M17x R4 alternative fan control

[SMGJohn]

The biggest annoyances with the Alienware M17x R4 and an upgraded GPU such as GTX 1060 or GTX 1070 is the lack of automatic fan speed, with the MSI 1070 the fan speed works automatically but only when the GPU goes over 60 degrees, so before that it sits there at 0 RPM, that cannot possibly be good for the GPU...

 

HWiNFO and SpeedFan are only two alternatives I know of that lets you control the speed, however if you want anything more than 3 speed options such as 0% - 50% or 100% fan speed, you have to use HWiNFO and enable EC compatibility in the settings for Dell, the only problem with this, doing so allows you more finer gradual control but at the same time, HWiNFO has a tendency to freeze and lock itself so your fan speed locks themselves to whatever fanspeed which it was last under forcing you to restart the laptop to fix this. Another annoyance with HWiNFO is the fact it has to be started manually, even if you auto start it, it wont initiate the fan controls which is even more annoying.

 

There has to be a better way to do this, SpeedFan only allows you to do 0% - 50% and 70%~ fanspeed, it wont let you do 100% and there is no gradual control, just either off, on at 50% and 70ish% speed.

 

I have heard of Dell Fan Management but no idea if this actually works with Alienware laptops though.

 

I have A11 Unlocked BIOS, no idea if the internal BIOS can be edited to adjust the fan curves at all, never seemed to apply when I have tried.

[abape]

Same issue here.

 

I have an Alienware M17xR4 and I'm just upgraded my stock graphic card from AMD 7970m to GTX 970M.

[Maxware79]

12 hours ago, abape said:

Same issue here.

 

I have an Alienware M17xR4 and I'm just upgraded my stock graphic card from AMD 7970m to GTX 970M.

 

Does the fan kick in at all with the 970M or does it just overheat? If you get zero fan action then it's probably a vBIOS issue. I had that happen with a 970M I put in my M18x. 

[emcze]

Hi, 

 

It's old thread but I had the same problem. It is easy to solve. If you use HWiNFO and check sensors and fan, you will have information about old compal embadded system. 

You need to download Dell driver R188622 and install. It is Win XP driver but works with Windows 10 and 11. After restert GPU fan control will works again. HWiNFO will see GPU fan too.