Is there any fix for the awful fan curves on the Clevo laptops?

Hi guys!

This is my first Clevo laptop. I bought a Clevo P670RS-G config. Previously I had an Asus G750JX which worked very well and was very quiet. I am very pleased with my Clevo aswell but the fan curve is awful. Have tried both automatic and custom in CCC but none of them are good. Automatic is way to aggressive and Custom makes the fan spin up and down, up and down.

I totally understand if the fans spin up at high temperatures but they are loud already at 50-60 degrees which is just sloppy by Clevo.

Is there anything I can do about this way to aggressive fan curve?

Br J

 

Ha! I'd like to know this too.

The 'automatic' on mine is too slow, if I start a bench it'll ramp up so slow it'll thermal throttle before the fan's at full speed and in a game it'll be low enough the PCH will overheat and black screen after ~10mins. If I max them all with Fn+1 the temps barely cross 70C ever! My best daily solution is the 'overclock' profile (which shows for my version v5.0001.0.50 when the oem.ini has supportxtufantable=1) which is aggressive ramping under CPU &/or GPU load but keeps temps down.

If only someone was able to write a program that could interface with the EC and alter them but Clevo have locked out and/or not made public how to edit the EC data. Or, if Clevo could write the custom setting to be something more customisable. Like a curve, instead of 0 or maximum and nothing in between.

 

Since the fan profile is built into the EC firmware: No, not really. The customize option in CCC is about as close as anyone can get to modifying it. You could try setting the Windows cooling policy to "passive", but that's not really ideal on a performance machine.

This isn't such an atypical curve. I've played with some MSI machines that start the fans up around 55 C. I think this is actually a pretty common threshold.

 

@Papusan, what was the name of that Fan tool you posted about in a different thread? Perhaps @Jaxione may want to map out the EC to create custom fan curves.

 

If we could get a functional fan curve while still being able to use Clevo Control Center (for no other reason than to disable the keyboard backlight), that would be amazing.

 

That seems to be the case with several brands. I think ASUS might start a little earlier.

 

I don't know if CCC (Clevo Control Center) would interfere, and I don't know if it is practical to map the fan speeds... But here is the link I mentioned regarding Notebook Fan Control - http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/clevo-overclockers-lounge.788975/page-826#post-10421754

 

How is Clevo in dealing with things like these? Do they release updates to try to fix the fan curve?

 

It's seems like they are making no effort at all. I see alot of complaints relating to their fan behavior dating way back. I'd like to see them pull their lazy to react finger out here with better software or bios control.. or bare minimum allow access to the EC to allow someone qualified like @Prema to finish their homework.

 

We used to be able to spend quite some time working on the fan profiles, creating new curves for CPU and GPU response. This was mainly with models such as the W230 where we had a lot of success with our custom profile that all XMG owners enjoyed with our EC version, it was also available for download on our driver page as all other custom ECs that we created were - I designed several curves myself. The constant ramping of the W230 models was actually not difficult to resolve. It's not something that we have been able to keep up as much as we did, there's several reasons for this:

- now the CCC has more profile options a lot more work is involved
- Clevo don't just open up the EC to anyone in the same way that they don't do this for their BIOS. The only method available was/is to modify an existing curve and then have Clevo integrate the new table into an EC. Because Clevo had to integrate our redesigned fan table into a new EC, we weren't designing in real time - it was a very long winded process.

I know Prema has said before that he doesn't have any interest in working with fan tables and the EC because of the nature of ECs. The problem isn't that there isn't anyone qualified or experienced to do this, the issue is that the method we have to do it is extremely awkward and much more complicated than it was a couple of years ago.

 

I did re-design the FAN profiles for the upcoming P870DMx Mod to match the target user-class of enthusiast, but as @XMG said it's now almost 500 values that need manual re-calculation and integration in order to have the 3 FANs spin the way we want them to.

 

That seems...excessive on their part. What are they measuring other than temps to determine fan speed?

 

Duty, Temperature & Voltage

 

Omg 500 values? Clevo have certainly over engineered it unlike most of their laptop

 

People wanted smoother FAN curves, that needs a lot more steps. Now they have over 50 for each FAN...

 

But It cant be that hard for Clevo to get proper fan curves. The issue is so clear to me, they are way to aggressive att low load and temperatures. I am totally fine with fans blowing almost at full speed when I start Battlefield 1 for example, my Asus G750JX did the same. But the difference is my Clevo is running fans at high speeds sometimes even when browsing or playing a low gpu and cpu intensive game and browsing at the same time. Most of my friends have Asus computers and they just shake their heads when my Clevo gets so loud while we are all doing the same thing. Its just sloppy work making the fans run like hell at cpu and gpu temps of 45-50degrees, the air that comes out of the computer is cold.

I think its a real shame because I love my Clevo P670RS in all other aspects and really want to keep it. That's why I am ranting so much about this, otherwise I would have just returned it and moved on with my life. Its perfect in looks, build quality, performance, weight and size.

 

The clear solution is to keep your computer under 45C at any load. http://www.praxair.com/gases/buy-liquid-nitrogen-or-compressed-nitrogen-gas

 

Or just fix proper fan curves which is far from rocket science for a company like clevo Because at least on my Clevo the temps are not the problem its that the fans are trying to keep the temp under 50 degrees at all time which is just ridicoulus.

Br J

 

It's kind of a cruel irony that people are always so concerned over heat and its impact on longevity, stability, etc., and yet they don't like an aggressive fan profile.

#showerthoughts

 

Clevo really need to learn from Asus... Asus are able to keep their laptops cool without aggressive fan profiles whereas Clevo is never able to do this..

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

 

....cough...throttle...cough...BGA...cough...150W 1080...cough...

 

The ASUS comparison might be a bit off. But there's no excuse for the laptop to wake me up with fan bursts when my hottest CPU core goes 5C higher than idle. The fan response on Clevos is bouncy and it doesn't have to be.

 

Couldnt agree more! This is the problem on the Clevo laptops. I dont give a **** if the fans go att full speed when i am playing Battlefield 1, that is normal. But when the fans are going crazy when i am playing YouTube videos.....I am sorry but that is just sloppy and poor engineering.

 

YouTube also activates the i-/dGPU, preferring the dGPU if the system has one.

The real issue is that Clevo has always stuck to voltage-controlled fans (3-pin), whereas pretty much every other manufacturer has progressed to pwm-controlled fans (4 or 5-pin). The voltage-control method is rather messy since fans can react unpredictably to varying voltages, response is not linear and each fan is different. Furthermore, there's a current ceiling set in the voltage controller chip yet the fan's draw is not static, but wobbles a bit below and over its nominal rating.

Pwm, on the other hand, has far more predictable behaviour. Downside is that implementing the Fn+1 option isn't as straightforward with pwm, yet it is an easy-to-implement bonus from using their ubiquitous voltage-control chip (see the FON# option; Full On). Really, this is a superb tool to have and if going pwm means ditching raw power then forget it; voltage control, thankyouverymuch.

In the end, both types are controlled from the EC; voltage with generic dac pins and pwm with dedicated fan pwm pins.

The reasoning behind Clevo's choice might be something like this:

• we've always used it
• it works
• it's cheap
• it's a gaming system

To make the switch it needs a redesign, software-rewrites, testing, different suppliers and, thus, expense. Whether they'd do this is up to the consumer, no? Perhaps if there's sufficient and persistent calls for a change then maybe someday we'll have pwm fans and Fn+1 to boot.

 

They hardly "go crazy" at low temps. What's with all the hyperbole?

I like Asus systems. They've had some good designs, and seem to have decent engineers. But what we're really talking about here is borrowing/stealing from Asus, not learning from them - because that's what this really comes down to. Maybe I'm sentimentalizing the notion, but I'd rather Clevo get it wrong and eventually - and hopefully - learn from it, rather than rip off someone else.

 

Multiple Clevo models have fan response behavior more aggressive than what appears to be necessary. If you can keep the CPU cool, no problem. But if your CPU temp or load just hovers around the critical point, the fan speed goes up and down frequently instead of staying on a low level. Many Clevos can be passively cooled under low load, which is nice, but spinning the fan up and down again and again can be more annoying than simply having the fan on all the time. The W230 series mentioned above is the worst offender IIRC.

We are talking about something as trivial as a fan curve, not rocket surgery.

 

I don't own a Clevo, but hoped that wasn't an issue in the P650/P670 series. So it's still an issue? Does it mean, the fan periodically (every couple of minutes) starts and stops in idle mode? HTWingNut didn't mention such annoying behaviors (using "Quiet" mode) in his P650SE review... or does this only happen with the newer iterations?

Can someone elaborate how the fan behaves in idle/low demanding tasks (it's probably in the interest of any potential customer)?

 

The fan(s) kick in at a specific temperature - lowish 50s Celsius - at low RPMs. You may or may not frequent this temperature depending on where you fall in the silicon lottery, which thermal compound is used and if it is spread evenly, and how you use the computer, of course. After the temps are lowered just below this initial threshold, the fans turn off.

What people don't like about it here is that they're hovering around this temp, with the fans frequently spinning and stopping as the temperature fluctuates.

 

Hmmm... sounds like most laptop fans actually... but I understand the critics.

 

For the P870DM3, I didn't experience inappropriate fan behavior at idle/low/medium activity (once I got rid of CCC)
The problem for me is the GPU high temperatures response (typically when gaming)

• at Idle/low, all fans speed are at 1420 RPM wich is like 33% of max speed
• CPU : with increasing temperature, up to 90 C and above, CPU sensors induce gradual increase of CPU fan speed only, the 2 GPU fans speed stays the same
• when it comes to GPU :
  • as the temp goes up, all 3 fans simultaneously speed up progressively to 2200-2300 RPM (53%), triggered at 65 C
  • it stays like this until GPU temp reaches 84 C wich triggers 3400 RPM for all fans (80%). This is very loud.
  • keeping on gaming, temp drops under 70 C and fans go back to 53%. Temp rises again, etc.

I certainly hope Prema's fan profile has something between 53% and 80%

 

I think a large part of this problem is the Intel XTU bug with the standard Clevo EC has been proven to also gimp fans and do horrible things. It doesn't help that Clevo have XTU in the CCC installer.

They should be making a concerted effort to make sure these problems simply don't occur. However, all I've observed is mediocrity in this department.

 

I sent mine back, maybe there was something wrong with my laptop but the fans did go crazy as soon as you started browsing or doing something that was not just watching the desktop. The temps were fine on a laptop so it was no overheating issue either. I was very pleased with the quality of the laptop and really wanted to keep it but the fans on my Clevo was unbearable. I tried everything I could to make it better but my fans acted strange both with and without CCC. Maybe I was unlucky and got a faulty laptop but I am not taking another chance with the Clevos at the moment.

 

When y

You didn't say which model you had, but when you removed Clevo Control Center, did you reset the NVRAM or reformat / re-install your OS? I'm not 100%, but I believe one of those is necessary to 'clear' out the changes CCC makes due to XTU.

@Phoenix am I remembering this correctly?

 

you need to uninstall the Clevo Control Center
perform NVRAM reset
Install Clevo control center without XTU:

Edit the OEM.INI file in the Clevo Control Center's directory before you install it:

Change SupportXTUFanTable=1 to SupportXTUFanTable=0

 

So, a format/reinstall of the operating system is not necessary? Thx!

 

I found this solution to be faster and it worked

if for any reason it didn't, then an uninstallation of the Clevo control center followed by an immediate NVRAM reset followed by an immediate format without even booting into the old Windows messed up installation is required.

 

Maybe the BGA thread has a hyperbole leak?

And I share your notion, hoping Clevo just comes up with some great solution of their own.

 

There's a new BIOS/EC out for the P6XXRS line that XMG released. I'm hoping it fixes the XTU/CCC issue but won't be installing it myself until I get confirmation from others.

 

But we're waiting for you to install it and give us confirmation...

 

Yeah, I'll be sure to post the results on my website: notgonnahappen.com

 

If it's an official BIOS I don't see why you wouldn't try it?
It's not like it's some backyard BIOS no-name hackjob release.

 

I caved and flashed the new XMG BIOS and EC last night. Didn't have too much opportunity to mess around it with. The only test I was able to perform was large file compression with 7-Zip since that would put the CPU under a multi-threaded workload. It pushed the processor to 50º C at which point the fan sped up a bit. It seemed a bit quieter than before - I honestly wouldn't have known had I not kept my cooling pad unplugged during the test. After it finished and the temperature dropped, the fan quieted back down to near silent. I'm not ready to draw any conclusions yet. If I have time tonight and this weekend, I'll play some more demanding games as well as do some more mundane tasks.

 

Be sure to post your results on your website.

 

Bad news for you. I don't even have a website.

 

Hello,

I got Prema Mod installed and did a few test to check the fan profile.

• First thing is, I can't monitor the fans speed anymore. Before that, sometimes it didn't show up in HWiNFO, sometimes 1 of the 2 fans but now it's always none. I don't know if it has something to do with Prema Mod.

• I re-did the GPU stress tests but didn't notice any changes in the fans behavior to the GPU temperature. It still goes from moderate to very loud (as I can't check the numbers anymore) at about 84 or 85 C.

• So I re-installed CCC (5.0001.1.01 with SupportXTUFanTable=0) and tried to custom the fan behavior

• The temp that is displayed by CCC doesn't match the real temp, it's like 10 C below the real one

• Automatic mode behavior seems the same as with is no CCC

• setting the fan max speed to 65 % did work, so in a game the fans don't get too loud while cooling the GPU enough

• BUT in order to set this max speed you have to specify "fan starting temp" and "fan stopping temp" and the "starting" speed is too loud... so I can put the starting and stopping speed at max, but when you are below starting speed there is like no fan at all, so GPU when idle is above 50 C which at don't think is good over the long term.

​

Edit : Automatic mode does not behave the same after all. Sudden fan noises, not progressive. I'm going back without CCC.

 

Hello,

As I couldn't work on the fan profile itself I chose to lower the GPU temperature with undervolting, so it never gets loud :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...oenix-2-is-here.794530/page-969#post-10514778

 

Hmm I dont know about that one. My Acer VX15 has two 3pin fans, but the fans dont react aggressive at all. But when I look at the fans of other notebooks you are right, they are pretty much always connected with 4pins.

 

@Phoenix

Hello, I recently purchased a P650HP6-G from Prostar and have spent the last few days playing around with various versions of CCC (and using Revo to uninstall). I have tried messing with the custom fan profile, but its settings do not appear to modify the two GPU fan behavior at all. I used the OBSIDIAN-TOOL to install the .70 version without the XTU component and reset the NVRAM. However, the fans still hit a high RPM once the GPU goes above 50c. Is there anything I can do to reduce the noise?

I'm running a clean install of win10 and have a few tabs open in Chrome right now with about 5% CPU usage and about 2% GPU usage, nothing demanding at all. I just wish it was a bit quieter for day-to-day and office use.

@ John@OBSIDIAN-PC I saw that you helped flash the OBSIDIAN BIOS (with unlocked CPU voltage offsets and other bells and whistles) for @B0B, who has a YouTube channel named Bob of All Trades. I was wondering if you could help me flash the modded BIOS.

Any help greatly appreciated!

P.S. I recently signed up for an account, been a long-time lurker and I hope that I can contribute

 

@SlurpJug

hi, you can look at this threat, maybe you find a solution...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/clevo-fan-control.814361/