Fan speed ramps up when connected to external display

Hello, my Framework 13 (11th Gen Intel) has been getting very loud when connected to an external 1440p display in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. It does this even when idle, but not when using only the main display, even when it is under stress with just the main display. I do not believe this to be an issue of to much stress on the cpu, as it still does this with the lid closed and the main display inactive. HDMI card is in top left slot btw. Thank you in advance for any help!

The fan’s speed is controlled by the embedded controller firmware based on the CPU temperature. The second display is about doubling the number of pixels the iGPU has to render, and it’s likely also adding load to CPU and/or iGPU from display arrangement, multi-desktops, etc.

I’d be willing to bet you’re also charging while plugged into the external display, which allows the CPU to boost higher and draw more power. In my experience, charging alone can be enough to get the fans to ramp up.

Since you’re on Linux, you can use ECTool to temporarily modify the fan speed, but it may result in worse performance, because the factory curve is designed to keep things as cool as possible to keep clock speeds high.

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Thank you so much for your help