[tlug] Fan Slowing Down Processing?

[CL <az.4tlug@example.com>]

Just casual observations and a question:

My Xubuntu 11.10 torrenting machine, assembled out of parts a few months 
back, has been getting buzzy.  The nice, shiny, copper Zallman CPU fan 
buzzed a bit from new but, as it collected a bit of room dust became a 
major contributor to the auditory background and seemed to run at full 
wide open throttle at all times.

There appeared to be an unrelated issue of all processing just about 
ceasing when torrenting and I'd attributed that to Vuze being a CPU hog.

Stay with me; the two are connected events ...

Well, I was given a motherboard with a 3.8GHz P4 on it and thought I'd 
cobble together a small old game machine for the few times I actually 
play any.  It came with a Scythe Katana CPU cooler that had a munged 
Intel CPU mount and I thought I'd switch it to my torrent machine ... 
except the AMD mount wasn't in the box.  Since I already had everything 
pulled apart, I rummaged around my leftovers box and came up with the 
never-used stock heatsink and fan from the six-core AMD CPU I installed 
in my all-new-internals desktop machine.  So, I removed the Zallman and 
installed the stock fan.

- The stock fan is much quieter.  It never seems to need full throttle 
even when running wide open.  It isn't absolutely silent, but the low 
hum can only be heard when I am sitting next to it to select downloads 
and to clean up my storage.  CPU temps seem to be about 5~6 degrees C lower.

- The Scythe Katana is even quieter.  I have them on two other machines 
and like them enough to recommend them to others.  I may buy another 
just to get both the AMD mount for the new one and the Intel mount to 
replace the munged one ... but right now, I have quiet at minimal outlay,

- Suddenly, the "click a key and stare for two minutes" wait is 
completely gone. All input is processed immediately with no delay.

So, it appears that the fan speed controller subroutine was killing my 
machine's performance.  Since it is a downtime period, I have been 
casually wondering whether the problem is caused by the CPU fan, the 
controller, the BIOS, the OS or a combination of several.  Anyone else 
experienced something like this in the past?

--
CL