Asus P5Q pro - So is there no way of slowing down the CPU fan?
- Thread starter NeilF
- Start date
Same issue here with my P5Q Deluxe. But it doesn't concern me too much, the 120mm 1,200 rpm Scythe fan that I'm using is not a big contributor to the total noise from my system. I do have an Arctic Cooling PWM job that I'm going to try and see what the noise and cooling is like
No, tried everything I can, in BIOS and via ASUS Suite and the fan just runs at full speed all the time. In ASUS Suite I can see on their fan speed chart for the CPU it should running slower, and indeed the chassis fans are slowed down, but not the CPU one!
Can it definately slow down a 3 pin fan on the 4 pin header?
Hi, it's the fan's fault, use this http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Chris
Chris
Tried Speedfan already... Can't make it adjust ANY of the fans...
How would it be a ble to slow down the CPU fan if the BIOS/Asus can't do it?
Ah! So Speedfan can control all the fans, 3pin or 4pin? Any clues as to how to achieve this?
I fitted a 120mm Arctic Cooling PWM fan to my Ultra 120 Xtreme today, with QFan enabled, to see how it goes.
First, the machine boots up with a BIOS CPU fan fail message because the fan is only spinning at 450 rpm or so. There seems to be no way to disable this warning or lower the threshold in the P5Q Deluxe BIOS ?
Anyway - currently my QX6700 at 2.9GHz is under 75% load, cores ranging from 59-65C. The fan is spinning at around 600rpm. This is with QFan on standard setting. So it keeps the fan a little slower than I'd like - although 65C is absolutely nothing to worry about at all. I'll put it under 100% load soon and see how hot it lets the CPU get before increasing the fan speed
Anyway - it is all rather pointless, compared to before with a 1,200 rpm Scythe fan in there the overall noise level from the machine is the same, so the CPU fan is not the noisiest part of the system. I'll probably put the Scythe back.
So, before getting really excited about being able to control the CPU fan, think about what is actually the major source of noise in your system, if noise reduction is your goal...
First, the machine boots up with a BIOS CPU fan fail message because the fan is only spinning at 450 rpm or so. There seems to be no way to disable this warning or lower the threshold in the P5Q Deluxe BIOS ?
Anyway - currently my QX6700 at 2.9GHz is under 75% load, cores ranging from 59-65C. The fan is spinning at around 600rpm. This is with QFan on standard setting. So it keeps the fan a little slower than I'd like - although 65C is absolutely nothing to worry about at all. I'll put it under 100% load soon and see how hot it lets the CPU get before increasing the fan speed
Anyway - it is all rather pointless, compared to before with a 1,200 rpm Scythe fan in there the overall noise level from the machine is the same, so the CPU fan is not the noisiest part of the system. I'll probably put the Scythe back.
So, before getting really excited about being able to control the CPU fan, think about what is actually the major source of noise in your system, if noise reduction is your goal...
All I want to be able to do - which I was led to believe I could do - is control all the fans. All I want to do is spend an hour trying various things to compair cooling vs noise.
It appears the control is limited to say the least, and in the case of the CPU fan non-existant (and in *** case of the 'power fan') - All very annoying as one of my criteria for choosing this MB was the fan control
FFS - This is doing my head in
So disabled the ASUS controls...
Setting up just speed fan. All I can control is ONE fan speed that is actually the two chassis fans on the motherboard...
It gets worse!
So I tell Speedfan to automatically change just that one fan speed (the two fans). When I set it, the fan speed ramps down quickly from 100% to the lowest value and then sits there no matter what the CPU temp is. ie: Speedfan does NOT automatically set the fan speed in any way other than a constant rate
Why is this so hard to do something sooooo simple!
So disabled the ASUS controls...
Setting up just speed fan. All I can control is ONE fan speed that is actually the two chassis fans on the motherboard...
It gets worse!
So I tell Speedfan to automatically change just that one fan speed (the two fans). When I set it, the fan speed ramps down quickly from 100% to the lowest value and then sits there no matter what the CPU temp is. ie: Speedfan does NOT automatically set the fan speed in any way other than a constant rate
Why is this so hard to do something sooooo simple!
Hi Neil,
I think I have been able to control a 3-pin CPU fan using the ASUS Q-Fan feature set in BIOS but I can't remember which board that was using? I've certainly come across the situation you are experiencing before where the case fans can be speed controlled via BIOS but not the 3-pin CPU fan.
Just have to clear up a point regarding 3-pin vs 4-pin CPU fans and that's *You don't always need a 4-pin fan to use the Q-Fan feature*, a 3pin fan can have it's speed adjusted just fine if the BIOS is set-up to do that (board dependant maybe?).
This is proven in your scenario Neil by the fact the Q-Fan feature appears to work fine with your 3-pin case fans thus logic would dictate that the board should also have no problem regulating the 3-pin CPU fan but no! . . . . you gotta love hardware, defies logical thinking sometimes!
All the 4-pin PWM fan controller should do is enable a greater degree of control over the fans RPMs, its meant to be a bonus not a must-have!
In case you don't know the difference between 3-pin fan control and 4-pin PWM fan control I will explain it as I understand it. . .
A 3-pin fan has its speed regulated by controlling the voltage supplied to it, if the board wants the fan to spin slower it will supply less voltage to it via the 3-pin fan header, in theory this is all nice and simple but the slight problem comes from a few fans that don't like their voltage being messed with and will maybe stall if the volts are lowered to much, most good fans features motors that play nice but some don't!
A 4-Pin *PWM* fan has its speed regulated not by lowering the volts gently but instead by having its power cut off completely, the board *pulses* the power On, Off, On, Off etc and this happens many times every second! The On/Off command gets issued through the extra fourth wire . . . .
Hopefully that clears the 3-pin vs 4-pin PWM fan control scenario up a bit for you guys!
It would seem that ASUS (and other manufacturers) don't always implement the necessary voltage controller on the CPU fan header as I guess they assume your gonna use a 4-pin PWN controlled fan and only build in a PWM fan control . . .
Quick fix Neil
- Buy a new 4-pin PWM Controlled uBer fan to hook up to Q-Fan
- Buy a new 3-pin *quiet* fan that doesn't need controlling
Hey Tuvoc,
if you go into the BIOS health menu . . . you see the bit where it shows you the RPM's of your fan? . . . well you should be able to press enter and change it to ignore or N/A. that should do tha trick!
Hey Tuvoc,
if you go into the BIOS health menu . . . you see the bit where it shows you the RPM's of your fan? . . . well you should be able to press enter and change it to ignore or N/A. that should do tha trick!
Thanks, I'll try it next time I re-boot !
Neil, I think buying a PWM fan is the only sure-fire way of controlling fan speed on this mobo. What CPU cooler do you have ?
I'll live with the fact I cannot control the CPU fan! But my two chassis fans connected to 3pin headers on the motherboard also seems completely uncontrollable by temp!
I have all Q-Fan settings disabled in the bios... So on booting up all fans are full speed.
On entering windows it seems Speedfan can controll the two chassis fans to a set speed, but CANNOT do it dynamically according to CPU temp It just drops down to you lowest speed, and never speeds up even if the CPU goes up. It's almost as if the fan speed was based on the wrong temp? Can you specify what temp a fans speed is based on?
EDIT: Sussed it! For each fan you can tick which temp is applicable. Not very intuitive! But it is working! If only I could do the CPU fan too, but oh well!
I have all Q-Fan settings disabled in the bios... So on booting up all fans are full speed.
On entering windows it seems Speedfan can controll the two chassis fans to a set speed, but CANNOT do it dynamically according to CPU temp
It just drops down to you lowest speed, and never speeds up even if the CPU goes up. It's almost as if the fan speed was based on the wrong temp? Can you specify what temp a fans speed is based on?EDIT: Sussed it! For each fan you can tick which temp is applicable. Not very intuitive! But it is working! If only I could do the CPU fan too, but oh well!
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Asus Suite wont even load for me. I install it either through the disk or webby and click on the short cut and nothing. Doesn't show up in task manager but when I shut down the systems it comes up with an "want to end now" box for ai suite. Any thoughts?
I want to tweak my chassis fan a bit. Its a 2000rpm and what ever profile I set it too in the bios (silent,turbo,standard) it sits at 1400rpm. Which is not bad and pretty close to what I want but any help would be great.
I want to tweak my chassis fan a bit. Its a 2000rpm and what ever profile I set it too in the bios (silent,turbo,standard) it sits at 1400rpm. Which is not bad and pretty close to what I want but any help would be great.
Speedfan can adjust the chassis fans. ONE of the fan speeds controls BOTH chassis fans! Why aren't they independant? Who knows! Why can't Asus write a simple fan control tool to let you define the graph of fan speed to a temp for each fan? Who knows!
I'll have to see what BIOS version I'm on, and if there's an update... Not bothered looking yet.
So this is what I've found. There are four fan headers:-
CPU Fan - A four pin header. Can ONLY control a FOUR pint fan. So as my CPU fan is 3 pin dead end!
PSU Fan - Cannot speed control this fan at all.
Chassis fans 1 & 2 - These can be speed controlled, but only in unison (ie: they act as a single fan).
The BIOS seems to set the chassis fans to a set speed, and that's it. They do not speed up/slow down according to temps.
Speedfan can control the two chassis fans (as if one fan speed) according to temps - So a result there!
When my system is fully build I'll do some testing and see which fans have what affects.
From previous experience, I suspect my front (120) and chimney (120) will have very little affect on temps, so I'll probably end up running these at a constant slow speed (eg: 40-50%). And I'll run the CPU fan and rear fans off the chassis headers with speedfan to speed up/down according to temps (40-100%)
The max overclock I've thusfar got is 8x425=3.4ghz. V1.465. Memory at 4:5. I'm happy with that, but see if I can get the voltage down a little.
As long as the temps stay below 65 I'll be happy.