Utilities.exe volume display

Hello to anyone who might remember me (and those of you who don't as well!).

I've had my Y570 since launch in the US (the introductory rebate made me pull the trigger). I absolutely love the built-in fan control, but I want to use a different volume display; mainly because when using a remote, the standard 2% volume increment doesn't prompt the display. Also, 10% increment doesn't always side well with me.
As far as I can tell, the volume display is integrated with the same program that allows the fan control (utilities.exe). Is there a way to override the Lenovo volume control, or perhaps a different program which can control the fan speed? I remember several years ago Notebook Hardware Control was one of my favorite programs, but no 64-bit support yet (and by the looks of it, never). I'm not a fan [pun noted] of SpeedFan's interface either, and last time I tried (albeit haphazardly), I couldn't get it to cooperate.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Oh, and if anyone's interested in my story, when I stopped visiting regularly, I think I had my HP DV4 (still a good machine today, just kind of beat-up). I since got a DV7, but returned it for a DV6, which I have and now dislike. It runs hot (combination of a hot AMD processor and an incompetent cooling system) and the sound quality is a joke (similar case with the DV7 and "Beats"). Touchpad never got my praise either. On the other hand, they both had great aesthetics and keyboards, and were built rather well.
As far as the Y570 goes, the build quality has been largely disappointing since day one (so many creaks, feels rather cheap in most places) and it's not exactly pretty, except the lid. But it stays cool and quiet and gets the job done without fuss, so I like it enough to keep it for a while. Then I'll probably look into the new Vizio line. I love their TVs and they look fantastic. 'Bout time I get another high-res laptop screen too.​

Thanks in advance. Great community here!