Titus_ch

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Titus_ch

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November 9th, 2019 16:00

Dell Precision 3630 noisy fan

Hi,

The Precision 3630 has a very noisy fan and gets crazy even when doing intense work for a few seconds (copying small files, opening a youtube page on Edge, starting Netbeans, etc).

The issue has not been fixed by the bios upgrade 3.2.1 ("Improve the performance of the system fan").

Is a new update coming or do you have an other solution?

Thank you.

 

  • Titus_ch

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    Posted November 14th, 2019 09:00

    @Dell-Alan D  Thank you.

    > Did you notice the fan noise being excessively loud when you ran the HWINFO64 tests?

    Yes, it was super loud. At the same rpm, the cpu fan of the Precision 3620 is almost silent.

    Actually, it seems that it is an issue encountered by many people having the Precision 3630 with the i7. I found forum threads on several websites. Here is an exemple: https://www.dell.com/community/Precision-Fixed-Workstations/Dell-Precision-3630-i7-Tower-Noise-from-fan/m-p/7295220/highlight/true#M2209

    After much investigation I found 3 possible/different solutions (they work for me). The issue was actually due to Intel Turbo Boost which does not play nice with the Intel-i7 on the Precision 3630 (but I have no issue with my Precision 3620 Intel i7).

    Solution 1) Turn off Intel Turbo Boost in the BIOS.

    Solution 2) In Advanced Power Management Settings, set "Maximum processor state" to 99%. (It seems to also turn off Intel Turbo Boost).

    Solution 3) Change the registry to enable the menu "Processor performance boost mode"  in Advanced Power Management Settings with this ([HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00\be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7]
    "Attributes"=dword:00000002 ). Set the "Processor performance boost mode" status to "Disabled" in Advanced Power Management Settings.

    Hope this can help and/or can be documented somewhere. Maybe this can be fixed in a future bios release.

    Anyway, thanks a lot for your great help! 

  • Dell-Alan D

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    Posted November 12th, 2019 03:00

    @Titus_ch thanks for getting in touch. Can you advise if this noise is more prominent when you start up the system or is it pretty constant?

    Have you been able to identify exactly which fan is causing the noise?

    Did the noise change at all when updating to the latest BIOS revision?

    Can you try the steps outlined here and advise whether this is the same issue you are experiencing - https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln318016/xps-8930-precision-3630-loud-rattling-fan-noise-when-booting-up?lang=en

    I'll drop you a private message to get your service tag details.

    Alan

  • Titus_ch

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    Posted November 12th, 2019 19:00

    Hi @Dell-Alan D,

    Thank you for your message.

    It is the CPU fan. The CPU is a i7-9700. It is not a "friction" or "mechanical" noise.

    The noise comes from a very high rotation speed (it goes to the maximum rotation speed).

    The task that can generate this issue are "common". For example when:

    - I copy small files and the task last over a few seconds

    - the cpu goes over 30-40% over a short time (+10 seconds?)

    - I start netbeans

    - I browse some heavy (javascript) web pages on Microsoft Edge like youtube.

    This is strange because the same tasks on my old Precision 3620 (i7-6700) keep the cpu fan at a barely noticeable noise speed.

    Please note:

    1) The hardware is clean (dust)

    2) No heat source next to the machine

    3) Nothing to prevent air flows (in + out)

    The bios update seems to have fixed some occurrences like when doing windows updates.

    If I leave the case opened, it does not change anything.

    PS: When idle core temp are at 25°C. When I copy small files the core temps jump to 65°C after a couple of seconds. Same values when I open Netbeans. When I open this page https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions , core temps jump to 50°C.

    At +50°C, the fan is high. At +60°C, the fan is very high. In both cases, it bothers my coworkers and they let me know it.

    I hope you have an idea.

    Bests,

  • Dell-Alan D

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    Posted November 13th, 2019 03:00

    @Titus_ch that sounds potentially like the fan controller is causing the problem if it is spinning loudly at those temperatures. 

    I doubt the heatsink itself is causing the issue unless there isn't enough thermal paste on the processor.

    Have you run the ePSA diagnostics or online performance diagnostics to see if they return any error codes?
    To run the diagnostics, power on the system and keep tapping the F12 key in rapid succession. Navigate down to Diagnostics. If the system doesn't return any error codes, does the fan spin very loudly when it is testing the CPU fan?

    The online diagnostics can be found here - https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/quicktest

    Can you also run HWINFO64.sys and tell me what the fans speeds are for those temperatures you mentioned of 50 and 60 degrees please.

    Thanks, 
    Alan

  • Titus_ch

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    Posted November 13th, 2019 16:00

    @Dell-Alan D Thank you for the follow up.

    I have done the ePSA diagnostic + PSU diagnostic and no issue has been raised. Everything is green.

    Here are the values from the EC sensor by HWINFO64.sys (Thanks for this tool, I love it):

    • Idle: Cores temps 39°c, EC0 41°c, EC1 41°c, Fans 1626 rpm / 895 rpm
    • Copying 12k files (source code, so lot of little text files. 72MB total) or opening Netbeans (less than 10 sec) have the same range of values which are reached after a few seconds: Cores temps 78°c, EC0 79°c, EC1 79°c, Fans 2952 rpm / 1856 rpm

    Actually, I noticed that the PSU fan never spins (startup, during the PSU test (led turned green), during long heavy load + 70%). As the PSU is next to the CPU, could this be the issue?

    I am not comfortable to open the PSU unit (scared by the capacitor) or jumper the green-black wires on the PSU cable (not an expert). So I do not know how to investigate further.

    Hope you can help.

    Thank you very much.

  • Dell-Alan D

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    Posted November 14th, 2019 06:00

    @Titus_ch thanks for trying that. I wouldn't be duly concerned about the PSU fan to be honest and I wouldn't expect you to open up a PSU. PSU's are not serviceable parts, if it fails a new PSU would be sent out rather than the actual PSU fan itself.

    Those temperatures and fan speeds are quite low which is a good thing. If, as you say, the fan noise is very loud at those speeds then that would indicate a problem with the CPU fan. If the fan had been running at say 6K rpm and was making the noise then that would be working as designed.

    Did you notice the fan noise being excessively loud when you ran the HWINFO64 tests?

    Alan

     

  • Titus_ch

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    Posted November 14th, 2019 20:00

    @Dell-Alan D My last message was marked as spam. Maybe you can unspam it. It contains the solution to the problem.

    The issue is actually due to Intel Turbo Boost which is having issues with the intel i7 on the Precision 3630.

  • Dell-Alan D

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    Posted November 15th, 2019 03:00

    @Titus_ch thanks for the fix and it's great to hear you resolved the issue. I'll pass on the info to engineering.

    I also removed the spam tag and marked the posts as a solution.

    Alan

  • bradthetechnut

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    Posted November 16th, 2019 18:00

    I too, suggested HWiNFO64.  So you're welcome too.