OS-Independent, i.e. BIOS-based, Fan Controllers

[cnst]

To summarise OS-independent technologies that allow to control Fan speeds:

ABIT: FanEq
AOpen: SilentBIOS
ASUS: Q-Fan
Intel: Precision Cooling (no-one confirmed that it ever worked)
Fujitsu-Siemens: Silent Fan
Shuttle: Smart Fan

Do any other motherboards manufacturers have some cool fan-controllers? :-)

P.S. Could someone explain to me why does AOpen refer to SilentBIOS as something that is only used before OS starts? Do they just live in the win32 world, and think that Windows is the only os, and if I run a UNIX-like system, I'm not actually running an OS, according to them? :-) They tell this throughout their documentation, so if someone could confirm my assumption, do so. :-) I.e. I don't like that they say

If you want to enable SilentBIOS, please always remember to install SilentTek as well. Otherwise, you may suffer CPU damage if no controlling authority is taking control after OS boot.

Some other topic on this forum:
Mobos with built-in thermal fan control

P.P.S. Shouldn't some similar thread be Sticky?

[frankgehry]

Theres an article on AOpen SilentTek

[cnst]

Here is what Gigabyte has to offer (from the manual of GA-8I915P Duo Pro):

CPU Smart FAN Control

• Disabled Disable this function.
• Enabled Enable CPU Smart Fan control function. (Default value)
  a. When the CPU temperature is higher than 65 degrees Celsius, CPU fan
  will run at full speed.
  b. The speed of CPU fan will increase linearly depand on the temperature if
  the temperature is more than 41 degree and less than 65 degree.
  c. When the CPU temperature is lower than 40 degrees Celsius, CPU fan will
  be disable.

CPU Smart FAN Mode
This option is available only when CPU Smart FAN Control is enabled.

• Auto BIOS autodetects the type of CPU fan you installed and sets the optimal CPU
  Smart FAN control mode for it. (Default Value)
• Voltage Set to Voltage when you use a CPU fan with a 3-pin fan power cable.
• PWM Set to PWM when you use a CPU fan with a 4-pin fan power cable.

Note: In fact, the Voltage option can be used for CPU fans with 3-pin or 4-pin power cables.
However, some 4-pin CPU fan power cables are not designed following Intel 4-Wire fans PWM
control specifications. With such CPU fans, selecting PWM will not effectively reduce the fan speed.

Has anyone tried how it actually works? Do they only have it on LGA775 motherboards?

[bsoft]

My DFI "LanParty" board can control at least two fans. It is quite nice - you set a maximum temp (the temp at which the fan is at 12V) and a minimum temp (the temp at which the fan is at 0V) and it varies the voltage inbetween.

It's particularly nice because of the range. I have my Zalman CNPS-7000AlCu set to "off" at 55C, so when I'm at idle the fan doesn't run at all. Under load, the fan ramps up slowly, and only as much as is needed.

[hvengel]

Some Abit MBs also have uGuru to setup BIOS based fan speed control. It is completely OS independant. My AV8 can control 3 fans this way and the control can be linked to the CPU temp, the case temp or the north bridge temp. The only real problem with this is the limited control range which only allows fan speed to be reduced by about 25% at the lowest setting. If Abit would fix this limitation I would be very happy with this feature. Right now it is of limited usefullness.

[nici]

The DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D.. I dont know what its called, dont remember if it has some fancy name, but anyway i can choose at wich temperature i want a fan to start and at wich speed and i can choose when i want the fan to turn off completely. At least i think you can adjust the speed not just when it starts and stops, i havent rebooted for a week or so and have not been in the BIOS for a while..

[Mats]

I think the Abit AN8 got most controllers so far of all Abit mobos, mostly because of all the fans...
Nevermind, just remove them!XBit labs review, pages 6 & 7.