So Maybe I should get away with the "Corsair A1225M12S" and
the DC version of "be quiet! Shadow Wings 2" and replace with
the PWM versions I already have (but too few), then all 140 mm
will run at 20% and all 120 mm will run at 24%?
                                                          min.   min.
fan    connector  fan                      mm  pin dB(A) speed  duty cycle
        CHA_FAN1   Corsair A1225M12S        120  3  18.9  60%    34%
        CHA_FAN2   be quiet! Shadow Wings 2 140  4  14.9  20%    17%
        CHA_FAN3   be quiet! Shadow Wings 2 140  3  14.7  60%    24%
        CPU_FAN    be quiet! Pure Wings 2   120  4  15.9  24%    25%
        CPU_OPT    be quiet! Pure Wings 2   120  4  15.9  24%    25%


If you have magnetic HDD's, switching to SSD's would
eliminate those vibrations.


I had the SSD M.2 mounted on the motherboard all along,
without ever using it!

Now worst-case has gone from

   (db 18.9 14.9 14.7 15.9 15.9 29.0) ; 30.0 dB

to

   (db 14.9 15.9 15.9) ; 20.36 dB
   <https://dataswamp.org/~incal/emacs-init/audio.el>

since the DC fans stop. However when idling shouldn't be the
"worst case", so the PWM fans at 20%, 24%, and 24%
respectively shouldn't do that kind of noise, so my guess is
it is the GPU ...

But I didn't try to read and see if it still annoys me (or if
I even notice a difference), so let's do that now :)
Fan speed and noise data would help in making rational decisions, such as what happens to CPU temperature for a given workload when you reduce fan speeds or turn them off, etc..
The CMOS Setup should be able to tell you fan speeds, CPU temperatures, voltages, and other internal parameters.
For noise measurements, you want a sound meter, a smart phone with a sound measuring app, a microphone and a PC with Audacity, a microphone and a multi-meter, etc.. Or, make subjective noise measurements by ear.
Open the case, disconnect the PSU from everything, remove the GPU card, and disconnect all the fans. Then, turn the PSU on, make a noise measurement, and turn the PSU off. Repeat until you get a reliable measurement. Then connect the PSU to the motherboard and repeat; but only briefly (~10 seconds) while the CPU fan(s) are disconnected. Allow the CPU and heat pipe time to cool between trials (~2 minutes). Then connect the GPU to the motherboard and PSU, and repeat; again, briefly, etc.. Then connect the other fans one at a time and repeat, starting with CPU fans. Once you have both CPU fans connected, then you can use the CMOS Setup utility to get fan speed data and CPU temperature data. Check if your CMOS Setup utility can apply load the CPU. If so, gather data under varying load conditions -- 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, etc..
What is your use-case? E.g. what services are you running 24x7? How much computing power do you need when you want the computer to be silent? Try using cpufreq-set(1) to lower the maximum CPU frequency until it matches the average CPU workload. Try turning off CPU cores. The goal is to keep the CPU low, the heat production low, and the fans at low speed at all times.
Contact Corsair technical support and ask if they sell a sound absorbing material kit for your chassis, or can recommend one. And/or contact technical support for the companies that make these kits, tell them your chassis make and model, and ask them for recommendations. 


David
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