Silverstone DS380 fan control help

[cen1]

I recently bought DS380B and I would like to know if there is a way to lower the fan speeds. The fans are spinning with maximum speed all the time which is way overkill for a silent NAS system (I am using Asrock C2550D4I). The two side fans are plugged into the cage backplate (as per the manual) so I have no control over them and can't see them in BIOS. The rear fan is plugged into the mobo header but changing the levels in BIOS does nothing. Readings show 1200RPM. The temps are 40°C.

Even if I plug the side fans into the mobo directly I still don't know how to lower the speeds. As previously mentioned, changing levels in BIOS does not seem to do anything.


Oh and
http://www.silverstonetek.com/contactus.php?area=en always returns Captcha Error! so I can't even contact them for support right now.

 

[dma0991]

I think its possible to fix it with SpeedFan but I'm not sure how it'll affect the CPU's performance since its a low power, low performance CPU. Go for a physical approach with a fan speed reducer. Just place it in between the fan and motherboard and it'll shave off a few hundred RPMs.

 

[cen1]

Forgot to mention, I am running FreeNAS on this thing, not windows.

 

[dma0991]

FreeNAS may not have the capability of knowing when to idle the fan under idle to low load. Going with a fan speed reducer adapter might be the only solution. Either that or consider getting another fan that doesn't go >1kRPM.

 

[cen1]

Yeah I know. The problem is that the fans were like this even before OS install. I would think that at least BIOS would have some control over them. Or the backplate since that's what Silverstone provides.

Or maybe max speed is in fact correct.. I find it hard to believe it's really needed to cool such a system tho.

 

[dma0991]

BIOS does not usually idle the system, hence it doesn't regulate the fan speed as well. The CPU itself would not be in an idle state during POST until it goes into an OS, which tells the BIOS whether it is in idle or heavy load, and then regulates the fan speed accordingly.

This will usually be the case with Windows or any of the more popular OSes out there. My conclusion is that FreeNAS does not have this capability built in to allow it to be in an idle state, hence your fans will not spin according to load.