I'm experimenting with an ABit AN7. The variable fan speed feature is appealing to me, and I'd like to put it to use as a quiet PC that can still crank up the 80mm fan when needed.
This board has a BIOS setting to make the CPU fan speed variable depending on temperature. You configure the fan's minimum and max voltage, and the temperature range through which it should vary.
For now, I have it set to run at 8V up to 52C, and 12V at 60C.
Here's a screenshot to illustrate what I mean:
Unfortunately, it's not possible to set the minimum voltage any lower than 8V. This isn't quiet or slow enough, it's still running at 2550rpm @ 8V. I want it *quiet* unless it's getting hot. I'd like a minimum more like 1500rpm or so, but increasing to 3000+ as necessary.
My fan has a potentiometer to manually adjust the speed. I tried using that to calibrate the speed to a slower range. Unfortunately, if I adjust it very much below full speed then the motherboard immediately shuts off. My guess is it's tripping because the fan voltage is lower than what the board is trying to maintain. It trips at about the same point on the potentiometer regardless of whether the FanEq feature is active.
If the pot setting is marginal, then the board can still begin to POST before shutting off. It seems to shut off at about the point that uGuru is ready to slow the fan down. But if the pot is set for a very slow speed, then the board shuts off so quickly the fan hardly completes 1 revolution. The integrated code reader reports 9.A. when I do this. The periods indicate that's a code from the uGuru feature, not a standard Award code. But ABit doesn't list that code in the table I found online.
Disabling FanEq entirely has no effect, the board still won't let me lower the pot.
Can anybody confirm exactly what's going on? My guess might be wrong. Also, does anybody know a way to get more range in the fan speeds on this board? There is 1 more BIOS version later than mine, but the release notes only mention adding a little more CPU support.
This board has a BIOS setting to make the CPU fan speed variable depending on temperature. You configure the fan's minimum and max voltage, and the temperature range through which it should vary.
For now, I have it set to run at 8V up to 52C, and 12V at 60C.
Here's a screenshot to illustrate what I mean:
Unfortunately, it's not possible to set the minimum voltage any lower than 8V. This isn't quiet or slow enough, it's still running at 2550rpm @ 8V. I want it *quiet* unless it's getting hot. I'd like a minimum more like 1500rpm or so, but increasing to 3000+ as necessary.
My fan has a potentiometer to manually adjust the speed. I tried using that to calibrate the speed to a slower range. Unfortunately, if I adjust it very much below full speed then the motherboard immediately shuts off. My guess is it's tripping because the fan voltage is lower than what the board is trying to maintain. It trips at about the same point on the potentiometer regardless of whether the FanEq feature is active.
If the pot setting is marginal, then the board can still begin to POST before shutting off. It seems to shut off at about the point that uGuru is ready to slow the fan down. But if the pot is set for a very slow speed, then the board shuts off so quickly the fan hardly completes 1 revolution. The integrated code reader reports 9.A. when I do this. The periods indicate that's a code from the uGuru feature, not a standard Award code. But ABit doesn't list that code in the table I found online.
Disabling FanEq entirely has no effect, the board still won't let me lower the pot.
Can anybody confirm exactly what's going on? My guess might be wrong. Also, does anybody know a way to get more range in the fan speeds on this board? There is 1 more BIOS version later than mine, but the release notes only mention adding a little more CPU support.
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