How can I keep my mini PC healthy? Part 2: SmartFan

10.07.2019

In this blog series, we will show you what you can do to keep your PC in good health. We have already dealt with the right ventilation. Today we’re looking at a related topic: the SmartFan settings for active cooling systems.

SmartFan with active cooling in the Mini-PC

If you opt for a Mini PC with active cooling, i.e. a system with a fan, there are various methods to ensure that the PC has a longer life expectancy. Because whoever says activecooling must also say BIOS settings.

Good to know: What is BIOS?

What is SmartFan?

Active cooling cools a Mini PC with the help of fans. Thanks to SmartFan technology, the rotation speed of the fans is adapted to the necessary requirements. These depend, for example, on the utilization of the PC. As the name "SmartFan" suggests, these adjustments are made completely automatically. The various values, including the current CPU or system temperature, can be viewed in the BIOS under "PChealth" (see Fig. 1).

Manual setting of SmartFan values

However, it may be that an actively cooled mini PC is used in an office and is too loud due to the high rotational speed. In such cases, the "CPU Fan Smart Mode" can also be set to "Manual Mode" in the BIOS (see Fig. 2). This allows all previously automatically adjusted values to be set manually. Figure 3 shows what it can look like if the "Fan Start Temperature", i.e. the temperature at which the fan starts to rotate, is set manually.