Precision M4700 noisy cooling fans cycling

Hi,

by using some of thermal grease you will keep you processor on a normal temperature then the fan will work normally

also please verify and clean the inlet and outlet of air

http://img1.imagilive.com/0513/04-05-2013_17-13-30dd4.png

I am having the same problem here with a fully loaded M4700 with a K2000M and no external display that just came from Dell.

I can hear the fan go on and off every 10s or so. It's not loud but very annoying and the room temperature is about 70F.

Is there any way to control the fan speed/settings by default (BIOS settings or upgrade, 3rd party utility, etc.) ?

Thanks,

  Max

@Max

Unfortunately the fan control options are very limited and there is no software to access the fan RPM controls (other than the windows power plans which is not much help).

Check out "M4700 owner's thread", you will find that many are annoyed by the same problem. Although with no external displays you should be able to get the computer operating with passive cooling mostly at idle or light usage, at least at 70F.

Firstly check with GPU-Z if it is the K2000M or the Intel HD 4000 causing the fans to cycle. Note also that CPU load heats up the integrated HD 4000 so check that you don't have some program or windows service causing constant CPU load and triggering the GPU  cooling. (As I remember there is a reported high CPU load with "wake on LAN" BIOS option with the latest driver. Read about this in the M4700 owners thread.)

You might also find MSI Afterburner a helpful tool, and it also gives the possibility for testing underclocking for starters.

Try to play around with Windows Power Plans (via Control Panel). Also try tweaking the Change Plan Settings options.

You can try to distribute the PhysX load between K2000M and the HD 4000 so check those options, although this probably doesn't help if you have the problem on idle.

For more advanced underclocking/undervolting you need other software tools. So if you do not need all the GPU power you can underclock the K2000M by tweaking the vBIOS, check the M4700 owner's thread for this.

There actually is a possibility that thermal paste has not been properly applied at factory, in which case a repaste may help. But see this as a last resort after trying software alternatives.

 Good luck!

There _is_ a workaround. If you swap your 180w power supply for a 130w the system drops into a lower power mode and the fan only runs under extreme demand conditions.

Watch the cpu usage in the resource monitor with the 180w power supply connected: the resting usage sits at ~40%, then peaks to 100% to start the fans, then drops back to 40%.  The fans cycle off, but the latent heat from the 100% burst then fires another fan-start event.  So the fans and cpu get into this feedback loop with the cpu's continuously cycling between 40-100% and the fans cycling off/on.

Dell, you need to address this...

use dell power plans application