GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

[tima092384]

I'm having problems with the 4-pin fan headers on my new GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 motherboard running BIOS F8. I'm using "Smart Fan Control" for the CPU fan header, set to "Auto", and it does not start my heat sink fan (4-pin, ZeroTherm BTF90). The fan does start when the temperature approaches 50C, but I'd like it to run at low speed at all times. That's the way it worked on my old motherboard, an Intel D975XBX BadAxe. In addition, the other PWM header, SYS FAN 2, does not supply the full 12 V to a 3-pin fan attached to it. I had to stop using this header, because my Nexus fan attached to it wouldn't start. There appears to be no way to control the behavior of SYS FAN 2, so in effect, it's a useless header.

I've tried EasyTune 5, and it is inadequate for a number of reasons:

1. The fan adjustments it makes don't appear to stick between reboots, and since it causes a UAC prompt under Vista, running it automatically is not an option. (At least when I reboot, my CPU fan stops, and it doesn't restart until I run EasyTune again.)
2. Making those adjustments is tedious, as the up/down arrows don't auto-repeat.
3. The adjustment range is out of whack. To get my fan to start up, I have to set the minimum to 95%.
4. It can only control the CPU fan.

All adjustments EasyTune can make should be reflected in the BIOS, and it should not be necessary to run EasyTune as a startup program to get reasonable fan behavior. I've observed the same behavior with two HSF fans, a ZeroTherm BTF90 and a Zalman CNPS9500 (the 4-pin model, of course). Will these defects be addressed?

[GIGABYTE - Janus Yeh]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

When you use "Smart Fan Control" for the CPU fan header, set to "Auto", will you try setup fan speed control mode in Voltage oR PWM？

[f-town]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

even a programming change of Easytune5 to allow you to hold down the up/down buttons to autorepeat, or to enter fan settings manually , would be a good start IMHO
lets hope Gigabyte can make this happen, because i love this board otherwise :)

[tima092384]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

When you use "Smart Fan Control" for the CPU fan header, set to "Auto", will you try setup fan speed control mode in Voltage oR PWM？

I have already tried PWM, and as expected, it behaved the same. I didn't try "Voltage", as I have PWM fans and they should work as PWM. I have turned off "Smart Fan Control", and the fan ran at full speed, so the header is capable of supplying the power. Because the fans work on my other motherboard, the problem is clearly with the Gigabyte board's implementation of PWM. I will try "Voltage" and let you know the results, but even if it works, this does not negate the problem with "Auto" and "PWM". They are broken.

What about SYS FAN 2? That header also does not function properly, as described in my original message.

[tima092384]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

I will try "Voltage" and let you know the results, but even if it works, this does not negate the problem with "Auto" and "PWM".

I tried "Voltage", and it didn't help. Please fix the BIOS.

[GIGABYTE - Janus Yeh]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

Do you want to try F9K？
janus.yeh＠gigabyte.com.tw

[tima092384]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

Do you want to try F9K？
janus.yeh＠gigabyte.com.tw

Does it address the fan issues I've described? If it does, yes. If it does not, no. I don't want to just try things randomly and hope for the best, because that never works.

[GIGABYTE - Janus Yeh]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

I am not sure.
But maybe you can try GGTS

http://gwebmanager1:7001/Support/ServiceCenter.aspx

or

http://ggts.gigabyte.com.tw

[tima092384]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

Just wanted to confirm that the F9 BIOS I downloaded from the Gigabyte web site does fix the CPU fan's failure to spin up. The fan idles at low speed, ramps up under load, and reduces its speed as the CPU temp declines. So, this BIOS update appears to have solved this problem completely. I haven't tested the SYS FAN 2 header, because I moved my fans to the two 3-pin headers with the help of splitters, with speed reduced by FanMate 2's. It's all working well.

[GIGABYTE - Janus Yeh]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

Smart Fan Can Only Support Cpu Fan.

[tima092384]

Re: GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 has poor fan control

Smart Fan Can Only Support Cpu Fan.

I never believed otherwise. In my first post in this thread, I wrote:

In addition, the other PWM header, SYS FAN 2, does not supply the full 12 V to a 3-pin fan attached to it. I had to stop using this header, because my Nexus fan attached to it wouldn't start. There appears to be no way to control the behavior of SYS FAN 2, so in effect, it's a useless header.

You see, when I confirmed in my last message that the CPU fan was working properly in F9, I didn't want to give the impression that the other problem I described (which you've ignored twice, in replies to my messages dated 11/26 and 11/27) was also fixed. I don't know if it is or it isn't, because I'm not using the header any more and didn't take my computer apart to test it after installing F9.