Asus Z87I-DELUXE - Fan Xpert Issues

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Mankey
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Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2004 4:39 pm

Asus Z87I-DELUXE - Fan Xpert Issues

Post by Mankey » Tue Dec 17, 2013 5:20 pm

I just built a Haswell box using the Z87I-DELUXE.

I'm having several issues that I haven't run into in the past with Asus mobos. Other forums have been pretty much a dead end, so I'm trying here, as SCPR has always been a big proponent of AI Suite and Fan Xpert. I've tried 2 separate boards (love Amazon's return policy) to no avail.

1) AI Suite reads completely wrong CPU temperature. I know that AI suite reads a different sensor than TJunction, so different temperatures can be expected. In the ~ dozen Asus boards I've used since P67, this temperature is ~ -10, and it scales linearly with TJunction. On this board, AI suite reads a temperature that is MUCH lower than actuality (-40), and only varies 1-3 degrees no matter what Tjunction is.
2) Fan Xpert does not honor the fan ramps that I set. In the screenshot below, I have the fan set to ~ 35% duty until a ramp temperature of 40 degrees. AI suite is reading a temperature of 40 degrees, however, it is assigning a 100% duty cycle to the fan, and ignoring the ramp completely. I have no idea why there are 2 yellow dots either. I am using a PWM fan BTW.

Image
I've reinstalled AI Suite several times, reformatted and reinstalled Windows. I have also upgraded bios to the most recent version, and cleared CMOS. Nothing has changed my 3 problems above.

I'm installing all of the correct and updated drivers from the Asus site. I've also tried INF and graphics drivers straight from Intel on subsequent formats without any change in behavior.

CA_Steve
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Re: Asus Z87I-DELUXE - Fan Xpert Issues

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:10 pm

I'm sure Abula will step in soon and fill you with glorious details on the idiosyncrasies of Fan Xpert. Here's some early feedback - the only true PWM control is on the CPU. The others...aren't. Do you have a voltage controlled fan you can try in that position?

Mankey
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Re: Asus Z87I-DELUXE - Fan Xpert Issues

Post by Mankey » Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:34 pm

CA_Steve wrote:I'm sure Abula will step in soon and fill you with glorious details on the idiosyncrasies of Fan Xpert. Here's some early feedback - the only true PWM control is on the CPU. The others...aren't. Do you have a voltage controlled fan you can try in that position?
I did try a traditional fan in the non-cpu positions, but to no avail. Fan Xpert seems to control them during idle (1 yellow dot present), and as soon as I apply load (2nd dot appears), Fan Xpert seems to lose all control, and the fans all go to 100% duty.

Makes no sense. SCPR keeps reviewing Fan Xpert with high marks, but it really seems that something is totally F-ed up with it on the new Z87 boards.

Abula
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Re: Asus Z87I-DELUXE - Fan Xpert Issues

Post by Abula » Tue Dec 17, 2013 9:24 pm

Have you tested other fans to see if its not a defective fan or even an incompatible fan. Have you checked if your Q-Fan is on Auto (PWM) and not in Advance (Voltage controlled)?

Overall you have similar issues than what i had with FanXpert2, at least on the temp reading, and this was the main reason i dropped Asus in favor of MSI, here is a screenshot when i had my Asus Maximus VI Gene setup with 4770K, the difference in temperature make FanXpert2 worthless in terms of managing the fans, you can change to graphs knowing this, but it doesnt end up really that great, as the climbing is not a fixed delta, but an exponential, making it harder to adapt to it, specially with different ambient conditions. Mine is prime95 for 30mins, would be incredible if the temps was like AI suite III suggest (44C), but the cores already going over 70s.... but this also at the same time is what made the fans stay low even under load, at the current time the cores already reaching very high temps while fanxpert2 has only incresed 50rpms..... something to me that was not good, i couldnt count on fanXpert2 to manage my fans with the way asus measures temps.

Image

Mankey
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Re: Asus Z87I-DELUXE - Fan Xpert Issues

Post by Mankey » Tue Dec 17, 2013 9:56 pm

Abula wrote:Have you tested other fans to see if its not a defective fan or even an incompatible fan. Have you checked if your Q-Fan is on Auto (PWM) and not in Advance (Voltage controlled)?
Yes, tested other fans. Yes, verified that q-fan is set properly for the CPU fan. Chassis fans don't have that option.

I think it's a huge joke how Asus is handling this. Even more of a joke is how SCPR describes it as "the most advanced first party fan control software". It really seems like SCPR didn't even test it and just gave it a blind stamp of approval.

If the MSI had better socket placement, I'd pick one up. Looks like Asrock is the only other option. I might even fall back down to Ivy Bridge and get an iteration of an Asus board that works.

ggumdol
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Re: Asus Z87I-DELUXE - Fan Xpert Issues

Post by ggumdol » Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:08 am

Mankey wrote:I think it's a huge joke how Asus is handling this. Even more of a joke is how SCPR describes it as "the most advanced first party fan control software". It really seems like SCPR didn't even test it and just gave it a blind stamp of approval.

If the MSI had better socket placement, I'd pick one up. Looks like Asrock is the only other option. I might even fall back down to Ivy Bridge and get an iteration of an Asus board that works.
Asrock seems to be making quite distinctive moves in this regard. Apart from their true 4-pin headers (I tested them by myself), they have fully functional multipoint BIOS fan control with fine granularity for all Haswell motherboards and even discarded all 3-pin fan headers in their Haswell ITX boards. Given the current situation where 3-pin fans are still more prevalent in comparison with 4-pin fans, their adoption of only 4-pin fan headers in their ITX boards are quite intriguing or rather reckless. I haven't purchased any Asrock Haswell ITX boards but I gather from their websites that they have relatively better socket placements as compared with others. Asus will continue to prosper due to their brilliant PR department.

Mankey
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Re: Asus Z87I-DELUXE - Fan Xpert Issues

Post by Mankey » Fri Dec 20, 2013 1:32 pm

Update - exchanged some emails with Asus tech support.

They're utterly worthless. Suggested reinstalling AI suite, then tried to have me RMA the board (at my shipping cost). I informed them that I had tried 2 identical boards and they both exhibited the same bad behavior. At this point, Asus went radio silent.

I used to recommend only Asus boards in the past to my friends and family for builds. Definitely won't be any longer. I can see how the crap fan behavior would work for someone who never pushes their computer, but for any sort of gamer/power user, it is absolutely unusable.

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