[opensuse] Re: How to limit/eliminate CPU/FAN Noise?

Gaël Lams wrote:
Hi,

I install SLED 10 on an HP workstation xw4400. Everything is working
perfectly except for the noise: compared to the same workstation with
Windows XP installed, which is pretty silent, the linux box makes
quite a lot of noise.

I've googled a little bit but did not find any extensive response.

Is there something on SLED (or opensuse, or even from source code to
compile) that I can install and configure to have the system
automatically slowing down or up the fan?

Regards,

Gael
Hi,

imho "normally" your fan(s) should be controlled by the temperature that
is emitted by your cpu/gpu/psu and many other elements of your computer.

Consequently, if your computer consumes more power, the fan will speed
up to ensure proper cooling of the resulting heat.
Basically, this should work independant of any OS and it should also
work, when no OS is running.

Now,
I would try this:

1. ensure that you have some overview of your systems temperature and
fanspeeds:
install lm-sensors, run sensors-detect and if "something" is detected,
use ksensors (for KDE) and ensure that it works. Unfortunately, from my
experience, not any computer is supported by sensors.

2. ensure that your powermanagement is setup properly, so that your
computer uses only the power that it needs at any given moment:

There are dozens of howtos around and you should see what you can do
depending on what you have in regard to motherboard, cpu type....
Imho Windows fares much better here, but you can do a lot in Linux, it
just sometimes takes time...

3. Lastly, if that does not work (with Linux), I would go the extra mile
and invest cheaply into electronics that controls my fan speeds
independantly of anything manufacturer related, just relying on the
actual temperature.
My experience with these is very good:
http://www.noisemagic.de/pdf/thermocontrol/nmt-2/ver02/an_loet_de-eng_screen.pdf

Note: Even if your fans are controlled properly by your
motherboard/bios, the onboard fan regulation imho very often is crap
because anyone wants to have highspeed, highperformance, high... but
basically no one is interested in quiet computers. So what you get is
what you (did not) ask for. ;-)

kind regards
Eberhard


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