Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

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developer1
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:38 pm

Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

Post by developer1 » Sun Jul 30, 2017 11:52 am

Hello everybody!

I have an Asus H170 Pro Gaming motherboard and Fan expert3 has some issues.

This is my setup:

Intel i7 4700
Scythe Kotetsu with its stock fan
Asus H170 Pro Gaming
Ballistix Sport LT 16GB
500GB SSD
WD Red 3Tb
Be Quiet! Straight Power 10 600W
Fractal R5 with stock fans + Antec TrueQuiet 140 on the front bottom

This motherboard/fan expert 3 has an issue, which more or less also happens using BIOS Qfan configuration. To configure the fan rpm curves, first you have to run an bench to let the software read the lowest rpm your fans can drop to. BUT that is kinda bugged, as the software doesn't read right the lowests rpm. And also, everytime you retry this benchmark it reads different rpm values for each fan.
I'm like gambling and retrying this bench to get a good result for the 3 fans together.

I've tried updating BIOS to the latest version, hoping to find a fix to this, but unfortunatelly it works worse and now the bottom rpms readen are a bit higher.

Here is a picture of AI Suite to show the lowest fan rpms. Sometimes I got CHA_FAN1 Fractal GP14 to reach 330rpm. But cha_fan2 was like 450rpm so I retried the bench.
fan expert 3.png
I've read through the forum that this is a common issue, so I'm creating this thread to ask if anyone knows how to fix this or make it work a bit better. And also to aware pontential Asus motherboard buyers of this Fan expert3 issue.

Anyone who has QFan working more or less right, could tell me your motheboard BIOS version?

As allways, sorry for any gramatical errors. Cheers
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CA_Steve
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Re: Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:14 pm

The GP-14 Fractal fan has a starting voltage of 4V. At 5V, it typically runs around 500rpm, at 7V: 620rpm, and 9V: 740rpm...sorta looks like at best you'll see low 400's at 4V. Anything below that is probably a fluke and not a real data point....as in, once started, many fans can run slower/lower voltage than the starting speed/voltage.

developer1
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:38 pm

Re: Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

Post by developer1 » Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:54 pm

CA_Steve wrote:The GP-14 Fractal fan has a starting voltage of 4V. At 5V, it typically runs around 500rpm, at 7V: 620rpm, and 9V: 740rpm...sorta looks like at best you'll see low 400's at 4V. Anything below that is probably a fluke and not a real data point....as in, once started, many fans can run slower/lower voltage than the starting speed/voltage.
Thanks. I hadn't google the fan speeds. Great information.

I had one of them running at 350rpm everyday before updating BIOS. Maybe that value was a fluke like you suggested, and know it is reading the correct values which are higher. I can't rollback to the BIOS I had before. I downloaded the same version from Asus website but it can read it because it says it isn't a BIOS file. Bad luck.
Everytime I re-do the bench, the GP-14 minimum speed hard set oscillates between 400 and 550rpm. Sometimes the Kotetsu stock fan stucks at 90% minimum :?:.

Nevertheless, I'm considering replacing the two Fractal fans with NF-P14s redux 1200 PWM fans. I have to search how they behave with this motherboard.

Abula
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Location: Guatemala

Re: Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

Post by Abula » Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:48 pm

I'm sorry you having issues with Asus, but at the same time is good you shared so others that like Asus notice the issues that you have, that are similars to what i have experience, just that i havent found any issues with fanXpert but with the Bios and auto Qfan tuning, to me the issue is that sometimes it reads increctly certain fans, most of the time are noctua fans but has happen with some scythe, the most common issue is the bios cant read as FanXpert reads the lowest readings, and once it establish it incorrectly if you move it the breakpoints sometimes the bios bugs out and to the point that i have had resets due to playing with the graph breakpoint, that said, i have never had an issue with FanXpert3, it always reads the fans correctly, and i have tested a ton, probably more than 50 fans over the past two years.

My suggestion is leave the bios alone, just make sure you have the headers set up correctly if they are pwm or 3pin, each header is switchable, undo the bios qfan tuning, try to leave the fans steady % (really dont matter much), and then run FanXpert3 QTunning inside windows, and fanXpert should take over fine, at least that my personal experience.
developer1 wrote:I had one of them running at 350rpm everyday before updating BIOS. Maybe that value was a fluke like you suggested, and know it is reading the correct values which are higher.
My experience is more like steve says, they usually idle around 400rpms, never could drop them to 350, thats with Asus Gene (haswell) and Asus Pro Gaming (Skylake), both read the fans the same, here is my run on fanXpert with them, check the idle rpms for chasisfan2 (405 even though it says 356 as the minium), fanXpert after it find the lowest rpms it bumps the speed some just to be sure =P

Image
developer1 wrote:Sometimes the Kotetsu stock fan stucks at 90% minimum :?:.
This is because of the bios, incorrect reading is glitching it, try to have it not running via bios qfan tunning, just a steady %, do it on the advance tab.
developer1 wrote:Nevertheless, I'm considering replacing the two Fractal fans with NF-P14s redux 1200 PWM fans. I have to search how they behave with this motherboard.
I would suggest against Noctua, not that they are bad, but for your splicit case, i had more issues with noctua fans and the asus bios than i had with other, and the fan that gave me more restets was NF-P14R 1500PWM. I see you already have a Antec True Quiet 140, why not continue with them, they are very quiet and run very low on FanXpert. I was able in the past to run them very close to 200rpms.

Image

Btw, in case you cant fix it and at some point considering changing it, MSI seems solid with 270 mobos, they seem to have implemented fully switchable headers and they are now controllable the same as they were on Z87 on pure bios, i personally haven't tried it yet (so take my comments with a grain of salt), but my next mobo is probably going to be MSI, thats if i can find a PCIe 1x at the bottom, else ill continuing with AsRock K4 mobos that always come like that.

Abula
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Re: Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

Post by Abula » Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:10 pm

Btw i have brought up all the issues with Asus on their forums, i started with the Gene mobo and issues with restrictions, but i also included the H170 Pro Gaming later on, in case you want to read or post your experience there so they know there are issues with more than one user, ASUS BIOS FAN CONTROL REQUEST

lodestar
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Re: Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

Post by lodestar » Sun Jul 30, 2017 9:09 pm

Abula wrote:I would suggest against Noctua, not that they are bad, but for your splicit case, i had more issues with noctua fans and the asus bios than i had with other...
My experience has been the opposite, Noctua and Asus boards using either the BIOS fan controls or Fan Xpert work perfectly OK. Sure there is some variation with the auto fan tuning, but it is small. I have used the Noctua NF-P14s redux 1200 PWM with Asus boards, no issues.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

Post by Abula » Sun Jul 30, 2017 9:38 pm

lodestar wrote:
Abula wrote:I would suggest against Noctua, not that they are bad, but for your splicit case, i had more issues with noctua fans and the asus bios than i had with other...
My experience has been the opposite, Noctua and Asus boards using either the BIOS fan controls or Fan Xpert work perfectly OK. Sure there is some variation with the auto fan tuning, but it is small. I have used the Noctua NF-P14s redux 1200 PWM with Asus boards, no issues.
what board on Asus skylake/kabylake mobo are you using?

Could be an issolated bios issue for the H170 Pro Gaming mobo, but i the Asus thread i posted there other user with other mobos with issues, like
Bumping this old topic again. My Prime Z270-K BIOS (0610) is either buggy or I have no clue what it's doing when calibrating. Sometimes the minimum speed is 98%, sometimes 36% and with luck and many retries I can get it down to 30% for one of my fans. Please ASUS, enable the possibility for users to override the calibration. Give us a checkbox to acknowledge that it's our responsibility if fans don't work properly.
Not only does it freeze in the bios, if you let it boot to windows and then run a stress test like OCCT windows freezes as well.
Personally i do think that Asus is on the right track, having a smaller lighter fanxpert on the bios is a great idea, just their implementation is buggy atm, at least in my experience, the problem with Asus is one they have newer mobos they seem to forget to continue fixing old mobos bios, so i doubt we will see a fix for the H170 Pro Gaming.

lodestar
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Re: Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

Post by lodestar » Sun Jul 30, 2017 9:55 pm

The latest in progress build for one of my family members, Asus Prime Z270-A. So there may be some variation in the experience depending on which chipset and board it is. Looking at the Z270-A there are some changes from earlier boards e.g. the BIOS Silent profile is more aggressive than it was, so Manual settings are now the best of achieving minimum fan speeds. But I still think there is nothing about Noctua fans that should cause issues with Asus boards in particular.

developer1
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:38 pm

Re: Asus H170 Pro Gaming Fan xpert 3 issue

Post by developer1 » Sat Sep 09, 2017 6:56 pm

Thank you all for the detailed help and test pictures. I've decided to order a pair of NF-P14s redux, because I could get them for the same price as the True Quiets. And I like Noctua quality the most. I have a few Noctuas and they are heavy duty. Don't get me wrong, my Antec True Quiet is fine too, but since they were the same price I found the Noctuas more convenient.
Abula wrote:Btw i have brought up all the issues with Asus on their forums, i started with the Gene mobo and issues with restrictions, but i also included the H170 Pro Gaming later on, in case you want to read or post your experience there so they know there are issues with more than one user, ASUS BIOS FAN CONTROL REQUEST
Great. I've registered and I'm waiting for moderation approval to be able to post a reply, and I'll post about the issue.

I'll receive the Noctuas in a about a month (shipping overseas). By then, I'll update about how they behave with my H170 Pro Gaming.

Cheers

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