Abit IP35 Pro: controls six fans!

fjf · Post by **fjf** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:30 pm

This one can be the silencers' dream: it monitors 6 fans, even shutting down the system when overheating, and can control their speed too!:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainbo ... pro_7.html

Anyone knows if it works in linux?.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:27 pm

Yes, FanEQ is part of the uGuru feature set, so it's independent of the OS. You obviously won't be able to use the Windows-based monitoring and control utility, but that's no biggie as you can set-and-forget it via the BIOS anyway.

Jason W · Post by **Jason W** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:46 pm

Let me ask this question out of sheer stupidity: why not spend $55 less and buy the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R motherboard and then use the free SpeedFan software to monitor and control your temperatures and fans?

Is there critical functionality of the ABIT's controls that the BIOS of other boards, combined with SpeedFan, doesn't have?

Just thinking out loud here. Would appreciate any and all candor on this excellent topic.

Regards.

Jason

p.s. - I am in no way affiliated with Gigabyte, other than I just bought the GA-P35-DS3R for my next build.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:05 pm

AFAIK you cannot run speedfan as a service, so your fan control will only work if you are logged on. If you are logged off or while booting or if you are using some OS that can't run speedfan fan control obviously won't work.

Jason W · Post by **Jason W** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:09 pm

JazzJackRabbit wrote:AFAIK you cannot run speedfan as a service, so your fan control will only work if you are logged on. If you are logged off or while booting or if you are using some OS that can't run speedfan fan control obviously won't work.

If I place SpeedFan in the startup folder, then when I turn on my PC and Windows XP Pro SP2b boots up, won't it run with the parameters I've set as long as the computer is powered on?

Or even if I don't place SpeedFan in the startup folder, I can just double-click on the icon on my desktop after Windows has booted.

I feel like I'm missing something critical here, but am too brain-dead to figure it out. Please help!

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:16 pm

Jason W wrote:Let me ask this question out of sheer stupidity: why not spend $55 less and buy the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R motherboard and then use the free SpeedFan software to monitor and control your temperatures and fans?

Good luck running SpeedFan in Linux, which is what the OP wants to use...

Seriously, SpeedFan is great, *if* (and it's a big if) it works properly with your particular mobo and choice of OS. If you want sophisticated BIOS fan controls though, Abit are in a league of their own. Having said that, you could get the aforementioned Gigabyte board, and with the saving over the Abit, you could almost get a T-Balancer BigNG, which gives you many more options still (at the cost of extra cable clutter).

Personally I wouldn't get the Gigabyte, as I couldn't bring myself to buy a mobo that looks like a fruit salad...

fjf · Post by **fjf** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:39 pm

Speedfan has no linux version. And I prefer a bios control system than a software one. Programs hung up and stop working sometimes. I have a t-balancer, but it makes pwm noise with many fans and the cable mess you have to go through with it is terrible.

It all comes to personal preference. If you like the GA board, then use it. It is cheaper and I am sure it is a good mobo. The bios control of 6 fans appeals to me. That's all.

Jason W wrote:Let me ask this question out of sheer stupidity: why not spend $55 less and buy the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R motherboard and then use the free SpeedFan software to monitor and control your temperatures and fans?

Is there critical functionality of the ABIT's controls that the BIOS of other boards, combined with SpeedFan, doesn't have?

Just thinking out loud here. Would appreciate any and all candor on this excellent topic.

Regards.

Jason

p.s. - I am in no way affiliated with Gigabyte, other than I just bought the GA-P35-DS3R for my next build.

Fabool · Post by **Fabool** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:06 pm

The problem is that the board may only allow you to set the fan voltage between 8v and 12v, as it does on the Abit AB9 Quadgt with the newest BIOS. The BIOS the QuadGT was released with allowed a much better range from 6v to 12v (however it had some serious bugs in other ways, thus needing an update), but for some reason they changed it - pretty disapointing as I bought the board pretty much because of the fan control features. As an added trouble, Speedfan doesn't seem to be able to control the fans at all, probably due to uGuru / incompatible sensor.
Otherwise the fan control is good, it's just a shame it doesn't allow better control of the fan voltage anymore.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:22 am

fjf wrote:I have a t-balancer, but it makes pwm noise with many fans and the cable mess you have to go through with it is terrible.

hmmm... I don't have a T-Balancer, but doesn't it give you the option of genuine variable DC on all channels, as well as PWM?

Agree about the cables, but no pain, no gain...

Fabool wrote:The problem is that the board may only allow you to set the fan voltage between 8v and 12v, as it does on the Abit AB9 Quadgt with the newest BIOS.

That's disappointing - my old AW9D-Max went right down to 6V, and it all worked very well.

At least the IP35 seems to have a solid BIOS right from the get-go - I guess Abit learnt their lesson from the QuadGT which was a bit of a nightmare by all accounts (although fundamentally a decent board).

fjf · Post by **fjf** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:02 am

Not my t-balancer, AFAIK. I've been looking for the voltage range in the faneq bios settings, but I have found nothing. If it is only 8-12V, then the whole thing lacks interest...

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:36 am

Jason W wrote:If I place SpeedFan in the startup folder, then when I turn on my PC and Windows XP Pro SP2b boots up, won't it run with the parameters I've set as long as the computer is powered on?

Or even if I don't place SpeedFan in the startup folder, I can just double-click on the icon on my desktop after Windows has booted.

I feel like I'm missing something critical here, but am too brain-dead to figure it out. Please help!

If your OS is on autologon then there's no problem. It will log you in, show your desktop and automatically run your programs. But if you're security-conscious or have multiple users requiring separate log-in, no go. It should also terminate once you log out.

When Windows boots up to the login screen, nothing user-initiated will run, not from the startup folder, not from registry. You will need to log in. Speedfan wouldn't, as explained earlier, work in that scenario, because it isn't a service but a regular program.

Software control depends too much on the OS running smoothly. Hardware is the only surefire choice. If a BIOS could temperature-control 6 fans from 5-12V then count me in and spare no expense. Otherwise I'm sticking to my panels; T-Balancer is not worth it for me as it requires its own probes.

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:30 am

Ever since the days of the AV8, I've noticed all Abit boards that have the uguru chip can control the speed of any fan plugged into any of the on board fan headers. Each fan can be throttled for different reference temperatures. If one fan is closer to a hot component that the BIOS is thermally monitoring, you can set it to increase the fan speed when that component reaches a certain temperature. Sure, there's an 8v limitation, but I imagine most users here are purchasing low speed fans, so 8v should slow them down to fairly low levels. My S-Flex 1200rpm fans only spin at 800rpm with 8v. They're inaudible from my chair. In the future I'll buy 1k rpm fans though. While abit does have the 8v limitation, I've yet to work with another board that lets me set independent fan controls for every fan header on the board.

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:11 am

Good point ryboto.

As I haven't had the chance to measure actual voltages, I'm not sure how little I could actually get by with... my 1000 RPM intake certainly won't spin up to audible speeds even at 12V, and I guess 8V would be fine. On the other hand, if I want to keep using my Zalmans I'll sure as hell need the full 5-12V spectrum. In any case, an artificial limitation is simply irritating and mostly redundant if the system could do better!

I'm thinking Abit is safeguarding against ignorants plugging in fans with high starting voltages, which is always a blow against the people who know what they're doing. Put professional back in that Pro, damnit!

Besides, if only a certain manufacturer's fans can be used effectively with a board, that's discrimination right there.

Jason W · Post by **Jason W** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:56 am

Das_Saunamies wrote:
Jason W wrote:If I place SpeedFan in the startup folder, then when I turn on my PC and Windows XP Pro SP2b boots up, won't it run with the parameters I've set as long as the computer is powered on?

Or even if I don't place SpeedFan in the startup folder, I can just double-click on the icon on my desktop after Windows has booted.

I feel like I'm missing something critical here, but am too brain-dead to figure it out. Please help!
If your OS is on autologon then there's no problem. It will log you in, show your desktop and automatically run your programs. But if you're security-conscious or have multiple users requiring separate log-in, no go. It should also terminate once you log out.

When Windows boots up to the login screen, nothing user-initiated will run, not from the startup folder, not from registry. You will need to log in. Speedfan wouldn't, as explained earlier, work in that scenario, because it isn't a service but a regular program.

Software control depends too much on the OS running smoothly. Hardware is the only surefire choice. If a BIOS could temperature-control 6 fans from 5-12V then count me in and spare no expense. Otherwise I'm sticking to my panels; T-Balancer is not worth it for me as it requires its own probes.

Aha! I knew I was missing something. We do not have multiple users set up on our computer at home, nor do we have Windows set up to require a password to boot up. I guess becuase of that, I didn't think about it.

And you're right about the OS needing to run smoothly... didn't think about that much either.

I think what I might do is use SpeedFan while testing temps and noise with the new rig, then using some form of hardware control after that with a warning signal in case a fan stops working properly and temps spike up.

The more I think about this, the more I start to wonder why more motherboard makers haven't adoped this advanced control with their enthusiast-level boards, and marketed it more heavily.

loimlo · Post by **loimlo** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:13 am

A bit off topic, sorry

I am impressed by Abit's ability of controlling fans as well. Abit KN9, a budget nForce4 AM2 board, provides 4 fan headers. I would say it's generous for this class of boards. Most boards of this class provide only two fan headers. Asrock is a typical example. Additionally, I can control two of four fans, one is CPU fan, and the other is SYS fan. That's a real bonus, since I was originally prompted by heatpipe "Silent-OTES." I don't know the voltage, but the setting range from 30% to 100% based on temperature. My CPU fan rotates at 760rpm now, from Speedfan report, down from 2000rpm.

I just want to say that even a budget Abit board is great of budget class. Now I can plug three fans on mb.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:47 am

Jason W wrote: The more I think about this, the more I start to wonder why more motherboard makers haven't adoped this advanced control with their enthusiast-level boards, and marketed it more heavily.

I guess most of the overclockers who've traditionally been the main market for high-end boards aren't really that bothered about fan controls, at least not beyond "fast" and "super-fast."

Hopefully things will change and more manufacturers will have a close look at what Abit have done, although Asus's craptastic Q-Fan doesn't give immediate grounds for optimism...

Jason W · Post by **Jason W** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:11 am

nick705 wrote:
Jason W wrote: The more I think about this, the more I start to wonder why more motherboard makers haven't adoped this advanced control with their enthusiast-level boards, and marketed it more heavily.
I guess most of the overclockers who've traditionally been the main market for high-end boards aren't really that bothered about fan controls, at least not beyond "fast" and "super-fast."

Good point... I guess I keep forgetting that quiet overclocking isn't as mainstream as maximum overclocking.

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:28 am

Also, additional power control on the board costs extra money to research and implement, not viable for niche clientele.

Asus' half-arsed QFan is a perfect example of how much effort they're willing to put into it.

fjf · Post by **fjf** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:43 pm

I guess this mobo could work with some s-flex and/or nexus fans well enough to be (almost) silent. I might give it a try!. I haven't been able to confirm if it works with ubuntu, though.

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:10 pm

fjf wrote:Speedfan has no linux version.

Linux does indeed have a Speedfan alternative; it's called pwmconfig. I'm using it right now to control my CPU fan based on CPU temp.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:23 pm

fjf wrote:I guess this mobo could work with some s-flex and/or nexus fans well enough to be (almost) silent. I might give it a try!. I haven't been able to confirm if it works with ubuntu, though.

Well, as I said earlier, uGuru is OS-independent. I do seem to remember a post though somewhere on the forum complaining that recent Abit boards and Linux don't play nicely together, but I'm not sure of the details and haven't tried it myself. I certainly wouldn't write the idea off, but you might want to do a bit of googling before you splash out any funds.

I'm happy running Linux on servers, but whenever I try a distro as a desktop OS I usually end up weeping and throwing things.

zombiebeat · Post by **zombiebeat** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:55 am

Jason W wrote:Let me ask this question out of sheer stupidity: why not spend $55 less and buy the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R motherboard and then use the free SpeedFan software to monitor and control your temperatures and fans?

Is there critical functionality of the ABIT's controls that the BIOS of other boards, combined with SpeedFan, doesn't have?

Just thinking out loud here. Would appreciate any and all candor on this excellent topic.

Regards.

Jason

p.s. - I am in no way affiliated with Gigabyte, other than I just bought the GA-P35-DS3R for my next build.

I read this on another forum, it seems very relevant here so I'm just cutting and pasting it:

Pepsiennis wrote:uGuru is a 'proprietary' chip included on the motherboard, kind of like your man on the inside. The Windows program is simply a front for the chip itself. The free (albeit in many cases excellent) software you can download still can't access the same information because the IP35 and IP35-E don't include the onboard uGuru chip (Abit IP35 Pro does). For example, if you want to reconfigure your fan speeds in line with your CPU, System, or PWM temps, change a voltage, even a little OC'ing from within Windows... it's all off the chip.

mcoleg · Post by **mcoleg** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:37 pm

one thing about this board - i don't think the cpu could be undervolted.

new quads should, in theory at least, be able to run at lower voltages than they are programmed to.

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:58 pm

Well I am happy with my Asus Commando (but it didn't come cheap).
It has 3 chassis fans that give 6.09 V at power turn on.
That is perfect for my Scythe S-Flex E (1200 rpm). They are very, very silent running.

My mobo also has CPU fan header + 3 optional fan headers but you don't need all those. The 3 optional headers have a little higher voltage at turn on. I might be able to change this all in BIOS when i get a CPU for it.

I just hope it will run good with speedfan also (preferably without loud high speed fan running at startup (before speedfan has started).

I'll have to come back when i have CPU and graphics card "mid August".

Edit: (now i finally have a running computer)
---------------------------------------
All 3 chassis fans are controlled by the same speedcontrol in speedfan.

I now use my 3 optional fans (1200 RPM S-Flex). They are set to 70% duty cycle in my BIOS (at startup my guess it corresponds to 7-8V) thus making a little noise then. Once in windows speedfan controls them all. Also the PWR_FAN can be controlled but not monitored (RPM).

CPU_FAN must be 4-pin (=noisy) if you want it controlled. I don't use it.

xsoulbrothax · Post by **xsoulbrothax** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:45 am

It's a bit of a ninja-bump, but I stumbled on this thread googling around for what one of the BIOS settings does in the IP35 Pro.

Just wanted to register to toss in an extra note about the board...

I don't think it really matters as much if you're running low-speed fans anyway, but I've red a lot of reports that the fan headers on this board run on their own circuit to allow high-voltage fans or the like to be plugged in. I think it's true - I remember seeing isolated coils+mosfets in random places around the board near the fan headers.

krille · Post by **krille** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:37 am

So is it analog or PWM based? Afaik analog is better.

WEKS · Post by **WEKS** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 5:36 am

This seems like a really, really solid mboard.

fjf · Post by **fjf** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 6:44 am

I ordered it (along with a ninja, an E6750, 2GB Kingstom valueRAM and a MSI passive 7900GS). I'll report when I get it and see it working.

Sizzle · Post by **Sizzle** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 10:48 am

I have a IN9 32 Max and the uGuru goes down to 6v for the low setting. And you can alter and monitor the fan settings with the Windows uGuru utility loaded if you want, it has a driver and application. I myself only load the driver and dont' run the app. I let the BIOS take care of things. Runs my GlobalWIN 120mm fans just fine.

fjf · Post by **fjf** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:20 am

Well, after playing with the Abit ip35 pro for a while, I can say I like it!. It is true that the minimum voltage for fans in the BIOS is 8V. However, if you install the windows software (uguru) and push the setup button, there is an additional button for each fan labeled "optimize" that pushes the fan up and down to decide the minimum velocity of the fan that seems safe. I have the stock ninja fan connected to AUX1 and referenced to CPU temp (for some reason the CPU fan control does not work, maybe a bug in an early BIOS) and the case fan (a Scythe S-flex 1600 RPM) connected to SYS and referenced to SYS temp. After optimizing them, the low voltage goes down to 2.5V!. And the nicest thing is that this setting gets stored in the BIOS, and works later without the uguru soft loaded or even in linux. I have both fans now at about 700 rpms and I can barely hear them!.

The bad news: it does not undervolt in the BIOS (I haven't tried any software). But its runs pretty cool at stock voltages, at about 40ÂºC at idle (CPU -an e6750- and PWM) and 30ÂºC SYS temp.

Summary: a great motherbord from a silence point of view. No need for additional fan controllers.