Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

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corimer
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Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by corimer » Sat Aug 09, 2014 2:48 pm

Hello.

I'm planning to upgrade my motherboard and cpu and trying to decide between two boards - Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H and Asus Z97-A.

I already know that Asus fan control via Fan Xpert is really good and I would definitely get the Asus board however all Asus boards have an annoying problem - the power led blinks when the computer is in standby mode which is really distracting at night with a bright blue led.

This is why I'm trying to decide between getting the Asus board and disconnecting the power led (which would be annoying) or if I should a Gigabyte board that doesn't have this problem but uses the Easy Tune fan control which I'm not sure is as good as Asus' fan control.

The setup it's going in is a Fractal Define R4 case and a Noctua NH-D14 cpu cooler.
I want the computer to be really quiet which is why It's important there's good fan control. What do you think?

Thank you all.

lodestar
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by lodestar » Sat Aug 09, 2014 11:50 pm

The D14 uses 3 pin fans and the R4 case fans are also 3 pin. Most users would just plug them into the motherboard, treating them all as chassis fans. This would provide idle speeds for the case fans with either board of around 700 rpm, and for the D14 fans of around 700 to 800 rpm. If fan speeds like this are not your idea of a quiet PC then dropping speeds below these levels can only be done by Fan Xpert, and the Asus motherboard would be the automatic choice.

Running CPU cooler fans as chassis fans does seem a waste of the excellent CPU PWM fan control capabilities that these boards have. For example both have a second PWM CPU header, and in the case of the Gigabyte this can be controlled separately. Replacing the R4 case fans with PWM models such as the Noctua or Noctua Redux 140mm models would in a system under PWM control give idle speeds in something like the 350 to 450 rpm range. What to do with the D14 is a bit more complicated. A single Noctua NF-A15 PWM fan would probably be enough. There is an issue that the D14 fan clips don't work with this fan but Noctua support will provide the right clips on request. Alternatively the Noctua NF-P14R Redux will work with the existing clips. Any of these fans like the PWM chassis fans would give idle speeds in the 350 to 450 rpm range, with either the Asus or Gigabyte boards.

The bottom line is that going the PWM route would cost money, and the absolute minimum spend at Amazon.com prices would be around $70 USD plus carriage (2 x Noctua Redux NF-P14s PWM, 1 x Noctua Redux NF-P14R PWM, 1 x PWM Y cable). But given the standby issue extending the upgrade budget by this amount would allow the choice of the Gigabyte board and still meet your objective of a computer that is really quiet.

Pappnaas
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by Pappnaas » Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:12 am

As to the Asus led problem: Use some macgyver duct tape and cover this led.

No need to disconnect the led and risk losing warranty. Just cover it up. Mainboard-makeup :lol:

Thr R4 does have a built-in fan controller, you could use that for the case fans and let them run @fixed voltage.

lodestar
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by lodestar » Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:23 am

Pappnaas wrote:...R4 does have a built-in fan controller, you could use that for the case fans and let them run @fixed voltage.
This should give something like 500 rpm at the lowest setting, equivalent to 5V. But FanXpert 3 with the Asus board would drop this to around 400 rpm with full fan control rather than just one fixed speed. But then again Fan Xpert 3 can run the Noctua NF-P14S Redux from about 200 rpm upwards, and in a working system I saw 230 rpm idle speeds. This illustrates that Haswell systems need very little cooling under idle conditions. Whether there is any real difference in noise levels between these speeds and the BIOS Silent mode ranges (without Fan Xpert) will most likely depend on the case and fan configuration. The most noise sensitive area for case fans is probably front mounted intakes. But with the R4 I would lean towards uncovering the rear top exhaust and running two exhaust fans, provided PWM fans were used, not using intake fans at all. The R4 has a filtered fan inlet in the floor of the case that should supply a certain amount of intake air in this configuration.
Pappnaas wrote:As to the Asus led problem: Use some macgyver duct tape and cover this led.
Or you could use LightDims. As the name suggests they provide a varying level of light reduction (50 to 80%) and cost about $10 USD. I have used them. They work best on flat surfaces where the led is recessed. But as claimed they can reduce LED light output from annoying to barely perceptible.

Image

Abula
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by Abula » Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:15 am

Just for reference there are some motherboards, not sure on the new Z97 line, that have an option on the bios to turn off the leds, my MSI has it and i believe my GENE also but never really used it.

corimer
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by corimer » Sun Aug 10, 2014 11:10 am

If fan speeds like this are not your idea of a quiet PC then dropping speeds below these levels can only be done by Fan Xpert, and the Asus motherboard would be the automatic choice.
Is the Gigabyte board not capable of doing this as well via the Easy Tune software?
The bottom line is that going the PWM route would cost money, and the absolute minimum spend at Amazon.com prices would be around $70 USD plus carriage (2 x Noctua Redux NF-P14s PWM, 1 x Noctua Redux NF-P14R PWM, 1 x PWM Y cable). But given the standby issue extending the upgrade budget by this amount would allow the choice of the Gigabyte board and still meet your objective of a computer that is really quiet.
How low could I get in terms of rpm with the D14 and R4 default fans using Voltage (without PWM)?
Or you could use LightDims. As the name suggests they provide a varying level of light reduction (50 to 80%) and cost about $10 USD. I have used them. They work best on flat surfaces where the led is recessed. But as claimed they can reduce LED light output from annoying to barely perceptible.
I would use this but unfortunately in the R4 case this is not possible to due to the ring around the power button and the leveled nature of the second part of the power led as can be seen in this picture: http://www.fractal-design.com/media/794 ... 78204c5680
As to the Asus led problem: Use some macgyver duct tape and cover this led.
No need to disconnect the led and risk losing warranty. Just cover it up. Mainboard-makeup
I meant to disconnect the power led cable going from the case to the motherboard.

lodestar
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by lodestar » Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:14 pm

corimer wrote:Is the Gigabyte board not capable of doing this as well via the Easy Tune software?
No, Easy Tune offers a few more facilities than the BIOS but it does not improve on the BIOS settings in the way that Asus Fan Xpert 2, 2+ and 3 can. Partly it's because Asus motherboards use additional hardware to achieve this that other manufacturers' boards do not have.
How low could I get in terms of rpm with the D14 and R4 default fans using Voltage (without PWM)?
Those figures have already been mentioned; without Fan Xpert both boards would achieve around the same levels. But the availability of Fan Xpert for the Asus board could make a big difference.

The only reason for you not to buy the Asus board is the blinking standby LED issue. How important is standby mode to you? Would just turning the PC off cause that much of a problem?

corimer
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by corimer » Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:43 pm

The only reason for you not to buy the Asus board is the blinking standby LED issue. How important is standby mode to you? Would just turning the PC off cause that much of a problem?
Well I use it all the time, especially with a SSD drive that makes resuming from standby very fast. I do want to use the fan xpert feature so I think I'll go with an Asus board. I figure I can either disconnect the power led or connect the power led to the HDD activity pin instead.

Thanks for your help.

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:55 pm

You might be able to remove the LED itself from the assembly. Then, it's a matter of:
a) replacing it with a dimmer one
b) modifying it
i) apply a filter
- coat it with a black felt pen - not a Sharpie or other permanent marker. If too dark, rub some off.
- diffuse it with a bit of printer paper wrapped around it.

Or, if you can't remove it, try putting a resistor in series with the + lead. Maybe 470 Ohm or so.

Abula
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by Abula » Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:00 pm

corimer wrote:I figure I can either disconnect the power led or connect the power led to the HDD activity pin instead.
Fractal Design Define R4 - How to change the power LED
Fractal Design Define R4 - HDD LED addon

xan_user
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by xan_user » Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:01 pm

fan control.;
I used to mess with it obsessively. now i find the lowest fixed speed that keep my cpu fro throttling, at my highest usage level. (not some benchmark that pushes my system harder than i would)

led's;
light dims
take led out and paint it, and put it back
take led out, leave it out
masking tape
lithographer tape
lithographers pen
paint pen
duck-tape
nail polish



-or just always wear sunglasses! 8)

corimer
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by corimer » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:42 pm

Thanks for the suggestions of what to do with the power led, I'll try them when I get the board. BTW, is there any other board maker that has as good a fan controller as Asus' Fan Xpert?

Abula
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by Abula » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:52 pm

corimer wrote:Thanks for the suggestions of what to do with the power led, I'll try them when I get the board. BTW, is there any other board maker that has as good a fan controller as Asus' Fan Xpert?
MSI is pretty solid on bios fan control, but mainly on 4pin PWM which only has 2 headers, the rest are 4pin fake, aka voltage controlled, where its not bad, but cant drop as Asus can. Personally i prefer MSI for other reasons, like not to have to run software to control the fans, and im not too fond of some decision Asus has done with loading AI suite with all their stuff together, none the less Asus FanXpert remains as the best software fan control on the market, aside fron using 3rd party like Speedfan, which can be really good if all sensor are recognized and you want to spend some time tweaking it. AsRock also seems pretty decent, but as MSI mostly on pure bios and with pwm fan headers, their chasis fans are very limited with pre set profiles, at least to what i seen.

lego
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by lego » Thu Oct 09, 2014 9:37 am

MSI is pretty solid on bios fan control, but mainly on 4pin PWM which only has 2 headers, the rest are 4pin fake, aka voltage controlled, where its not bad, but cant drop as Asus can.
How low can 3pin fan speed drop through MSI bios? I'm considering B85M-E45 board for my new build and wish to decrease the 2 front stock fans of the PS07 case, from 950 to 600rpm.

Abula
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by Abula » Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:39 am

lego wrote:
MSI is pretty solid on bios fan control, but mainly on 4pin PWM which only has 2 headers, the rest are 4pin fake, aka voltage controlled, where its not bad, but cant drop as Asus can.
How low can 3pin fan speed drop through MSI bios? I'm considering B85M-E45 board for my new build and wish to decrease the 2 front stock fans of the PS07 case, from 950 to 600rpm.
On SYS_FAN headers on my MSI Z87-GD65 the least i can is 50%, but really depends on the fan into what that translate to. For example on AP182 testing, i wasn't able to use the 50% on the MSI motherbaord due to the starting voltage of the fan, so i had to go into 60%, but each fan is different.

What fans do you have in mind?

lego
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by lego » Thu Oct 09, 2014 2:53 pm

Since I already received the case 2 days ago, I removed now the 2 stock fans and tested them with speedfan on on another computer. Exact same fans as this one: http://www.expreview.com/img/review/sil ... s07_28.jpg
One of them has some noises from chafing/friction of the bearing starting to be audible at 80% and lower. At 50% (620rpm) it's already annoying and the only thing audible coming from the fan from 1m distance. The other one is better and the friction noise is less audible and appears at lower speeds. I guess the quality is not as good as I hoped. Interesting that there was a similar problem in one of the 2 Antec TriCool fans that came with my P183 case. I replaced them with Noctua P12 fans and I also have Akasa Apache PWM fans on the U12P heatsink, and they all run super smooth.
So now I'm thinking if it's worth replacing those SilverStone fans, though they would probably be OK running at 60-70%. I will check it and decide once I get the PC ready and running.
They didn't have a problem starting at 50%.

Looks like the MSI B85M-E45 has one 3 pin system fan (a fake 4 pin) and should be enough to connect the 2 stock fans with a y splitter and run @60% from bios:
Capture.JPG
Regarding MSI bios 3pin system fan control, does it have an advanced smart control with an option to set minimum and maximum speed and target temperature? Or it's just a simple fixed speed manual control?
The ASrock bios has only profiles (silent, standard, etc..) or also advanced smart control?

My other mobo options are ASrock B85M/H97M Pro4 and Asus H97M-Plus. The Asus has the better fan control but my only problem is the 512MB limit of maximum shared memory for graphics (I'll be using the integrated intel GPU). ASrock boards have no restrictions and allow the maximum 1.7GB possible memory. The B85 of MSI and Asus have 1GB limit which is still OK. I would also get the Asus B85M-G but it doesn't have any 3pin fan headers (only 2 true 4pin, for CPU and Chasis).

I've also looked at the Gigabyte boards, but from what it seems these guys are not serious about fan control.
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Abula
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by Abula » Thu Oct 09, 2014 3:17 pm

lego wrote:Regarding MSI bios 3pin system fan control, does it have an advanced smart control with an option to set minimum and maximum speed and target temperature? Or it's just a simple fixed speed manual control?
In mine, you have min and max for 3pin, and also min temp and max temp, so its like a graph but with one breakpoint where the climbing of the rpm/temp is linear, just you decide how fast or slow you want this by increasing or decreasing the % and temps. Its a simple one breakpoint graph, nothing fancy, but works pretty well once you set it up.
lego wrote:The ASrock bios has only profiles (silent, standard, etc..) or also advanced smart control?
On PWM fan headers it has multiple breakpoints, similar to MSI but with more flexablity in terms of 1% increments, while MSI is on 12.5% increments (this is only on CPU_FAN headers). On CHA_FAN headers its presets from what i remember reading on the AsRock, on MSI is not presets but total control, but with the 50% limitation as the lowest.

lego
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by lego » Fri Oct 10, 2014 3:08 pm

Thanks for the info. Your posts are very helpful.

I went through the board manuals, and it seems the MSI B85M-E45 is using the same method as you described from your MSI board. And it's good to hear from you that it works fine. The 50% min for 3pin chassis fan control is still better than the 60% of the Asus boards.
The Asus B85M-G has a similar method to the MSI (2 points, min & max, for temp&speed) and it controls only PWM fans (1x CPU, 1x Chassis). Probably it has the same 60% min for chassis fan. But this board is excluded from my list since I need 3pin control for the chasis fans.
Asrock H97M Pro 4, seems they made a big step forward. Manual says there can be 5 points set for temp&speed. But there is no info about the limitations (I assume there are too). It has 2 headers for CPU (1xPWM, 1x3pin) and also 2 for the chassis (1xPWM, 1x3pin).
Asus H79M-Plus: 1x CPU PWM header, 2x chassis headers that can be either set at DC mode or PWM mode (brilliant!). Control is by setting 3 points of temp&speed. Limitations as usual, 60% minimum for chassis fans. The fan xpert probably makes things better, but I always prefer bios control alone. If the fan xpert needs to be installed and run together with a big pack of other utilities, and not by itself, it's even worse...

So out of the 3 options I have, I'm leaning more towards the MSI as it has all that I need and it costs about 30% less than the H97 boards. But ASrock also looks good and it may have the best bios control (however, only if there are no fan speed limitations, but I haven't found any info about it).

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by Abula » Fri Oct 10, 2014 3:31 pm

lego wrote:So out of the 3 options I have, I'm leaning more towards the MSI as it has all that I need and it costs about 30% less than the H97 boards. But ASrock also looks good and it may have the best bios control (however, only if there are no fan speed limitations, but I haven't found any info about it).
One thing worth mentioning is that some manufactures did do some extras in the new Z97/H97 over the last iteration of Z87/H87/B85/H81. For example, Asus apparently (personally i dont believe it out of so many lies from them), they made all their headers able to do 3pin and 4pin kinda like they have done with CPU_FAN, that you can decided on the bios if its 3pin voltage controlled or 4pin PWM controlled.... weather it true or not, i cant say. MSI also introduced multiple breakpoints in their CPU_FAN (i think also in the SYS_FAN), with 4 breakpoints, kinda more like how the AsRocks were, but with the limitations of having the 12.5% increments on the CPU_FAN and 50% min speed on SYS_FANs (but 10% increments). Not sure if gigabyte or AsRock did anything different.

As it is atm, my choices are in line with MSI, but thats just because i like more bios fan control and doing it to my liking and not presets, but asus is not a bad choice as long as you are fine with AI Suite, in a lot of cases it allows fans to reach extremely low rpms, for example Antec True Quiet 140s, i can get them to 200rpms on Asus on CHA_FAN headers, but with the MSI i can only take them around 450rpms. More important for me is to first chose the motherboard you like based on the features/budget, and then chose the fans according to its limitations.

Tomorrow ill be buidling a PC for a friend on an MSI H97 Gaming 3, so ill check and test some fans on it, if i have some time ill post some thoughts on it.

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat Oct 11, 2014 1:09 am

Abula wrote:Tomorrow ill be buidling a PC for a friend on an MSI H97 Gaming 3, so ill check and test some fans on it, if i have some time ill post some thoughts on it.
We're waiting for your findings! :mrgreen:

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by faugusztin » Sat Oct 11, 2014 2:04 am

Abula wrote:For example, Asus apparently (personally i dont believe it out of so many lies from them), they made all their headers able to do 3pin and 4pin kinda like they have done with CPU_FAN, that you can decided on the bios if its 3pin voltage controlled or 4pin PWM controlled.... weather it true or not, i cant say.
All i can say that ASUS X99 Deluxe has no problems controlling and even stopping my 3-pin fans, same applies for 4-pin fans on CPU header.

Abula
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by Abula » Sat Oct 11, 2014 6:30 am

quest_for_silence wrote:
Abula wrote:Tomorrow ill be buidling a PC for a friend on an MSI H97 Gaming 3, so ill check and test some fans on it, if i have some time ill post some thoughts on it.
We're waiting for your findings! :mrgreen:
Starting to build =), ill post some pics and thoughts on the gallery, even though its not a silent oriented build, has a lot of things that i personally interested, like Asus GTX750ti strix, MSI H97 Gaming 3, Phantek Entho Pro chassis and your recommendation of the EVGA 750W G2, i know an overkill for the build, but he went with the GTX750Ti for now, he is just waiting for the next gen of GPUs to do a SLI setup.
faugusztin wrote:
Abula wrote:For example, Asus apparently (personally i dont believe it out of so many lies from them), they made all their headers able to do 3pin and 4pin kinda like they have done with CPU_FAN, that you can decided on the bios if its 3pin voltage controlled or 4pin PWM controlled.... weather it true or not, i cant say.
All i can say that ASUS X99 Deluxe has no problems controlling and even stopping my 3-pin fans, same applies for 4-pin fans on CPU header.
As long as you understand how Asus design their fan headers and chose properly the fans for each, Asus is a great choice. But since you own a very new asus motherboard, maybe you can help me with some questions,

1) Does the CHA_FAN have Q-Fan setup on bios, like CPU_FAN where you can tell them to switch between PWM and Voltage controlled? On the CPU_FAN it used to have AUTO/ADVANCED, does this appear on CHA_FAN headers on the bios?
2) Does it have the same curve on PWM fan on CHA_FAN as the CPU_FAN? in my experience is different, but i own a older board, so just wondering if asus fix it by really doing PWM on CHA_FAN headers.
3) Does the bios have any way of controlling CHA_FAN headers aside from profiles? like % and temps that work, in the past they were very bad on this.
4) Whats the minimum % that asus allows on bios on CHA_FAN and on CPU_FAN? On sandy/ivy it allowed 20% on CPU and 40% on chassis, on haswell (none e) it bump the restrictions to 40% and 60%.

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by faugusztin » Sat Oct 11, 2014 10:16 am

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

The speed low limit and profile options are identical for all fans.

1) I guess 4th picture answers this question.
2) i defined the curve inside the AiSuite, not in BIOS (it is possible that you can define it there too). In AiSuite, i was able to set specific curves for each fan header separately.
3) I guess this is in the "Manual" profile i didn't made screenshots from. Should i ?
4) minimum is defined by RPM, not % really. After i ran the fan speed detection, it gave me 14-100% range (230-1556 RPM) on CPU header (PWM fans from NH-D15); 40-100% (497-1321RPM) on NF-P14 redux 1200 (non-PWM); 34-100% (~400-1500RPM) on NF-S12B redux-1200. Yeah, the max RPM measurements for non-PWM Noctua redux fans are off, not sure why.

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat Oct 11, 2014 12:23 pm

Abula wrote:Phantek Entho Pro chassis and your recommendation of the EVGA 750W G2

Even the Phanteks Enthoo Pro is one my recommendations (you can find it if you dig into the forum)! :wink:
So, definitely I'm very interested in that system!

faugusztin wrote:The speed low limit and profile options are identical for all fans.
Thank you very much, faugusztin! :)

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by faugusztin » Sat Oct 11, 2014 2:33 pm

I meant the list of choices, not that there is just single setting. Just to be clear.

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by faugusztin » Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:48 am

Abula wrote:4) Whats the minimum % that asus allows on bios on CHA_FAN and on CPU_FAN? On sandy/ivy it allowed 20% on CPU and 40% on chassis, on haswell (none e) it bump the restrictions to 40% and 60%.
Just for information, this is a PWM fan connected to a chasis fan connector near the outtake fan, configured via the Fanxpert windows tool - as you can see, it's 15/20% on chasis :
Image

sn1009
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by sn1009 » Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:17 pm

lego wrote:The Asus has the better fan control but my only problem is the 512MB limit of maximum shared memory for graphics (I'll be using the integrated intel GPU). ASrock boards have no restrictions and allow the maximum 1.7GB possible memory. The B85 of MSI and Asus have 1GB limit which is still OK.
Where did you find this information ?

lodestar
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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by lodestar » Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:36 pm

Asus set the maximum shared memory as 1024MB for their Z87 range but reduced it to 512MB for the Z97 boards and state this in the motherboard manual. Reviewers who detail the specification given out by Asus confirm the same limit e.g. the PC Perspective review of the Z97 Deluxe.

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by sn1009 » Sun Nov 02, 2014 1:11 am

Thank you lodestar.
This shared memory limit could be a dealbreaker if one wants to use the onboard graphics to run a 4k monitor. Source: pugetsystems.

I wonder why several motherboard manufacturers have decided to reduce the shared memory.

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Re: Gigabyte vs Asus Fan Control

Post by lodestar » Sun Nov 02, 2014 3:47 am

It seems to me that the shared memory limit is not the graphics memory limit. As I understand it the interaction between the Intel HD driver and the operating system will use system memory and/or virtual memory to increase the amount of graphics memory available beyond the shared memory limit whatever it is. Otherwise why would Asus be saying that the Z97 chipset boards with 512MB of shared memory can support 4k resolution at 24Hz via either DisplayPort or HDMI?

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