Nuc x15 fans speed

[Emile]

Hello, I am making a new thread, sorry for the previous one.

1) I would like the fans to spin faster, earlier, is it possible ? It seems that there were settings in the bios for that but they are not there anymore since the last BIOS update.

Above 60 °C ( around 62-64 ) the fans spin faster (2000 + rpm) but it's not enough to keep the laptop at a confortable temperature. After it gets cooler the fans stop and it'll come back to 60°C in a minute or two, doing so again and again the heat propagates and all the laptop becomes too hot compared to my other laptop while doing the same thing, actually not much.

I have changed the subject  from my previous post, since i thnik everything work but the settings for the fans are not optimized.

2) I have opened the laptop, nothing special concerning the fans.

3) i have attached the SSU review 

I have been throught those posts :

I had something like this , it reached 70°C before the fans actually accelerate, now it accelerates at +60°C

@https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/X15-NUC-fans-aren-t-spinning-up/m-p/1353430#M88018

@https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/Intel-Nuc-X15-laptop-fan-control-problem/m-p/1383342#M91129

@https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLaptops/comments/s8gewi/kraken_x15f_intel_nuc_x15_reseller/

Thank you for your help

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello @Emile

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

Based on the BIOS Glossary for the Intel® NUC X15 Laptop Kit - LAPKC71F, it should have two options related to Fan settings. It should be in the BIOS under Advanced > Fan:

• Minimum Fan Duty Cycle
• Disable Passive Cooling Mode

Could you please check on your BIOS to see if you have those options and maybe provide us with a screenshot?

After that, we will check if those or any other options will allow or help the fans to spin faster.

Also, could you please clarify the following points:

1- In the screenshot you provided we see that the option "Passive cooling mode" is disabled. Is the behavior the same regardless if it is "On" or "Off"?

2- From your previous post, we understand that when you enable Benchmark mode the fans go up to 5000 rpm. Does this improve the temperatures? If so, could you please provide details? For instance, what are the average temperatures with Benchmark mode set to "On"?

3- In both screenshots you provided showing "Fan RPM", the one for the "right fan" shows 0 RPM. Have you seen it working at any time and going to higher RMP? Please provide details.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Emile]

Hello Andrew, thank you for your time.

1) Yes to me there is no difference between Passive mode on and off. I find Passive mode Off a little bit more efficient as one fan is spinning compared to none,  but it's just a feeling. At the end it's the same, laptop reaches +60°C and fans start spinning a +2000 rpm.

2) If i activate benchmark mode fans go to +5000 rpm, laptop cools quite quickly, it can go easly under 50°C, i've reached 39°C in one test. It's about how long I let benchmark mode ON. So it's doing the job.

3) I have experiences 2 behaviors, 2 thresholds i would say.

1st behavior, below 60°C : only one fan is working at more or less 1450 RPM

2nd behavior, above 60°C untill it reaches more or less 55°C : two fans are working at more or less 2000 RPM

My conclusion, fans are working and doing their jobs, but the thresholds are not optimised for my use, and i would try two fans working at 1500 RPM or a little bit more as default.

4) here is a screen shot, it's weird since I have seen what you've said on others answers, yet I do no find those settings, and people on those threads didn't seem to find it. Is it possible that Windows prevents that access in UEFI mode ?

[Emile]

Hello @AndrewG_Intel ! Any feedback ?

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello Emile

Thank you for your response and for all the details. Please allow us to review this further and we will be posting back in the thread once more information is available.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi @Emile,

Is the system having any performance issue or is it shutting down by itself due to overheating? Around 60 °C I would say that the system is "warn" but not really having an over-temperature issue.

Do you see any other behavior when the system is running heavy load tasks?

We don't really have much control over the system cooling, the Laptop regulates/controls the fan automatically as there is no option in BIOS to customize Fan control and NUC Studio only reads and displays the information of the sensor.

Regards,

Ronny G

[Emile]

@Ronny_G_Intel 

Hello Ronny,

Is the system having any performance issue or is it shutting down by itself due to overheating? 

the system is not having performance issue, it is not shutting down. It's unconfortable to work,  not even doing intensive tasks. 

Do you see any other behavior when the system is running heavy load tasks?

I am not doing heavy load tasks yet, CPU goes up to 20% sometimes not more. I planned to use for more intensive work, like 3D rendering. I gave it a try, but again, when the laptop starts to heat it's not confortable, so i stoped.

We don't really have much control over the system cooling, the Laptop regulates/controls the fan automatically as there is no option in BIOS to customize Fan control and NUC Studio only reads and displays the information of the sensor.

What about : Advanced > Fan > Minimum Duty Cycle ? Has it been removed ? Is it going to come back ?

or there : https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000033327/intel-nuc.html

Where is this option ? Or maybe it doesn't concern Nuc Laptops, idk. But I am concerned about having missing options in the BIOS that I am suposed to find when reading the documentation.

the Laptop regulates/controls the fan automatically

I guess there is something, somewhere telling the laptop how to control the fans. People have a wide range of usage and environnemental conditions, it would be better to control the fans according to those conditions. My other Asus laptop, behaves much better and I don't have it heating like the Nuc x 15 while browsing on the Internet. 

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello Emile

Thank you for your answers. Please allow us to check this information and we will be posting back in the thread as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi @Emile

If the laptop is having the "no shut down issue" please make sure that it is running the latest available graphics driver, GFX driver version 31.0.101.3222 should address this issue: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/649904/intel-nuc-x15-laptop-kit-lapkcx1x-driver-pack.html

In regards to the main issue, we are evaluating the possibility of deploying some type of Cooling/Fan Control possibly via the BIOS set-up but as I said, this is currently being evaluated and can't make any promises, this may happen or may not happen at all. Cooling/Fan Control is automatically managed by the system.

I wish I had any other option or recommendation but there is not much I can really do about this issue at least from a technical perspective, if you are not happy with the system please call support and make reference to case 05544363 and we will try to look for any other alternative.

Visit this URL to find our phone numbers: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-intel.html#support-intel-products_98414:98414

Regards,

Ronny G

[EnableFanSpeedControl]

Any updates Ronny G? It's just that having granular control over fan speed is almost like an expectation that is assumed pre purchasing a laptop.. especially from a high performance laptop like the i7/3060 X15 NUC.

Judging by the fact that almost every PC has the ability for the user to control fan speed - it should be a very simple implementation.

Please, respond.

[Emile]

@Ronny_G_Intel , @AndrewG_Intel 

Alright, thank you both of you for your time.

I have seen a couple of posts about the same issue so I really hope that feature comes to the BIOS or somewhere.

Please tell anyone in charge of this decision that if they do give us some control over cooling and fans I ll send them a bottle of wine.

Have a good day,

Emile

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi Emile,

Yes, we have this request escalated up to the NUC Product Team, some customers would really like to have some level of Fan Control.

I bottle of wine would be nice, unfortunately, I am not the decision maker

Thanks,

Ronny G

[x15user]

Hi Ronny,

came to this thread because unlike Emily I AM having overheat freezes, which is seriously hampering my work. Some activities require hours of heavy processing, so getting a freeze towards the end is no fun at all.

I'll actually say that MOST customers will like custom fan control, given that Intel's built-in is utter awful garbage.

Even during light regular use (e.g. reading PDFs) the laptop gets hot enough to hurt fingers, and at almost no time it's under 60°C (it's now 59, and all I'm doing is typing in this forum, no other windows open - which is ridiculous).

Removing ability to control fans is the dumbest idea I've seen Intel come up with, and if I even suspected it might be a thing I'd never have bought this machine. Please let NUC Product Team are doing a terrible job in two fronts: not creating a decent fan control profile and not having the decency and humility to admit users might do a better job.

Thank you for your assistance in this thread, and I hope to see a solution for this serious issue soon.

[sharpjd]

I believe this might instead be a different problem where the fans aren't turning on when they're supposed to. I've read somewhere int he forums that the solution to this is to re-flash the BIOS manually

[x15user]

They do turn on, but don't ramp up speed fast enough when needed, nor spin fast enough in regular usage. Pressing the "performance" button makes them spin faster, but they still park at around 60°C, which is way too hot for regular use. So when there's a processing spike, as the software I use do, the CPU instantly goes to 95°C and maybe upwards, then the whole system freezes.

Conversely, one way to reduce the likelyhood of freezes is to keep a 3D scene open (I'm using Passmark's initial screen) so that temps will go above 65°C and the fans will spin slightly faster (how much? no idea, as the geniuses at Intel don't let us even monitor the RPM) so there's a bit more leeway when computing hits the fan.

It will still freeze with prolonged use, regardless of what's running (yesterday I had it freeze while just browsing) because the entire system becomes too hot to handle any spike, even if it's just a web page loading.

Please allow us to control the fans, or do a smart thing for once and make the third stage of the "Performance" button have both fans go full spin, as smart manufacturers do. It was one of my favorite features with my previous MSI.

P.S.: I've reflashed the BIOS twice and reset it to default a number of times - with or without the jumper, no help.

[n_scott_pearson]

No one should get their hopes up regarding the appearance of this capability. Can any of you name another laptop vendor who provides this capability? No, they tune the FSC to the design of their cooling and battery subsystems and then lock it down. In most cases, they don't even offer active cooling; they only provide passive cooling - and no, they don't provide a way to modify the FSC configuration.

Just saying,

...S

[EnableFanSpeedControl]

Yeah, the 2018 macbook pro that I am typing this message on allows for programs that allow of granular fan speed control to be installed... 

[x15user]

It's not about the appearance, but the very functionality. There's no logical reason to prevent users from setting fan speeds (or even monitor them).

My previous MSI laptop had it. Its Dell predecessor had it. Its HP predecessor from 2010 had it. Every single desktop I've assembled or bought or worked with since at least 2007 (including an Intel NUC 7th-gen) had it.

It's just another case of Intel doing dumb stuff because, well, they get away with it (they never respond for they mistakes anyway).

[x15user]

Now it gets even worse:

fans spin faster at lower temps in Power savings mode than in Performance mode.

Can Intel hire someone who's not drunk nor drugged all the time to take care of fan management?

Or have some decency back and allow users to do a better job than you folks at it?

Thanks in advance.