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XPS 410, motherboard specs?
Do the front (CPU fan) and rear (HDD fan) fan headers support PWM? If not, how does the motherboard control fan speed, if at all? I can't find this information in the manual. The fan headers have 4 pins, and the stock fans have 4 wires. The Cooler Master Blade Master 120, which has 4 pins and supports PWM control, seems to sound quieter than the Sickle Flow 120, despite the Blade Master 120's higher dBA rating.
speedstep
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April 10th, 2019 17:00
Dell fans are not wired the same as a standard fan.
Blue is PWM
White or yellow is TACH
Black is ground
Red is 12v
https://www.amazon.com/Alloet-Connector-Adapter-Converter-Extension/dp/B07HF7YZ5W/
https://www.amazon.com/AE-Market-Dedicated-Adapter-Conversion/dp/B07G54XY5R/
Acnologia
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April 11th, 2019 10:00
Right, I have one of those 4-pin-to-5-pin connectors. I just read that some 4-pin fan headers, 5-pin in the case of the Dell XPS 410 although one of the pins is unused, support voltage speed control and not PWM speed control, which prompted me to make this thread. Does the Dell XPS 410 motherboard certainly support PWM speed control?
Also, is there a way to measure fan speed on the Dell XPS 410? The bios does not display fan speed, and programs which monitor fan speed I have tried in the past do not work either.
RoHe
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April 12th, 2019 11:00
What's the goal here? A continuous readout of CPU fan speed, a test of the CPU fan, or just curiosity?
At least on my (older) Dell desktop, launching Diagnostics from the F12 menu at boot and running the fan tests will report the "normal" speed (RPM) the fan is running at, and then it speeds the fan up and reports its "high" speed. Basically, it's a test of the sensor in the Dell OEM CPU fan that controls its speed, but it's not a continuous readout that you can monitor after booting the PC.
Apps like SpeedFan can't read CPU fan speed on most Dell PCs because of the sensor in that fan.
Acnologia
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April 12th, 2019 12:00
I had two goals in mind: To confirm whether PWM fans work properly and test how fast the fans spin when performing various computer tasks to get an idea of which fans rotate slower and are quieter. I don't have a decibel reader.
On the Dell XPS 410, F12 launches to Boot Device Options screen, and the only diagnostics utility is for hard drives. I haven't found any way to measure fans to any extent on the Dell XPS 410.
speedstep
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April 12th, 2019 15:00
Most Dells do not have readable sensors.
HWMONITOR might see some things. Fan Speed isn't likely one of the parameters that the user can read from BIOS or Windows.
http://download.cpuid.com/hwmonitor/hwmonitor_1.40.exe
RoHe
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April 12th, 2019 16:00
According to the XPS 410 Owner's Manual, when you press F12, the boot device list appears. Highlight Boot to Utility Partition, then press. When the Dell Diagnostics Main Menu appears, select the test(s) you want to run.
There should more options available than just HDD tests, and you can either run all of them or specify which one you want to run by selecting Custom Test. The fan test should be one of the custom tests.
Acnologia
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April 12th, 2019 22:00
The bios states the utility partition is unavailable. The Dell Resource CD states on the CD to boot from the CD to run diagnostics, but that did not work either. A screen that looked like the Windows command prompt just appeared.
RoHe
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April 13th, 2019 18:00
Did you reformat or replace the hard drive at some point which would have removed the utility partition?
To boot from the diagnostics CD, put the disk in the drive and then reboot. Immediately press F12 and look for the option to boot from the optical drive.
Acnologia
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May 18th, 2019 09:00
Acnologia
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May 18th, 2019 09:00
RoHe
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May 18th, 2019 14:00
Fan speeds are set in BIOS so only a BIOS update with different settings will affect slow and high fan speeds. Users can't change that.
Why does it matter if slots share the PCI-e bus? Consumer PCs typically to have 16 lanes directly from the CPU dedicated to graphics, and additional lanes shared among other devices from the chipset. The number of chipset lanes available varies with the chipset on the motherboard.
Acnologia
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May 18th, 2019 16:00
1. Right. I understand that. But is the bottom-most RPMs what the fans can run at a minimum?
2. Primarily, I want to know if using a PCIe to USB 3.0 or 3.1 Gen II expansion card will throttle a GPU and whether this will occur when the expansion card is inserted or actively used, which is to say when a device is connected or transferring files. I have an expansion card installed now, which I recently picked up, and it seems to sometimes interfere with video playback, reducing FPS or sometimes stalling playback, although that may be due to lack of hard drive bandwidth, as saturated by the expansion card.
3. Also, is it possible to install front USB 3.0 or 3.1 Gen II ports in the Dell XPS 410? If so, how?
Acnologia
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May 18th, 2019 16:00
Now that I think about it, I suppose I can run a USB hub from the expansion card, and attach the USB hub to the side or top of the computer or my desk. Still, I would like to know if it's possible to install front USB 3.0 or 3.1 Gen II ports into the Dell XPS 410.
speedstep
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May 18th, 2019 17:00
PCI-E x1 cards with 20 pin header are designed to allow front usb 3 via a 3.5 inch floppy bay.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Speed-Media-Dashboard-Front-Reader/dp/B07LB6PJVN
https://www.newegg.com/p/0EP-00MN-00389
https://www.amazon.com/Phoneix-Express-Support-Profile-Bracket/dp/B079HTXMKH
Acnologia
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May 18th, 2019 18:00
1. The items in the first and second links have other connections in addition to the USB 3.0 ones. Can those additional connections be used on the Dell XPS 410?
2. If I'm not mistaken, this one will work, correct: https://www.microcenter.com/product/429019/2-port-superspeed-usb-30-pcie-x1-card
It is expensive compared to this one, though: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FPIMJEW/ref=twister_B071SFL7MM?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I'd hate to order it and find out it doesn't work well with my old computer, though. The one I have now is a Vantec, and it works very well. The only issue I had is when I transferred files to a 3.1 Gen II external hard drive and played a video simultaneously. The video stalled during playback at one point. The only reason I can think of why this happened is the hard drive bandwidth was saturated. The video file I played and the files I transferred to the 3.1 Gen II external hard drive were located on the same internal hard drive. I will investigate some more with task manager opened.