Selfhosted @lemmy.world AggressivelyPassive @feddit.de 7 mo. ago

Dell Optiplex turning into turbine after load

I have a Dell Optiplex 3060 here, that I used as a backup desktop with Linux, but now I'm trying to use it essentially as a streaming host for games (Fallout, GTA...), unfortunately that means Windows.

And even less fortunate: Windows seems to think, fan speeds only know one direction: up.

Essentially, the machine starts nice and reasonably quite, but after some load (e.g. a game), the fans never spin down again. Even if the temps are fine (all cores at <30°C, GPU at 48°C), it keeps running in turbine mode.

The only "fix" is a sleep or power cycle.

Since this machine is supposed to run relatively long hours and sit in my room, this is quite annoying and I'm kind of out of ideas.

Newest BIOS and all the Dell Magic™ are installed.

21 comments

See if there's a cooling profile option in the BIOS. Maybe also run the Dell diagnostics. Might be something wrong with the fan tachometer.

Worst case, assuming the PWM is working properly, you could use a third-party application to control the fan speed.
- There are no profiles, just an on/off switch. From what I've seen, there is also no way to control the fans from Windows (Linux somehow manages, though).
  
  Dell power manager on my work laptop has profiles. But that's a laptop.. But still.
I had an optiplex like this. I would give the top of the case a couple taps and fans would spin down. No idea why that worked but it did it every time, hurricane winds, couple good taps to calm it back down
- That sounds just stupid enough to actually work.
  
  But then I would need an ssh-enabled wackity whack in my rack.
- It might be a failing fan. I have an Intel nuc whose fan started sounding like an air raid siren, so I took the fan out, drilled a hole into its bearing and added coconut oil into it. It is working fine till this date, but buying a new fan is probably better.
You can stream using Sunlight (server) and Moonlight (client) on linux. What specifically are you trying to stream as it's likely Linux will be able to play them.

https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine

Here's how to check to see if the game you want is supported

https://www.protondb.com/

Here's an easy setup for gaming on linux

https://guidetechy.com/your-ultimate-guide-to-setting-up-arch-linux-for-high-end-gaming-performance

Here's what could help with your fans on boot. However that's a tiny machine and you might want to get a different impeller

https://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
- Linux is not an option. I tried, see my other comment.
  
  Then you might be interested in the last link I shared in my post.
"Nuclear bomb" idea. You remove the PWM fan (speed controlled by BIOS) and you install a single speed but more silent fan
Instead my Dell optiplex 3060 has the opposite problem, it downclocks the CPU (i3 8100) to 799 MHz for some reason

Dell knows the problem but doesn't have a real fix https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000145125/processor-speed-limited-to-0-79ghz-800mhz

Luckily, using a program called throttlestop I can force it back to 3 GHz

Never again a Dell
- Yeah, I'm also not entirely what to think about the machine. There are definitely some quirks that are 100% Dell doing its own thing instead of using standard parts. On the other hand, the case is extremely easy to disassemble, you hardly need any tools.
Streaming games from Linux works perfectly fine 🤷‍♂️
- But not Windows games. Fallout barely runs at all, I tried and it's not fun.
  
  You could run it in a VM with GPU pass through.
Are you sure you installed all the drivers from https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-ie/product-support/product/optiplex-3060-desktop/drivers ?
- Yes.

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