Does this make any sense? - fan behavior

Hello. So as far as I know fan behavior can be determined or changed via the following:

1) The bios determines behavior and it can be changed if the bios supports such features
2) Through software that can monitor and change fan behavior such as SpeedFan.
3) Through hardware such as a fan controller, where the user can control the voltage that reaches a fan, thus the speed.

So, I recently changed my heatsink/fan unit on my M1530 and the fan does this annoying "speed up cool down and stop then heat up" cycle rather than retain a constant temperature. I dont want the 10C cool/heat cycles to constantly wear down my components. Someone told me that the fan on my old heatsink/fan unit would not have variable speeds like that and retain a constant temperature and speed. I can not tell from the past as the heatsink was terrible and the temperatures where always high (thus the fan was constantly going full blast).

Now, is there any weight to the idea that this earlier fan, which is in fact a different fan model entirely, would behave any differently simply based on its inherent properties? I know I've never heard of such a thing, but I thought I would ask anyway. Thanks.

 

Yeah....some fans have built-in thermal sensors that will adjust the RPM to the temperature the fan's sensor senses.

Usually you only see this in desktop fans (120x120mm), but I wouldn't TOO surprised to see it in a laptop.

~Ibrahim~

 

Well, thats good enough for me even if it is a long shot. I think Ill try it out tonight.

 

Well, I switched them out and will post just in case anyone else is reading. As a quick review, I have a Dell M1530. It initially had the Revision 3 heat sink with alloy contacts and I switched it out for the Revision 1 heat sink with the copper contacts. The R1 heat sink fan has more blades than the R3. Here are some results after switching the R1 fan (has more blades) onto the R3 copper heat sink.

- The R3 fan is quieter than the R1 fan, much less noticeable when it kicks in.
- The R3 fan actually runs ~4 degrees cooler on CPU cores and GPU.
- Both fans act the same way in that they let the temps rise then they cool, repeat. However, its less annoying with the R3 since its quieter though the range is larger since it runs a little cooler. I know heating/cooling wears down components, but I dont know if that only applies to cooling to room temp or if it counts 10C heating and cooling. Either way, the M1530 will cycle like this unless its always on a cooling pad, which defeats its mobility.

In conclusion, Im happy with the R3 fan even though it clearly has no built in sensors.

 

Good stuff....

Maybe the 4C difference is the threshold for the fan to turn off/back on. The old one could never get it below the threshold, so it always was full blast. This new one, which can bring it down, then goes on when it's too hot, but then stops when it goes below that 4C, then you use the computer and it gets too hot, so it spins up again.

I guess software doesn't work?