ASUS PK5-E mobo & Q-FAN 2 feature

[imported_DSK]

Mobo: ASUS P5K-E (BIOS ver 0201 04-24-07 off CD in mobo box)
PSU: Corsair HX620W
CPU: Intel E6700 Core 2 Duo
RAM: Corsair Twin2X2048-8500C5D (2x1gb)
Video: ASUS EAX1950PRO
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Ultra 120 with Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F Fan (120mm)
Case Fans: 120mm OEM intake, 120mm OEM exhaust.

I have just upgraded my system with the parts listed above and have it running at stock speeds for now. ASUS PC Probe II and PC Wizard 07 show that it runs at the following temps (I used Prime95 for 'load')"
Idle: CPU Temp is 15C (in Probe & Wizard), Core 1 is 18C & Core 2 is 21C (in Wizard).
Load: CPU Temp is 25C, Core 1 is 29C & Core 2 is 31C.
Mobo temp is 36C idle, 39C load.
Ambient temp was 19C.

The Scythe fan on the CPU cooler is rated at 1600RPM/63.7CFM/28dB and is plugged into the CPU Fan header on the mobo. The 2 case fans have molex plugs and are connected directly to the PSU (I am about to buy a couple more quiet Scythes to replace them and connect them directly to the mobo).

As the system runs so cool, I thought I'd use the Q-Fan 2 function to reduce fan speed and noise. In BIOS I enabled the Q-Fan 2 'CPU Fan' function and set it to 'Optimum'. However, temps and CPU fan speed are the same. I then tried seitting it to 'Silent' to reduce the fan speed and noise even further, and there is still no change. I was hoping to see warmer temps but lower fan speed and planned to plug the new fans into the mobo Chassis Fan headers and enable the 'Chassis Fan' feature under Q-Fan 2 to get the same result.

I also tried the windows based ASUS Q-Fan 2 software utility but it didn't seem to do anything either.

Is anyone using Q-Fan 2 successfully on a P5K series mobo or any other ASUS mobo? Am I missing something?

 

[gorka]

first of all. great temps!

Same thing for me.....changes on Q-fan don't do squat. I have a 3-pin Scythe for my CPU and a 3-pin GlobalWin for my exhaust.

I'm assuming, that Q-Fan needs a 4-pin PWM fan or a fan capable of RPM sensing to work properly.

I have read (on the Intarweb) that Q-fan can work with normal 3-pin fans.....but I have not seen this work in my situation.

Asus P5K Deluxe. e6600. Sycthe Samurai-Z. 31C (both cores)

 

[imported_DSK]

Thanks for your response.

Hmmmmm.... I wondered about a 4-pin PWM fan but the manual says nothing about this. Also, Q-Fan 2 is supposed to work on up to 4 chassis fans as well (modifying their speeds to maintain a user selected mobo temp in BIOS) and these fan headers are all 3-pin headers.

I thought PWM control over chassis fans required a 4-pin PWM CPU fan and that the chassis fans were piggy backed off the CPU fan cable (ie. not connected directly to mobo fan headers).

 

[newschool]

From an other forum (french I think), Ihv seen someone with the exact same problem and he found out that the actual asus p5k bios are not working with Q-Fan 2.

 

[newschool]

By the way, where did u get ur P5k-E?

 

[imported_DSK]

Hi newschool, I was actually just readnig a response from a guy on the ASUS forums when you posted just now. He was on hold to ASUS for 2.5 hours and was finally given the name of a support person. Apparently Q-Fan is not working with the CPU fan at the moment (hopefully it will with a future BIOS update) but it supposedly does work with the chassis fans. My current chassis fans only have Molex connectors but I am about to replace them with more Scythe S-Flex 120mm fans that will connect to the mobo headers... hopefully that part will work OK.

I bought my gear from CentreCom Online store (www.centrecom.com.au)

 

[imported_DSK]

Originally posted by: gorka
first of all. great temps!

Same thing for me.....changes on Q-fan don't do squat. I have a 3-pin Scythe for my CPU and a 3-pin GlobalWin for my exhaust.

I'm assuming, that Q-Fan needs a 4-pin PWM fan or a fan capable of RPM sensing to work properly.

I have read (on the Intarweb) that Q-fan can work with normal 3-pin fans.....but I have not seen this work in my situation.

Asus P5K Deluxe. e6600. Sycthe Samurai-Z. 31C (both cores)

Hey Gorka ... after the Q-Fan CPU Fan feature failed, did you enable the Q-Fan Chassis Fan feature and try that with your exhaust fan connected to the CHA-1 header near the exhuast fan?

As per my post just above, this pat is supposedly working at the moment.

 

[imported_DSK]

Well, I can now confirm that Q-Fan 2 works for the chassis fans .... sort of.

I put 2 Scythe S-Flex 120mm/1600RPM/64CFM quiet fans on the case and a Scythe S-Flex 120mm/1200RPM/49CFM quiet fan on the CPU cooler (Thermalright Ultra 120). The CPU fan is connected to the mobo CPU_Fan header, the exhaust fan is connected to the CHA_1 mobo connector and the intakwe fan is connected to the CHA_2 mobo header.

Again I tested Q-Fan on the CPU Fan and it did nothing.

I enabled the Q-Fan 2 Chassis Fan feature and selected '80%'. Both 1600RPM case fans happily ran at an average 1250RPM. Strangely, ASUS PC Probe II correctly shows the CPU Fan doing ~1200RPM and the exhaust fan doing ~1250RPM, but says the intake fan is doing 25,000RPM!! Everything stayed like this while I worked for a couple of hours. The next day (the PC did not reboot) when I looked at the PC, the intake fan was now correctly showing ~1250RPM. I ran a load (Prime95) for a couple of hours and with an ambient temp of 19C, PC Probe II showed the CPU temp to remain stable on 20C and mobo temp stable on 40C.

When I got home that night, I noticed the PC sounded louder. I looked at it aand found that despite the ambient temp remaining at 19C all day with nothing running, and the case fans set to 80% in BIOS, the case fans were now running at their capacity of 1600RPM. The PC had not been touched all day and had not rebooted.

I have just changed the BIOS Q-Fan setting for chassis fans to 37C target. Ambient temp is ~21C. After rebooting, Case fans ran at full 1600RPM and mobo temp is stable on 40C. CPU temp is steady on 21C. It doesn't seem to be getting the mobo temp down to 37C. What's more, the intake fan is back to showing 25000RPM!!

ASUS PC Probe II also seems to have a few glitches. While running Prime95, several times a warning window popped up saying that the CPU temp was 255C or 127C, PSU voltages were 0.0v, etc etc.

Also, the manual does not say so, but I have discovered that the boot HDD MUST be on SATA-1 or the system will not boot. Someone else found that a SATA DVD drive MUST be on SATA 6. It works fine on SATA 6 for me and I haven't bothered trying it on another SATA port. Again, the manual does not mention this.

The manual also does not explain the Q-Fan 2 settings very well. You can set the chassis fan speeds to various settings like 80%. However, it is not clear whether this is 80% of the capacity of the case fans, or 80% of the current CPU fan speed. It would also seem that the fixed 80% would mean that the fan speed would remain at 80% and not change according to temps. However, as well as select 80% for the chassis fans, you can simultaneously select a target mobo temp like 37C. If one of these targets is to be met, it seems most unlikely that the other target could also be met. I would think that you should be able to select one or the other as a target but not both, as one needs to change to meet the other. Again, the manual is absolutely crap at explaining any of this and in places seems to be very contradictory.

So far, this does seem to be a great mobo, but it could be so much better and easier to use if ASUS bothered to make features like Q-Fan 2 work properly and explained them properly in the mobo manual.

 

[gorka]

Originally posted by: DSK

Originally posted by: gorka
first of all. great temps!

Same thing for me.....changes on Q-fan don't do squat. I have a 3-pin Scythe for my CPU and a 3-pin GlobalWin for my exhaust.

I'm assuming, that Q-Fan needs a 4-pin PWM fan or a fan capable of RPM sensing to work properly.

I have read (on the Intarweb) that Q-fan can work with normal 3-pin fans.....but I have not seen this work in my situation.

Asus P5K Deluxe. e6600. Sycthe Samurai-Z. 31C (both cores)

Hey Gorka ... after the Q-Fan CPU Fan feature failed, did you enable the Q-Fan Chassis Fan feature and try that with your exhaust fan connected to the CHA-1 header near the exhuast fan?

As per my post just above, this pat is supposedly working at the moment.

I have not tried putting the CPU fan on the CHA-1 header.

Honestly, I don't think its worth the hassle until they get Q-Fan fixed through software or/and BIOS.

Having said that....I'll try it tomorrow as I have to open my case anyways and add another 2Gb of RAM.

Will post results.

*I've ordered a quieter 92mm Scythe as well for my CPU. I cannot stand the current fan running at full speed (2200 RPM). Its the noisiest thing in my PC (see below)

** The latest PC Probe reads CPU temps incorrectly as well. about 7-8 degress cooler than CoreTemp.


e6600. 1x 120mm GlobalWin. 2x 92mm Scythe (intake). eVGA 8800 GTS. 320Gb Seagate.

 

[imported_DSK]

I've been watching temps, voltages etc in PC Wizard 07 as well. PCW07 and PC Probe always agree on 'CPU Temp' but PCW07 also shows figures for Core-1 and Core-2 and these are usually 3 to 4C above the CPU Temp. So, I don't know how PCW07 can say CPU Temp is 19C and at the same time say Core-1 temp is 22C and Core-2 temp is 23C.

Also, I am surprised that the 'Mobo Temp' can be so much hjigher than the CPU Temp. If CPU Temp is 21C (Core-1 is 24C and Core-2 is 25C), Mobo Temp is typically 38 to 40C. This is on a machine with everything running at stock speeds.

Do you know where the 'Mobo temp' sensor is? ... Northbridge?