K2 mount doom question

Volatile_Mike · 12 Mar 2013 at 16:34

Hi All

Just a quick question. Now that I think of it, my cooler above is quite loud. Would the fans be running full pelt all the time if only plugged into a 3 pin on mobo when the fans themselves are 4 pin?

Thanks

Mr.Cookie · 12 Mar 2013 at 18:35

Yes they'll be running at full whack, a 3 pin fan is negative, positive and tacho, but with 4 pin you get extra wire for PWM (pulse width modulation)

Also your mobo has a 4 pin connection just by ram stick above cpu slot

Volatile_Mike · 12 Mar 2013 at 19:36

Mr.Cookie said:
Yes they'll be running at full whack, a 3 pin fan is negative, positive and tacho, but with 4 pin you get extra wire for PWM (pulse width modulation)

Also your mobo has a 4 pin connection just by ram stick above cpu slot

Thanks

Im using the 4 pin, and then have the 2nd fan plugged into a 3pin. Perhaps I have to adjust something in bios settings

setter · 12 Mar 2013 at 19:46

On the k2, both fans can be ran via the single 4 pin PWM connector. The 120mm fan has a connector branching off on it's cable. You could connect the 140mm fan to this. This would allow control of both via the cpu fan header. Another method is to use a PWM splitter cable like this.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-031-AK&groupid=1929&catid=153

This cable is powered by a molex connector, therefore no load is placed on the cpu header. Some board manufacturers are now installing dual 4 pin cpu fan headers on their boards, this is down to the rise in popularity of dual fan coolers. My board in sig has dual headers therefore my k2 fans have their own fan header.

Mr.Cookie · 12 Mar 2013 at 21:05

yup as setter says there's a 3 pin branching off, i have same sink and i never hear it

Volatile_Mike · 12 Mar 2013 at 22:05

Haha cheers!

I saw that before and just thought, what the hell is that?. Ive connected that now. But still seem to be running at max. Do I have to enable any features in mobo bios?

setter · 12 Mar 2013 at 22:07

Yep, there will be fan control options in bios, or with software bundled with your board. Not sure what theyre known as on an msi board.

Volatile_Mike · 13 Mar 2013 at 20:45

setter said:
Yep, there will be fan control options in bios, or with software bundled with your board. Not sure what theyre known as on an msi board.

Thanks for the info, have got the fan quiet on idle. Temps a little high at the moment, so gonna re-apply some thermal paste tomorrow.

setter · 13 Mar 2013 at 21:00

What are your temps at idle and load?

Volatile_Mike · 13 Mar 2013 at 21:38

setter said:
What are your temps at idle and load?

Idle - about 40ish

Load - not sure, never really check it while gaming.

Just thought at idle its pretty high?

setter · 13 Mar 2013 at 21:46

It's a little on the high side, but nowt to worry about. Temps will depend on factors such as case airflow, ambient room temp etc. Load up coretemp and let it run in the background while playing games. It will show current temps, and minimum, max temps along with cpu load. To check at 100% cpu load, you'd need to run a stress program such as prime 95 or intel burn test. Theese will generate much higher temps than games.

Uncle Petey · 13 Mar 2013 at 22:09

Mike, is your 4.5OC on constant or do you have speedstep enabled?
It's just that I have speedstep enabled and even with the K2 fans switched off, my idle temps don't go above 27c or so.
Room temp is around 20c and our cases are internally the same fwiw.

Volatile_Mike · 13 Mar 2013 at 23:42

Uncle Petey said:
Mike, is your 4.5OC on constant or do you have speedstep enabled?
It's just that I have speedstep enabled and even with the K2 fans switched off, my idle temps don't go above 27c or so.
Room temp is around 20c and our cases are internally the same fwiw.

Its on constant as far as I know. It was a bundle from Overclockers a while back. Though I have changed parts since then, I haven't messed with the OC profile,though I might start to. I could look at reducing the V-core which is 1.376 to see if that could lower temps.

Uncle Petey · 13 Mar 2013 at 23:56

Ok, in that case it's probably about right.
Fwiw, my vcore is about 1.376 too, but my OC is just a simple multiplier change on auto voltage.
Unless your chip runs differently to mine, it sounds like they were as lazy with the OC as I was

Volatile_Mike · 14 Mar 2013 at 08:06

Uncle Petey said:
Ok, in that case it's probably about right.
Fwiw, my vcore is about 1.376 too, but my OC is just a simple multiplier change on auto voltage.
Unless your chip runs differently to mine, it sounds like they were as lazy with the OC as I was

Saying that, I looked at the bios last night and speed step was enabled. But even after I set Vcore to auto, it didn't drop down when idle. Am I missing something?

archerz · 14 Mar 2013 at 09:24

Is your Windows setup set to High Performance under power options?

Stolen from google to show my point.

Change the min state to 5% and hopefully it will start stepping.

Volatile_Mike · 14 Mar 2013 at 10:17

Will look at that when I get home after work. Does C1E have to be enabled also? And do I have to keep vcore on auto for speedstep to work?

Lastly, is speedstep worth it?

archerz · 14 Mar 2013 at 10:51

i think C1E has to be enabled, dont think you need auto on vcore though.

it will keep temps lower when your not using/stressing the PC also using less power. purely personal choice i feel. lost say its more stable to have it contstantly at OC value, i personally haven't noticed any issues when using it.

Volatile_Mike · 15 Mar 2013 at 18:31

I enabled C1E, while it did drop on idle, it was also erractic jumping 1.6 to 3/4/2/4ghz etc. So for now Ive disabled it and just put smart fan target on so fans are quiet while doing nothing.