Is it just me,or are these fan control programs not worth it

Not to dismiss the programmers who have wrote these programs, great job guys, but how I see it right now is:

I use 3304, and the fan runs almost all the time, but so quiet I can barely hear it. If I run one of these programs, it shuts down the fan, the cpu gets really hot, the fan kicks in, cools it down, the fan shuts off, and 1 minute later the cpu gets hot and the fan kicks on again. THAT gets really annoying, as I can hear it turning on and off over and over.

Too bad there isn't a solution to keep the CPU cooler.

 

You're not alone. I'm also in no need of these type of software. My AAO came with a dead silent fan. But to our fellow AAO users unlucky enough to get the units with the niosy fans, this will be their only solution. But I think it will reduce the life of the CPU, since it'e being allowed to get really hot. But then again, maybe by the time it breaks, we're on our Aspire Two or Three already hehehe. :lol:

 

You got a long ways to go since I have an Acer Aspire One and an Acer Aspire 9300 so I don't think Aspire Two or Three will be much of a change.

 

There's only two ways to keep the CPU cool under load (apart from dismantling the unit and installing a big heatsink): run the fan or throttle the CPU. That's it. There are no other choices. If you do neither of those things, eventually the CPU will burn out. You could probaby run the CPU a bit warmer than the default, but we should surely assume that the factory setting is appropriate for the unit.

 

I've had my brand new AAO/XP/160/6 for about 16 hours now and so far I just don't see what all the fuss is about fan noise. The fan does run most of the time but is not at all irritating. That is a subjective statement I know, but I am a middle aged guy with normal hearing and I'm usually one of the first to be irritated by objectionable background noises.

My old Aspire 3003 (Mobile Sempron 1.8 GHz) has a much louder fan and still runs so hot it is uncomfortable to actually use on the lap.

I bought my AAO for it's increased portability, convenience, and low power consumption (and waited for the 6 cell version for the increased battery life). Lower power consumption almost always results in less heat and that quality is easily observed in the AAO. Still, CPU fans have been a neccesary evil for ages. The last thing I ran fanless was a 100 MHz Pentium One and it didn't live very long at that. Those who choose to alter their AAO fan cycles will almost certainly witness shortened lifetimes. Obsolescense come soon enough with technology, why shorten it any further?

 

..so it's fairly unlikely to be one of the early ones with noisy fans. Your point?

If you look at the threads on fan noise, you'll find that there are two fans in AAO's: one is noisy, the other quiet. If yours is quiet, you don't need to change the default controls, nice for you. If you have a fan which produces the incessant high-pitched whine, you probably would rather accept the risk (minimal given the CPU specs) of reduced CPU life against the sever annoyance it causes.

 

I can understand why you might want to silence an irritating fan. But I wouldn't necessarily assume the risks are minimal (although that depends on what you mean by `minimal', I guess ). Generally the service life of microelectronics decreases with heat in a predictable way. The Aton in the AAO is rate for 95C, I believe, but I wouldn't like to take bets on its long term survival at that temperature. It will last longer at 50C than a 70C, and so on.

But I'm not sure the CPU is the problem -- it's conceivable that the vendors have set the CPU temperature as they have because the AAO needs the increased airflow to keep something else in there cool.

In the end it's a cost/benefit decision, like so many other things. But people shouldn't assume that they can get the benefit _without_ the cost.

 

I was just wondering if maybe some of the people that have noisy fans may be using their Acer Aspire One's on their lap or some other cloth surface causing the fan to have to work extra hard to move the air through the computer? As having to work that hard could increase the noise of the fan.

 

It doesn't really matter what surface the noisy model of fan is on: the fan itself makes the noise. It's worse on a hard surface because it resonates more.

 

Mine is just plain noisy, though not defective, I don't believe. It's not the type of noise that indicates a bad fan, it's more of motor/bearing noise.
In any case, I love the fan app. Makes the system livable.
I do have one of the earlier units though.

 

I can't help but wonder if anyone has tried replacing their noisy fan? I mean with all the mods going on with the Acer Aspire One it should not be that hard and newer fans or after market fans may not be so noisy.

 

Using the AA1 on a lap probably doesn't make the fan noisier, as such; but it might make it come on more often. It's easy to block the air vents, which reduces airflow, and thereby increases the amount of time the fan has to be on. Just speculation, of course.

 

I got mine last week (6-cell/160 GB/XP). I can tell the fan does come on, but it's still nearly silent when on. I have very acute hearing and am quite particular about those things; perhaps acer has fixed the problem?