Temp monitoring proggy for NF4 motherboards?

[MichaelD]

I have an EVGA NF41 motherboard. It uses the NF4 chipset (duh).

I haven't tried MBM yet, but the last version (5.8) of it was in the can long before the NF4 chipset came around, so I've my doubts if it'll work (again, not tried yet)

I wanted to see what you guys were using to monitor temps?

The NVidia Unified Driver comes with this NTune program, but it only sees the videocard.

Thanks.

 

[MichaelD]

Luv?

 

[AMDCrazy]

I'm using my Cool 'n Quiet program that came with my MSI board. I don't know how exact the temps. are but I think they should be accurate.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks, AMDCrazy. I have no such program w/my EVGA board. The NVidia NTune only sees the graphics card.

I have CoolnQuiet in the BiOS, but that's just for controlling fan speeds; I have that disabled.

 

[GadgetBuilder]

I'm unclear on whether the marketing buzzwords are the same for all boards.

Cool 'n Quiet on my system is an AMD software function which reduces the core voltage and clock rate when the CPU isn't heavily loaded, dropping the CPU temp about 6C on my Winnie 3000+.

SmartGuardian is the ITE buzzword for automatic control of fan speed based on temperature. This is a facility built into the ITE8712F chip that can be set up by loading some registers in the chip, typically from BIOS or from software. The parameters loaded on my VNF4 caused the CPU to stabilize at 37C, higher than I'm comfortable with.

SpeedFan reads the temperatures and controls the fan speeds automatically; it holds my CPU idle at 26C to 28C where the fan is typically at 42% = 1050rpm (3300rpm is max). When heavily loaded, CPU temp rises to about 33C and fan on full (still well below the temp with SmartGuardian). Similarly, SpeedFan controls the fan on the NF4 independently to hold its temp to about 34C.

More info:
http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/Computer/ComputerCooling.html

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: GadgetBuilder
I'm unclear on whether the marketing buzzwords are the same for all boards.

Cool 'n Quiet on my system is an AMD software function which reduces the core voltage and clock rate when the CPU isn't heavily loaded, dropping the CPU temp about 6C on my Winnie 3000+.

SmartGuardian is the ITE buzzword for automatic control of fan speed based on temperature. This is a facility built into the ITE8712F chip that can be set up by loading some registers in the chip, typically from BIOS or from software. The parameters loaded on my VNF4 caused the CPU to stabilize at 37C, higher than I'm comfortable with.

SpeedFan reads the temperatures and controls the fan speeds automatically; it holds my CPU idle at 26C to 28C where the fan is typically at 42% = 1050rpm (3300rpm is max). When heavily loaded, CPU temp rises to about 33C and fan on full (still well below the temp with SmartGuardian). Similarly, SpeedFan controls the fan on the NF4 independently to hold its temp to about 34C.

More info:
http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/Computer/ComputerCooling.html

Very informative reply! I'm running a 4400X2 with the stock HSF. My idle temp as shown by the BIOS is 51C. That's my STRESS temp on my heavily overclocked AthlonXP @ 2.2GHz! :Q

It seems to be happy, though. After hours of P95 and gaming, I get no weird artifacts or anything...I'm just so used to knowing ALL my temps ALL the time that it's weirding me out NOT knowing.

 

[GadgetBuilder]

BIOS usually shows the load temp because it isn't set up to put the CPU to sleep when it isn't doing anything, so the CPU is normally not "idle" in BIOS.

Try SpeedFan, it usually finds and displays all the temperature inputs (whether they have a sensor connected or not). Inputs without a sensor usually have a strange reading that doesn't change (127C, etc.) so if it looks weird, unclick it in the configuration. Then, change the names of the inputs to match their use in your system and you should see all the temperature info that is available from your board. If your disk supports SMART then you can show its temp also. Once you can read all the temps you can decide if you want to control fans based on temps -- I adjust the fan parameters to minimize noise and control temperatures.

My site has a page that tells how to configure SpeedFan for the VNF4 -- with a little interpretation it may be helpful for your mobo too:
http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/Computer/SpeedFanInfo.html

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks, GadgetBuilder! Very cool.