Suggestions for a laptop fan control program/app

ArthurDent · May 25, 2024

Hi folks,

Looking for some software (program or app) to monitor and control my laptop's single fan.

I've tried Fan Control and FanCtrl and I've used SpeedFan in the past. There's also CPUID HWMonitor (does that do fan control?)
Argus Monitor looks good but is €12.95 (€1.08/mth) for a 1 year license.

Any suggestions for freeware/shareware?

Thanks,

Art

abactuon · May 25, 2024

Can Windows itself control the rotation of the fans ?
When you use the laptop for light tasks (like websurfing) you should not hear the fans.
Under load (e.g. gaming) you should hear noise from the fans.
Yes, you can see the temperature in HWINFO64/HWMonitor.

ArthurDent · May 25, 2024

abactuon said:
Can Windows itself control the rotation of the fans ?
When you use the laptop for light tasks (like websurfing) you should not hear the fans.
Under load (e.g. gaming) you should hear noise from the fans.
Yes, you can see the temperature in HWINFO64/HWMonitor.

Yes, laptop is whisper quiet when just surfing. Don't know if Windows/BIOS can control the fans - something to investigate.

Can HWINFO64/HWMonitor control the fan(s)?

Art

abactuon · May 26, 2024

ArthurDent said:
Can HWINFO64/HWMonitor control the fan(s)?

No. They only read sensor readings.

antspants · May 26, 2024

You don’t mention you’re laptop in your specs, it just says “Lenovo” probably a good idea to update that.

I just guessing that it is possibly a ThinkPad T495? Or T495-S?
From what I can tell it came with fan control options but if you have removed the bloatware or reinstalled an OS that wasn’t from Lenovo you lost it. Again I don’t know because your Specs just say Lenovo.
Many Thinkpad owners from what I can tell use TPFanCtrl

TPFanCtrl2

GitHub - Shuzhengz/TPFanCtrl2: ThinkPad Fan Control 2 (Dual Fan) for Windows 10 and 11

ThinkPad Fan Control 2 (Dual Fan) for Windows 10 and 11 - Shuzhengz/TPFanCtrl2

github.com

Latest release

Release V2.1.5 · Shuzhengz/TPFanCtrl2

This patch fixes the encoding issue with the previous releases, also adds the archive source code for version 2.1.5b for ThinkPad P50 laptops What's Changed Fixes garbled characters by @Shuzhengz ...

github.com

ArthurDent · May 26, 2024

antspants said:
You don’t mention you’re laptop in your specs, it just says “Lenovo” probably a good idea to update that.

I just guessing that it is possibly a ThinkPad T495? Or T495-S?
From what I can tell it came with fan control options but if you have removed the bloatware or reinstalled an OS that wasn’t from Lenovo you lost it. Again I don’t know because your Specs just say Lenovo.
Many Thinkpad owners from what I can tell use TPFanCtrl

TPFanCtrl2

GitHub - Shuzhengz/TPFanCtrl2: ThinkPad Fan Control 2 (Dual Fan) for Windows 10 and 11

ThinkPad Fan Control 2 (Dual Fan) for Windows 10 and 11 - Shuzhengz/TPFanCtrl2

github.com

Latest release

Release V2.1.5 · Shuzhengz/TPFanCtrl2

This patch fixes the encoding issue with the previous releases, also adds the archive source code for version 2.1.5b for ThinkPad P50 laptops What's Changed Fixes garbled characters by @Shuzhengz ...

github.com

My bad, sorry

ThinkPad T495s

My Computer Specs altered accordingly.

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out. I've looked in the 495's user manual and there is no mention of fan control. A search of my pc doesn't turn up any Lenovo settings program/app either.

Art

antspants · May 26, 2024

ArthurDent said:
I've looked in the 495's user manual and there is no mention of fan control. A search of my pc doesn't turn up any Lenovo settings program/app either.

Art

Hi Art. Possibly they removed the function? I also had problems looking a 2nd time. Maybe too many people were frying their Laptops due to under valuing the fan speed ha! Silly humans.

antspants · May 26, 2024

If you’re occasionally hearing high revs from your laptop, it’s most likely needing there to be due to high loads, like abactuon mentioned. My Lenovo Yoga does it occasionally. Can sounds scary sometimes. I also read that some of those Thinkpads can have a bit of a whiney sound to the fans but I don’t think that was the S model, not sure.

Is there a particular reason you want or need to control the fans, Art?

Toughbook · May 26, 2024

Have you checked the BIOS for any type of fan settings?

ArthurDent · May 26, 2024

Toughbook said:
Have you checked the BIOS for any type of fan settings?

antspants said:
If you’re occasionally hearing high revs from your laptop, it’s most likely needing there to be due to high loads, like abactuon mentioned. My Lenovo Yoga does it occasionally. Can sounds scary sometimes. I also read that some of those Thinkpads can have a bit of a whiney sound to the fans but I don’t think that was the S model, not sure.

Is there a particular reason you want or need to control the fans, Art?

@Toughbook, no, not yet.

@antspants Just curious. I like to know what any pc is doing "under the hood" as it were.

So far, according to HWInfo: CPU 73/74°C, GPU 69°C, SDD 35°C.

The CPU and GPU are 'toastier' than I'd like.

Downloaded and tried to install TP4xFan Control 0_21 but it says that some component is missing - Winlo.sys - yet this file appear in the 'release' folder along with the application. *shrugs*

Art

ArthurDent · May 30, 2024

Bump!

Downloaded and tried to install TP4xFan Control 0_21 but it says that some component is missing - Winlo.sys - yet this file appears in the 'release' folder along with the application. *shrugs*. Any ideas?

What do I need to d/load in order to install TP4xFan Control?

Any help, gratefully received.

Art

NormanF · May 30, 2024

I think its managed automatically in Windows.

I've installed a battery utility but then I'm managing a laptop and its useful to know how much battery life would be left when I'm not plugged in.