There is something weird going on with my fans.

[danxor]

I built this system (https://pcpartpicker.com/user/danxor10/saved/vX6tJx) in December 2018. It worked great for a long time, but about a year ago started exhibiting some weird behavior with the fans.

Since the beginning, my GPU fans almost never turned on when playing most games. When they did spin, they pulsed for a second or two then stopped, then pulsed again. This was the first strange behavior I noticed. About a year ago I started to notice when playing Dead by Daylight some of my fans would go berserk for 5-10 seconds at a time spinning at max RPM it seemed like. I chalked it up the DbD being the buggy mess that it is. Around this time too I got a bios CPU fan error and had to go into the bios and change something to ignore in order to boot. Very disappointing from such an expensive mobo.

I stopped playing DbD for a while, but have started again and still notice the same weird behavior. Also, when I play Valorant the fans are on almost the entire game at an audible level, and sometimes do the same high RPM jet engine behavior as DbD. And now games like TFT and sometimes even desktop idling can make my GPU fans pulse.

I should add that the GPU fans almost never spin at audible RPM. It seems as though my PSU fans are the most erractic and audible, and my front case fans a runner up. My CPU fans seem to always a constant silent.

I don't know where to begin with this sort of problem, I've never been good at managing cooling, and I thought this system had plenty. How do I begin diagnosing the problem and resolving my fan curves? My current hypothesis is that my PSU fans have failed, that seems to be where most of the heat is coming from and I'm feeling no exhaust in the back.

 

[kirbyrj]

Using stock fans in the case?

I would update the bios. I would check to make sure that there is good airflow around your fans (dust and what not cleared away). I would check the fan connections to make sure there are no burns or anything.

I would check in the bios to see what the error message was and probably reset it back to defaults.

Since you, by your own admission, aren't the best with cooling. I'd probably download the Asus AI Suite and let it go through it's FanXpert setup.

 

[danxor]

Using stock fans in the case?

I would update the bios. I would check to make sure that there is good airflow around your fans (dust and what not cleared away). I would check the fan connections to make sure there are no burns or anything.

I would check in the bios to see what the error message was and probably reset it back to defaults.

Since you, by your own admission, aren't the best with cooling. I'd probably download the Asus AI Suite and let it go through it's FanXpert setup.

I do have the stock fans on the case (2x 120 in front, 1x 120 in back).
Bios has been updated, I was slightly out of date.
Case is clean and fans are dust free, so airflow isn't the problem. Ambient temps aren't crazy either.
I've got AI Suite loaded now and ran through FanXpert. Node PSU Fan showing 0 RPM...

 

[Furious_Styles]

I do have the stock fans on the case (2x 120 in front, 1x 120 in back).
Bios has been updated, I was slightly out of date.
Case is clean and fans are dust free, so airflow isn't the problem. Ambient temps aren't crazy either.
I've got AI Suite loaded now and ran through FanXpert. Node PSU Fan showing 0 RPM...

AI Suite was trash last I used it, recommend uninstalling and using bios. You should be able to go into the bios and see the fan's rpms (except psu) and put them all on max speed and see if they are all working.

Once you verify that they all are you can try the pre-defined setting of your choice. They will most likely all be tied to your CPU temp. It could be in valorant your fps is very high (since it looks like a game from 2010) so it's stressing the CPU more.

As for GPU you want to get MSI AB and set a more aggressive fan curve if you wish to eliminate the fans cycling on/off. I can understand that being an annoyance if the rest of the comp is silent and/or it has audible relays clicking.

 

[danxor]

AI Suite was trash last I used it, recommend uninstalling and using bios. You should be able to go into the bios and see the fan's rpms (except psu) and put them all on max speed and see if they are all working.

Once you verify that they all are you can try the pre-defined setting of your choice. They will most likely all be tied to your CPU temp. It could be in valorant your fps is very high (since it looks like a game from 2010) so it's stressing the CPU more.

As for GPU you want to get MSI AB and set a more aggressive fan curve if you wish to eliminate the fans cycling on/off. I can understand that being an annoyance if the rest of the comp is silent and/or it has audible relays clicking.

Ok, well I limited the FPS in game in Valorant and it has stopped the behavior for now. Currently at 120fps limit there's no spike in fan speeds (before I was in the 240fps range unlimited). I had no idea those "wasted" FPS could be the cause. League of Legends runs in similar frames without causing the same problem. DbD is another game with simple graphics though and no way for me to limit fps, so I'm not sure if this has addressed the cause as much as the symptoms.

 

[Furious_Styles]

Ok, well I limited the FPS in game in Valorant and it has stopped the behavior for now. Currently at 120fps limit there's no spike in fan speeds (before I was in the 240fps range unlimited). I had no idea those "wasted" FPS could be the cause. League of Legends runs in similar frames without causing the same problem. DbD is another game with simple graphics though and no way for me to limit fps, so I'm not sure if this has addressed the cause as much as the symptoms.

Generally you want to stay in gsync range. So that means capping fps 2-3 below refresh. You can now do that in the nvidia CP. You should also have gsync AND vsync set to ON in the CP and vsync OFF in-game settings.

The cause is your fan profile settings, you will need to go into the bios and change them as mentioned in that previous post if you want to get to the root cause.

 

[danxor]

Generally you want to stay in gsync range. So that means capping fps 2-3 below refresh. You can now do that in the nvidia CP. You should also have gsync AND vsync set to ON in the CP and vsync OFF in-game settings.

The cause is your fan profile settings, you will need to go into the bios and change them as mentioned in that previous post if you want to get to the root cause.

I'm on an Acer Predator XB271HU currently and have it set to 144hz. Gsync is on, and Vsync was by app in the CP but now I've updated that to always on.

So, after inspecting the Qfan control in bios everything is set to standard. But after looking at the monitoring tab it appears as though something is malfunctioning, or perhaps I have a hardware failure on the board. CPU temp, Mobo temp, PCH temp, CPU fan speed, Chassis fan 2 speed, and the voltages are the only things that show up. Everything else is N/A.

 

[kirbyrj]

I'm on an Acer Predator XB271HU currently and have it set to 144hz. Gsync is on, and Vsync was by app in the CP but now I've updated that to always on.

So, after inspecting the Qfan control in bios everything is set to standard. But after looking at the monitoring tab it appears as though something is malfunctioning, or perhaps I have a hardware failure on the board. CPU temp, Mobo temp, PCH temp, CPU fan speed, Chassis fan 2 speed, and the voltages are the only things that show up. Everything else is N/A.

Everything else is NA because you don't have things plugged into them. I don't think you have something malfunctioning.

The fact that the PSU is showing 0 RPM isn't necessarily unsurprising as either it's not connected to the system to relay the RPMs or it shuts off the fan when not under stress. Often times there is a physical button on the PSU itself for fan operation.

I suggested the FanXpert because you don't have a lot of experience. Sure the bios is probably the best way to go as there is no additional bloat, but the FanXpert isn't terrible, and gives you different options for quiet, full speed, etc. right from the desktop.

 

[Furious_Styles]

I re-read OP and I'll make a few extra comments.

The GPU fans seem to be doing what they normally do. Right now lots of cards are set to idle at 0rpm fan and will go on/off so if you're just using the desktop/web browsing the card will get to ~50C and just cycle the fans every so often to keep it there. When you play a game they will start ramping up to keep it around 70-80C.

The CPU fan error is typically because they are below ASUS' threshold for the low limit. This is typical of Asus boards unless you go in and set the min speed lower or lower the threshold. Easiest thing to do here is just have your CPU fans low limit at 25 or 30%.