CPU fan found dead - should I be worried?

[Chymerix]

I recently put together a system with the following new components:

Intel 2600K
Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme
Asus P8P67 Deluxe
8 GB Gskill Ripjaws X

When I left for work this morning the CPU fan was working. When I came back 8 hours later there was a pop-up from Asus AI suite indicating that my CPU fan RPMs were at 0. I almost had a heart attack but then checked the CPU temp and noticed it was only at 27 C. I think I'm ok since the heatsink is so massive and the CPU was idle that whole time. I quickly powered down the computer and replaced the fan with a quality S-Flex one (last time I trust a tuniq fan). Should I be worried about any potential damage? Is there a way to protect against this by having the computer shut down when temps go above a certain level or when fan rpms go below a certain level?

I've also been searching for remote hardware monitoring applications, but haven't found any. Does anyone know if some good ones exist? Thanks.

 

[Elixer]

If it was idle all that time, I wouldn't worry much, but why didn't window's power saver mode kick in, and put the machine to sleep ?
For damage, I would check by running OCCT, and let it work. If it reports errors, then I would start to worry a bit...

I am unsure if there is a BIOS option for that mobo that has temp monitoring, I know that on my motherboard (a DFI) it does...so you may want to check that.
I would also turn on windows' power savings mode, unless there is a reason you want it to be running all the time.

 

[ElFenix]

intel used to have pretty stout overheat protection and i doubt that has changed. there's an old toms hardware video where they removed the heatsink from a pentium 4 and it just went slower and slower.

edit:
http://partitionsystems.com/videos-old-pentium-vs-amd-test-without-[06MYYB9bl70].cfm

 

[IGemini]

As long as you weren't doing any overclocking and you have some degree of airflow out of your case, there likely weren't issues. That's the beauty of tower coolers that they can be passive in a pinch.

These days CPUs are designed to throttle and/or shut down if they should exceed their thermal envelope. I know your BIOS can set fan speed based on temperature in BIOS but I'm not sure about auto shutdown at a certain temp (I can only find the manual in German so far )...I've always known that to be more of a feature in AMD systems.

 

[TuxDave]

Your processor is probably fine. There's enough thermal throttling going on in that chip that it's probably taking care of itself just fine.

 

[fffblackmage]

Was the fan really dead? 27C sounds kinda normal.

The BIOS should have a setting for max cpu temp. Not sure if it's enabled by default, but just set a value and the comp would shut down if cpu temps ever get that high.

 

[Chymerix]

Thanks for the input. The fan was definitely dead because it was not responding to any manual speed adjustments. The temperature remaining at 27 C must mean that the CPU wasn't generating much heat to begin with. I am running the chip at 4.6 GHz turbo and 1.35 vcore, but it idles at 1.6 GHz. I haven't noticed any issues so far so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Would there be any reason for the CPU to have throttled up to full speed for any length of time while I was gone? I suppose the computer would have crashed if things got too hot anyway. I also have an Antec 1200 case with 3 front fans, 2 rear fans, and a massive top fan, so that should have helped keep things cool as well.

About the power saving mode - I have 5 hard drives in my system so I don't enable it because I'm worried about the wear and tear from all the spindowns/spinups.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think that you're fine. If you're worried, just run 12hr of OCCT, after you replace the fan.

 

[Chymerix]

In 10 years of building computers I've never had a CPU fan die on me... it's just strange to see it happen after a day.

I ran 20 minutes of OCCT and at the end I just got a graph of CPU usage and temperature. Do I have to do something specific to have it report errors?

 

[VirtualLarry]

In 10 years of building computers I've never had a CPU fan die on me... it's just strange to see it happen after a day.

I ran 20 minutes of OCCT and at the end I just got a graph of CPU usage and temperature. Do I have to do something specific to have it report errors?

If it errors, it will stop and tell your. Although, normally it runs for an hour at a time if you did the automatic test, so possibly it errored, or got too hot during the run.

 

[Chymerix]

I had to leave so I canceled it after 20 minutes. I will let it run when I get home tonight.

 

[Zap]

In 10 years of building computers I've never had a CPU fan die on me...

Anytime I see people tossing around how many "years of experience" they have, I just LOL.

Your CPU will be just fine.

VIA Beat the Heat

 

[Chymerix]

Anytime I see people tossing around how many "years of experience" they have, I just LOL.

Why?

 

[ElFenix]

I also have an Antec 1200 case with 3 front fans, 2 rear fans, and a massive top fan, so that should have helped keep things cool as well.

you probably don't even need a fan attached to the heat sink with all that wind blowing around


edit: i really want a P180 with the 1200's rear fans.

 

[Chymerix]

you probably don't even need a fan attached to the heat sink with all that wind blowing around


edit: i really want a P180 with the 1200's rear fans.

Haha... I keep the fans on low. On high they sound like an airplane taking off. I eventually want to get back to a Lian Li case (I used the same one for 6 years). Nothing matches the quality. Paint comes off very easily from the Antec case and it just feels more cheaply made in general. Can't beat those fans though.

 

[mclaren777]

ASUS motherboards have a minimum fan speed warning. Does anyone have experience with how it works? Does it just trigger the onboard speaker if the speed dips below the set threshold?

 

[denis280]

The same problem apend to a friend of mine.cost im 12.00 cdn for a new fan. you should try amd overdrive it will tell you for broken fans and the speed.dont forget when working in pc. always be in contact with the tower to prevent statik

 

[denis280]

it should apear on screen.or on the right side bottom.if you are gaming alot.you should turn. amd cool and quiet off. better have more air.thats wy amd over drive is very good for that.

 

[Seero]

I recently put together a system with the following new components:

Intel 2600K
Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme
Asus P8P67 Deluxe
8 GB Gskill Ripjaws X

When I left for work this morning the CPU fan was working. When I came back 8 hours later there was a pop-up from Asus AI suite indicating that my CPU fan RPMs were at 0. I almost had a heart attack but then checked the CPU temp and noticed it was only at 27 C. I think I'm ok since the heatsink is so massive and the CPU was idle that whole time. I quickly powered down the computer and replaced the fan with a quality S-Flex one (last time I trust a tuniq fan). Should I be worried about any potential damage? Is there a way to protect against this by having the computer shut down when temps go above a certain level or when fan rpms go below a certain level?

I've also been searching for remote hardware monitoring applications, but haven't found any. Does anyone know if some good ones exist? Thanks.

Don't worry, CPU have several protection which prevents damage from overheating. A dead fan on a massive heatsink means the CPU will be hot enough to throttle at worst. In the case where CPU is too hot, the system will immediately hang with a message complaining it is too hot.

 

[LoneNinja]

Why?

Number of systems worked on is much more important than number of years is what I think he meant, and I know that's how I feel.

In any case, your system would have shut down before any damage could have been done, I wouldn't worry about it.