Fan control software other than speed fan?

[BD2003]

So I've got three chassis fans I'd like to automate based on temp. One front intake, one side intake (by GPUs), and one rear exhaust.

The motherboard fan control (asrock z77 extreme 4) is insufficient - set at its lowest, it runs my CPU and chassis fans at roughly 75%, so I can never get it quiet during idle.

I tried speedfan, but there's a few issues there as well - it can't read the overall CPU temp from my mobo, so I have to tie the CPU fans to the core temps, which makes it like a light switch - full on or full off. And no matter how I configure it, the max speed I can get out of the chassis fans is slower than the min speed I get from the bios.

So can anyone recommend an alternative to speed fan? Ideally I'd like to have individual control over each fan, spinning the side/front fan up when the GPUs are active, and the rear/CPU fan up when the CPU is active. And naturally, I'd like to get the full speed of my fans when needed without having it sound like a vacuum at idle. I'm open to hardware solutions as long as there's a reliable way to read the temps and configure the speeds.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

So I've got three chassis fans I'd like to automate based on temp. One front intake, one side intake (by GPUs), and one rear exhaust.

The motherboard fan control (asrock z77 extreme 4) is insufficient - set at its lowest, it runs my CPU and chassis fans at roughly 75%, so I can never get it quiet during idle.

I tried speedfan, but there's a few issues there as well - it can't read the overall CPU temp from my mobo, so I have to tie the CPU fans to the core temps, which makes it like a light switch - full on or full off. And no matter how I configure it, the max speed I can get out of the chassis fans is slower than the min speed I get from the bios.

So can anyone recommend an alternative to speed fan? Ideally I'd like to have individual control over each fan, spinning the side/front fan up when the GPUs are active, and the rear/CPU fan up when the CPU is active. And naturally, I'd like to get the full speed of my fans when needed without having it sound like a vacuum at idle. I'm open to hardware solutions as long as there's a reliable way to read the temps and configure the speeds.

All I know about AsRock: It was an ASUS spin-off, if not still a subsidiary. If you have BIOS features allowing for thermal fan control, there should be proprietary AsRock software that might allow you to create "fan-curves" on a graph of duty-cycle% versus Celsius in increments of 10C.

This had always been a problem or shortcoming over the years with motherboards. If the features were there, they weren't adequately documented, and people ran off in different directions searching for fan controllers -- additional parts and complexity -- ranging in price from $20 to $200.

. . . OK . . . before we go further on this, you can check your CD that came with the motherboard, but ultimately you'll want to go the ASRock web site for the AsRock Z77 Extreme 4 and find the downloads page for that board with BIOS, driver and other software updates. What you are looking for is a software program called "AXTU" or "AsRock Extreme Tuning Utility." If the software is anything similar to what I'd seen from ASUS "AI Suite," you can "turn off" certain features so they don't appear in the AXTU screens. But according to AsRock's promotion to the motherboard:

"ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) is an all-in-one software to fine-tune different features in an user-friendly interface, which includes Hardware Monitor, Fan Control, Overclocking, OC DNA, IES and XFast RAM. In Hardware Monitor, it shows the major readings of your system."

This is a problem to which I've recently turned my own attention per my ASUS Z68 board, the mobo fan ports and the fans in my case.

The first thing you can do, once you get oriented, is to decide how many PWM fans you WANT to use, how many you CAN use, and you many 3-pin fans you need or what the motherboard offers.

With the PWM fans, you can run them all off the CPU_FAN header or even an "OPTION" CPU_FAN header with a device like the $10 Swiftech 8W-PWM-SPL-ST or a similar PWM splitter. On the Swiftech, you will be able to monitor the RPM of one fan, but any others of various sizes and amperages would be controlled by the mobo PWM signal according to a CPU temperature. All those fans would spin up to the same duty-cycle %, once you create the fan-curve "profile" in the software, which hopefully would also inform your BIOS so the profile is effective after the next and successive reboots. You could idle them at a speed that would keep them all running, and spin them up to whatever percentage you chose in the fan-profile at various temperatures. The Swiftech device powers the fans directly from the PSU, but the fans respond to the mobo's PWM signal with one cable from the device plugged into the CPU_FAN header.

For the 3-pin fans, your motherboard is probably limited to 3-pin fans with amperage <= 1.00A. If the amperage sum of two or more fans is less than 1A, you could wire them in parallel and monitor one by using the yellow signal wire from that fan. You would NOT wire together the signal wires of the other fans. That's one approach, which ventures to the edge of being a "klooge," but it would work.

Otherwise, you'd need to get a fan controller for the 3-pin fans, with analog thermal sensors you would place in "hot" spots with thermal tape. For enough money, you could get a controller that might communicate with the motherboard and actually read and respond to the CPU temperature. Otherwise, since you can only place the sensors in certain places which likely don't get as hot as the component you want to control the fans, you will have to calibrate the sensors.

 

[BD2003]

I tried the asrock software, and it basically mirrors the BIOS settings. The coarse control it has would probably be sufficient if it worked as advertised, but the lowest settings are way too fast. I'd prefer to be able to completely turn off some of the fans when idle.

I googled a bit and saw some touchscreen controllers for relatively cheap, I'm just not sure how well the hardware sensors work, especially with something like a CPU fan.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I tried the asrock software, and it basically mirrors the BIOS settings. The coarse control it has would probably be sufficient if it worked as advertised, but the lowest settings are way too fast. I'd prefer to be able to completely turn off some of the fans when idle.

I googled a bit and saw some touchscreen controllers for relatively cheap, I'm just not sure how well the hardware sensors work, especially with something like a CPU fan.

So you can't reduce the duty-cycle below some point? Fans have a start-up power threshold that must be met, or they won't spin up. If you want to completely turn them off, you will have to invest in a fan-controller.

I'd say do some research. Some of those products have an internal USB connection and their PCB's include a separate processor. They usually come bundled with software -- which is what you are looking for. If you can't manage motherboard temperature sensors and controller sensors under the same software, though, you've added to a complexity that could become a nuisance at best.

My ASUS BIOS has a menu featuring "turbo," "standard" and other profiles that are built in. There is also an item named "User" for custom fan profiles, which you would set in the Windows software. With the ASUS AI Suite, you can set a fan profile on the map of duty-cycle % versus temperature with only three points. One defines the rock-bottom duty-cycle that allows the fan to continue spinning -- 20%. the second point you set defines the upward sloping line for duty-cycle to increase with temperature. The third point also provides that feature so you have a crude broken line or "fan curve." If the temperature exceeds the limit set by the third point, the fan will spin up to 100% duty-cycle.

Also, if you haven't already done so -- check for a newer version of the motherboard software, uninstall the old one and install the new one.

 

[coffeejunkee]

No, Speedfan is the only 3rd party option.

Try my settings:
configure > temperatures tabs: all cores set to 40 desired and 70 warning.
speeds tab: minimum 30% (or whatever value your fans need to keep spinning), maximum 50%, all fans set to automatically variated.
all fans tied to core temps and nothing else (core temps are good, the only reliable ones).

Works good enough for me but there is also an advanced control option which lets you set a curve.

 

[BD2003]

So you can't reduce the duty-cycle below some point? Fans have a start-up power threshold that must be met, or they won't spin up. If you want to completely turn them off, you will have to invest in a fan-controller.

I'd say do some research. Some of those products have an internal USB connection and their PCB's include a separate processor. They usually come bundled with software -- which is what you are looking for. If you can't manage motherboard temperature sensors and controller sensors under the same software, though, you've added to a complexity that could become a nuisance at best.

My ASUS BIOS has a menu featuring "turbo," "standard" and other profiles that are built in. There is also an item named "User" for custom fan profiles, which you would set in the Windows software. With the ASUS AI Suite, you can set a fan profile on the map of duty-cycle % versus temperature with only three points. One defines the rock-bottom duty-cycle that allows the fan to continue spinning -- 20%. the second point you set defines the upward sloping line for duty-cycle to increase with temperature. The third point also provides that feature so you have a crude broken line or "fan curve." If the temperature exceeds the limit set by the third point, the fan will spin up to 100% duty-cycle.

Also, if you haven't already done so -- check for a newer version of the motherboard software, uninstall the old one and install the new one.

Yeah it's bizarre, but basically the bios/asrock software limits min duty cycle, and speedfan limits the max (only on the case fans, thankfully). I think I've just settled on the fact that speedfan is the lesser of two evils.

It'll prob be the last asrock mobo I buy though, cause it's ridiculous that I have to resort to third party tools to keep my machine from sounding like a lawnmower. Generally I prefer this to be completely handled by the bios.

 

[Cerb]

So you can't reduce the duty-cycle below some point? Fans have a start-up power threshold that must be met, or they won't spin up. If you want to completely turn them off, you will have to invest in a fan-controller.

3-pin or PWM?

Most mobos limit 3-pin fans to 30% to 50%, rather than take the time to use the RPMs to handle whether they are running or not (programmers and NVRAM are expensive, after all).

I haven't tried 0%, but I know the current-gen B85 and H87 ASRocks can go down to 10% with PWM Fans. They might even do 0%, I just haven't tried (maybe I will when I get home).

 

[BonzaiDuck]

3-pin or PWM?

Most mobos limit 3-pin fans to 30% to 50%, rather than take the time to use the RPMs to handle whether they are running or not (programmers and NVRAM are expensive, after all).

I haven't tried 0%, but I know the current-gen B85 and H87 ASRocks can go down to 10% with PWM Fans. They might even do 0%, I just haven't tried (maybe I will when I get home).

Wait a minute . . . . lemme load up AI Suite and I'll tell you about the 3-pin units . . .

OK. I've got two PWM's -- one running off the CPU_FAN_OPT port, the other running off a Swiftech 8W-PWM-SPL-ST splitter. [I'd originally intended to have all the PWM fans running off the Swiftech, but there was this little problem with a fan cable that was too short to reach my short-sighted choice of a mounting position for the Swiftech plate.]

The other two fans are 3-pin, running off the CHA_FAN1 and CHA_FAN2 ports. AI Suite can reduce their speed to 20% duty-cycle. I've got them set to 30%.

This may be a matter of specific motherboard, BIOS and software limitations -- I can't rightly say. I'm just not very limited as to how low I can set the 3-pin fan speed. I just can't set them below 20% -- so I certainly can't set them to 0% . . .

 

[tweakboy]

What is wrong with using speedfan.

Lets help you fix that or get that to work as there is no other app like speedfan to adjust your fans and what not. gl

 

[tweakboy]

Also with speedfan just like coretemp you can adjust offsets ....gl