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alienfan-gui

AlienFan-GUI

GUI application for fan and power modes control.
Then you start it, you will see 2 main windows - Temperature sensors (with current and maximal (press "x" button at list head to reset it to current values) readings) and Fans (with current RPM readings), as well as separate Fan curve (graph).
You can also change sensor name by double-click on it. In case you remove sensor name (leaving it empty), it will be restored back to default BIOS one.

"Power mode" drop down used to select global power mode. Power modes are system-specific, so exact power limit values depends of you gear, you can use third-party tools to check it. You can edit mode name by selecting it and type new name.
First power mode always named "Manual", and the last power mode is a special one, named "G-mode" (if supported at you system). It's accelerate performance of the system, but set fans to maximal RPMs available.
"CPU mode" drop downs can be used to select active Windows Power Plan boost mode (separately for AC and battery power). This settings is extremely useful for Ryzen CPU, but even for Intel it provide a little performance boost (+3% at "Aggressive" for my gear).

Important: Fans can only be controlled if Power Mode set to "Manual", and will be defined by BIOS value at other modes!

"Clear Max." button above sensors list reset maximal temperature sensors value to current one.
"X" button above fans list REMOVE ALL CURVES (for all sensors) for currently selected fan.

"Check Max. boost" button will check possibility of currently selected fan to increase RPM even more, then 100% boost.
It will switch curve window to other mode - showing currently tested boost level and resulting RPM.
This process can take some minutes, window with final results will be shown after the process ends, and they be used lately for this fan.
You can press "Stop check" button any time to stop max. boost check.
Press "Default boost" button to reset fan boost to BIOS default values.

How to use it

First, select the Fan you want to control from left list.
Fan control is temperature sensor-driven, so select and check the sensors you want to use for fan control from sensors list.

After you doing this, currently selected fan settings will be shown at "Fan Curve" window - you will see current fan boost at the top, and the fan control curve for selected sensor (green line). The rest of the sensors controlling the same fan marked as yellow dotted lines.
Big green and yellow dots present temperature and proposed boost set for every sensor controlling this fan, red one show current hardware boost settings an selected sensor temperature.
Now play with fan control curve - it defines fan boost by temperature level. X axle is temperature, Y axle is boost level.
You can left click (and drag until mouse button release) into the curve window to add point or select close point (if any) to move it.
You can click right mouse button at the graph point to remove it.

Please keep in mind:

  • You can't remove first or last point of the curve.
  • If you move first or last point, it will keep it's temperature after button release - but you can set other boost level for it.
  • Then fan controlled by multiply sensors, boost will be set to the maximal value across them.
  • Fan control is indirect at modern systems. You can not set exact fan RPMs, but can modify it using "boost" curves.

You can minimize application to tray pressing Minimize button (or the top one), left click on try icon restore application back, right click brings you the context menu for power mode/g-mode change.

There are some settings into application top menu under "Settings":

  • "Start with windows" - Application will run at system start.
  • "Start minimized" - Application hide into tray icon after start.
  • "Keyboard shortcuts" - Global keyboard hotkeys enabled.
  • "Check for update" - Application will made online update check at start.
  • "Disable AWCC" - In case AWCC service running, it will be stopped and started back then application quit.
  • "Restore power mode" - System power mode will be stored at application start and restored at quit/sleep/hibernate/restart.

Keyboard shortcuts

Global shortcuts (works all time application running):

  • CTRL+ALT+0..N - switch active power mode. 0 is for Manual, 1..N for system-defined
  • F17 (G-key for Dell G-series laptops) - Enable/disable G-Mode (performance mode)

Known issues

  • Application can freeze at first start for some seconds in case you have Intel CPU. It's normal situation, application trying to obtain Intel sensor names.
  • Fans can only be controlled in "Manual" mode (BIOS limitation), all other modes utilize BIOS-defined control values.
  • Some BIOSes limit fan RPMs to lower values under heavy system load (Power subsystem have not enough reserves for fans).
  • In case BIOS drives mode set to "Raid", SSD temperatures into fan control will be fake (always 60C) at some systems.