Variable RPM with CPU fan? Advice needed

[jalbin83]

I recently purchased an Arctic Cooler Freezer Pro 7 for my Asus P5K Deluxe (running Intel Q6600). It's not extremely loud, but not extremely quiet either.. was spinning around 2600 RPM. Upon browsing around in BIOS, I located an Asus feature called 'Q-Fan Control' which allows you to enable different 'profiles' for your fans. The options for CPU fan are Silent (very low RPM), Optimal (middle RPM?) and Performance (RPM based on current usage needs). So basically, I enabled Q-Fan Control and chose 'Performance' and my PC is now nice and silent! But in doing so I discovered that my CPU fan RPM is also now around 900, give or take about 50. Now I am NOT a gamer nor do I run many resource-hungry applications. At most given times, I am just browsing several websites, downloading (lots of) music and/or running a few non-intensive programs.

So... is it unwise to enable Q-Fan Control on Performance Mode? Would it be best to keep my fan running at it's full 2600 RPM at all times regardless of what I'm doing? And.. is 900 RPM too low and thus potentially dangerous for my components?

Thanks for any input!

Edit: Oh yea, one more important tidbit.. Q6600 is NOT overclocked.

 

[Ph30nIX]

Nothing wrong with it, it would just run slightly hotter than @ 2600RPM. If it begins to get to hot, the fan will speed up to cool down again for a period off time.

You can also see the CPU temp in the bios to compare.

 

[jalbin83]

thanks for the input. so basically i shouldn't 'worry' about heat issues (yet) since the board should be able to adjust RPM settings accordingly? my case seems to be the same exact temp as when CPU fan was running at full RPM.. still somewhat cool to the touch, for now at least.

 

[captaincranky]

Desperate Times Demand Desperate Measures.....

The Arctic Freezer has PWM control and can be run with whatever Asus is calling their variable fan control BIOS function. Why not try it, while monitoring your CPU temperature. It would be quite a bit quieter than simply running at 2600RPM full time.

Besides, it's not a big deal to boot into BIOS and go back to full speed operation before a big night of heavy gaming.