CPU fan speeds are typically automatically managed. This is beneficial in a variety of ways—it ensures that your system can cool itself adequately depending on current temperatures and power-saving settings—but sometimes, it just isn’t enough.
Manually adjusting your CPU fan speeds is a great way to prioritize benefits like quietness or cooling by your preferences. The best part is that you can easily accomplish this on your Linux system with the help of fancontrol or other fan speed control applications.
Install a Fan Speed Control Application on Linux
If you want to take the simplest approach to managing your CPU fan speeds in Linux,Cooleromight be the right application for you. It offers the ability to see an overview of your entire system’s cooling performance, as well as performance details for specific devices.
you’re able to easilyinstall the app as a Flatpak. Once it’s installed, you’ll have the ability to set individual fans to specific cooling speed profiles. You can also create a custom cooling speed profile if your system has needs that aren’t covered by Coolero’s convenient presets.
Use the fancontrol Utility to Control Fan Speed
If you prefer to work with simpler tools, you might find that fancontrol offers the right solution for you. Before you can use fancontrol, you’ll need to install the underlying lm-sensors utility.
Open the terminal withCtrl + Alt + Tand enter the following to install lm-sensors and fancontrol:
You may need to adjust the above commands if youuse an alternative package manager(Pacman or DNF)—APT is just one of many great options.
Next, you’ll need to check what sensors are available on your system. Enter the following to look for sensors (like CPU-embedded sensors and memory controllers) and check whether any additional kernel modules are needed:
Finally, you’ll need to configure fancontrol by entering:
Once pwmconfig finishes running, it will have created a configuration file in the /etc directory. You can reconfigure fancontrol by editing the configuration file with a text editor like nano.
After you’ve entered the next command, your system will run the fans in accordance with what you’ve outlined in the/etc/fancontrolfile:
You should never manually disable or decrease fan speed when running extreme workloads that would cause your PC to run hot—otherwise, you risk damaging your hardware.
Regulate Fan Speed Carefully on Linux
Using fancontrol or other fan speed control applications is an excellent way to take control of your system and get the best benefits from your system. When done incorrectly, it also comes with a variety of risks. It’s vital to manage your fan speed carefully so that you can balance efficiency and operational integrity.
