H61 mATX controlled by SpeedFan

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Gundy
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:52 am

H61 mATX controlled by SpeedFan

Post by Gundy » Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:24 am

Hi all,

I am looking for an mATX H61 motherboard that allows me to control the CPU and chassis 3-pin fans seperatly using SpeedFan. Do you guys know of any? Just can't seem to find good information regarding this topic. I am not too worried about any other features.

Thanks & Best Regards,
Gundy

1337
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Location: EU

Re: H61 mATX controlled by SpeedFan

Post by 1337 » Tue Nov 22, 2011 6:05 pm

most boards should be able to give you control, no?

Gundy
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:52 am

Re: H61 mATX controlled by SpeedFan

Post by Gundy » Wed Nov 23, 2011 1:42 am

Well, from what I remember (though this might be wrong), a fan header that can be controlled via the BIOS does not necessarily allow control via SpeedFan. Further more, a fan header that allows PWM control might not be able to do voltage control if used with a standard non-PWM 3-pin fan. On my old Gigabyte P35 was able to do it, but the manuals and specs on the manufacture web sites don't really inform you about it, at least not that I can tell. So help is much appreciated!

Thanks & Best Regards,
Gundy

Gundy
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:52 am

Re: H61 mATX controlled by SpeedFan

Post by Gundy » Wed Nov 23, 2011 9:54 am

I have inspected the circuitry of the MSI H61M-E33 using Google image search. The main-board has 1x 4-pin and 2x 3-pin headers. Both 3-pin headers seem to have the needed circuitry around them to allow for fan speed control and a stab at the manual showed these to be controllable. The 4-pin connector however is missing the circuitry for voltage control, at least in its immediate vicinity. The SuperI/O used is the Fintek F71869AD and supported by SpeeFan since version 4.45, but no word on what is supported (doesn't say "full support" like it does for some others).

Gundy
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:52 am

Re: H61 mATX controlled by SpeedFan

Post by Gundy » Fri Nov 25, 2011 5:32 am

Alright, going for the MSI board, fingers crossed that it does voltage control via SpeedFan properly for at least two of the fan three headers. Hoping to report back in about a week when things have arrived and I find the time to set it up.

Gundy

Gundy
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:52 am

Re: H61 mATX controlled by SpeedFan

Post by Gundy » Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:43 am

Okay, I have a small system with the MSI H61M-E33 now up and running. The BIOS allows me to control the PWM speed between 0% and 100% (needs a BIOS update for that, otherwise 25% is the lowest) and both case fan headers can be controlled between 50% and 100% in 25% steps. Plugging a 3-pin fan into the CPU fan header, results in the fan spinning at 100%.

Now, when using SpeedFan 4.45, I can can control a PWM fan on the CPU fan header, but again, if you plug in a 3-pin fan, there is no control, independent of the settings I used (there are settings for DC control, but they don't do anything, the motherboard simply seems to lack the required components for voltage control of the CPU header). Both 3-pin case fan headers can be controlled between 0% and 100%.

Currently SpeedFan does not read any of the temperature sensors from the board correctly and shows no voltages at all, even though the information is there (the MSI tool displays them).

Overall still a pretty good result. 1 PWM header, 2 DC headers, all of them controllable. Since SpeedFan reads CPU core and GPU temperatures properly, it can be used for efficient fan control. I am pleased.

The only annoyance this board has is the POST beep that you cannot turn off. My old Gigabyte mobo was lacking a speaker and I have been getting used to starting my PC with no noise whatsoever.

Best Regards,
Gundy

ntavlas
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Re: H61 mATX controlled by SpeedFan

Post by ntavlas » Fri Dec 02, 2011 12:17 pm

The only annoyance this board has is the POST beep that you cannot turn off. My old Gigabyte mobo was lacking a speaker and I have been getting used to starting my PC with no noise whatsoever.
Perhaps you could fool the motherboard into thinking that an external speaker is connected, thus disabling the intergrated one. It should be doable, basically it would take a resistor with the appropriate value plugged into the pc speaker header.

Gundy
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:52 am

Re: H61 mATX controlled by SpeedFan

Post by Gundy » Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:16 am

Hi ntavlas,

Thanks for your suggestion. Lacking a resistor to try for the moment, I have taken an old PC speaker (same build as the one soldered to the mainboard) and connected it to the appropriate socket. From what I can tell both speakers are now beeping, but I cannot say for sure at the moment. I'll give your suggestion a try and report back.

Best Regards,
Gundy

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