Easy underclock / fan RPM switcher for Windows 11?

[kemmler3D]

Just got a new SFF PC that will be used for everything... Gaming, work, and music listening. It is emphatically not a fanless or acoustically optimized case... To fit everything in there without overheating, 5 sides are ventilated. (Louqe S1 case)

(Not my image but the same model, mine is silver)

So with context here's my question:

Does anyone know of a handy W11 utility to underclock CPU and maybe GPU and minimize fan speed at the same time? It would be really handy to be able to set a "music mode" where the computer runs on 15% power or so, and gets really quiet for a listening session.

I know it can be done if I reboot into the bios and all that, and I know about windows power profiles, and I know about Speedfan, but I'm not sure if there's a way to switch it all at once without rebooting or using multiple utilities.

 

[ppataki]

Just got a new SFF PC that will be used for everything... Gaming, work, and music listening. It is emphatically not a fan less or acoustically optimized case... To fit everything in there without overheating, 5 sides are ventilated. (Loque S1 case)

View attachment 477529
(Not my image but the same model mine is silver)

So with context here's my question:

Does anyone know of a handy W11 utility to underclock CPU and maybe GPU and minimize fan speed at the same time? It would be really handy to be able to set a "music mode" where the computer runs on 15% power or so, and gets really quiet for a listening session.

Normally your motherboard should have a fan management utility. What motherboard brand/model do you have?
I have 7 fans in my cabinet individually managed with that

 

[ppataki]

Just FYI this is what mine looks like:

Another tip: not sure what CPU model you have but I would very strongly recommend upgrading the stock CPU fan to a higher end model with larger heat sink (not sure if that would fit the SFF case though)
You can then lower the fan speed to a practically inaudible level

 

[nerdstrike]

maybe GPU

MSI afterburner.

The motherboard manufacturer might provide the utility you're looking for in terms of profiled clocks/voltage. I'm a bit out of touch with software for this, I've always been a BIOS fiddler.

Bonus thought: playback affinity to an efficiency core might be good. Not sure if that's easy to influence

 

[Soniclife]

but I'm not sure if there's a way to switch it all at once without rebooting or using multiple utilities

This is a job for scripting.

 

[kyuu]

Have you determined if all that is really necessary? If you set an appropriate fan speed vs. temperature curve, playing music should be such a nothing load that it should stay pretty silent on its own.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

On Windows, I use the FanControl app which can store custom fan presets. The author is hyper-responsive to any issue. It is donation-ware.

Perfectly feasible to create & tune a profile for music and load it as needed (eg File-open my-music.json). Adjusts in real-time; no rebooting necessary.

One other potential benefit is this utility is quite portable across (Intel & AMD) architectures. I successfully use it on four systems of disparate HW.

 

[popej]

Does anyone know of a handy W11 utility to underclock CPU and maybe GPU and minimize fan speed at the same time? It would be really handy to be able to set a "music mode" where the computer runs on 15% power or so, and gets really quiet for a listening session.

This is done automatically. System manages CPU power accordingly to CPU load. You can tune it a bit. First check in BIOS if you can turn on a silent profile for fans. Sometimes this can be done by utility application, that comes with motherboard, like Asrock example above. Be aware, that using silent profile could limit gaming performance.

Next look to Windows power settings. You can switch between balanced, which is universal, and best efficiency, which should be a quiet mode. See for example:

How to change power modes for performance or battery on Windows 11

You can change the power mode for performance or battery, and in this guide, I'll show you three different ways.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[kemmler3D]

MSI afterburner.

The motherboard manufacturer might provide the utility you're looking for in terms of profiled clocks/voltage. I'm a bit out of touch with software for this, I've always been a BIOS fiddler.

Bonus thought: playback affinity to an efficiency core might be good. Not sure if that's easy to influence

Thanks for all the replies folks - it's an MSI B650 Edge motherboard so the MSI Afterburner app seems like a good first stop. I did turn it on today and with default settings it's louder than I'd prefer for a nice listening session. Once I get it properly set up I'll start messing with fan curves and profiles. I'm basically going to see how low I can get the fan speed at ~idle without reaching concerning temps.

 

[nerdstrike]

The system will automatically ramp clocks up and down as load requires, but (at least in Intel land), I find it is rather keen to raise clock (and therefore voltage and heat) at the slightest provocation. There is also lots of glowing reports of undervolting going well with recent AMD CPUs.

Cursory googling leads me to "Ryzen Master" from AMD, which will let you mess with the PBO: https://www.amd.com/en/products/software/ryzen-master.html#download

 

[majingotan]

If you have an Intel system, I recommend "ThrottleStop" and set it and lock it to 800MHz for music playback while doing light browsing and watching YT videos (noticeably slower of course) then turn it off when gaming. Without doing any fan profile modification, the CPU should be almost idling at that frequency, but is enough for you to play DSD512 natively without hiccups

For me, I now use a laptop with 15W TDP (down) or 35W (TDP up), but can Turbo to 80+W on millisecond duration. With my laptop, I find I never needed to use any ThrottleStop or CPU frequency locking software like it is on desktop since everything is running at a much faster bus speed compared to a laptop. Since it's only using ~1 watt on package power while playing music, the fan completely stays off until Package temp is more like close to 60's °C

See this post: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/fan-less-silent-pc.41114/post-2403573

 

[kemmler3D]

It's an AMD chip so I might try Ryzen master... Thanks for all the suggestions so far!

 

[popej]

AMD is nice for undervolting. Look for "curve optimizer" in Ryzen Master.