ASUS "Q-fan" or ZALMAN "Fan Mate 1" ?

silenceseeker · Post by **silenceseeker** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:51 am

I finally purchased an ASUS P4P800 Deluxe mainboard along with a Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu HSF for the CPU.

The HSF comes with a fan speed controller (branded :Fan Mat 1"). Nothing automatic there, you manually adjust the fan speed and leave it there for fosterity (or until you open the case again and change it).

The ASUS mainboard comes with built-in fan speed control called Q-fan, which I haven't figured out yet how it works. So far, my (wishful) understanding is that the fan speed is automatically controlled based on temperature monitoring. Seems to be ideal, since when I don't need the power (playing music for instance) the system is quiet and when I need the power (video editing) the fan ramps up to allow the CPU realize its full potential.

If this is the case, why do I need the "Fan Mate 1" speed controller that came with the Zalman HSF? Shouldn't I connect the fan directly to the mainboard without loosing anything? (and save the Fan Mate for a different system that doesn't have this Q-fan

)

Or did I misunderstand something?

Thanks in advance,
Sam

Vulcan · Post by **Vulcan** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 8:00 am

I have my Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu plugged into the fan headers on the motherboard, not using the fanmate. You can enable q-fan in the bios under system health. (I think thats what its called)

SebRad · Post by **SebRad** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 8:12 am

Hi, I have an Asus board (Athlon A7N8X) and my understanding of the Q-fan feature is that it runs the CPU fan (the only one it controls) at the ratio you specify (10/15 to 14/15) unless the CPU goes over 60C in which case it goes back to full speed until the temp falls under 60C. As far as I can tell (quick bit of google seams to confirm) it doesn't work with low speed fans, like the fan in the Zalman 7000. BIOS updates may fix this, eventually. There is a program called "speedfan" that's supposed to do something similar and work on any speed fan.
Seb

einolu · Post by **einolu** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:06 am

BTW, if you install some Uber Bios availible here:

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtop ... b818a295f7

you can set the ration to a MUCh smaller number, I havent tryed the feature myself because my cpu fan doesnt repost rpm, but it should work...

~EO

Tobias · Post by **Tobias** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 11:16 am

I´d suggest SpeedFan, which should work well with your board (worked very well with my A7N8X-X). The "cost" is that your fans will go full speed while the system is booted, but once speedfan is started it drops the fanspeeds to the speed you want. You can set a minimum and a maximum fanspeed and set a temperature which you want your CPU to be lower than. When the temp rises above that value the fans will ramp up to the maximum value defined by you.

einolu · Post by **einolu** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 11:43 am

Well upgrading to Uber isnt hard... Its worth a shot considering that it will always be working...

~EO

silenceseeker · Post by **silenceseeker** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 6:55 am

Thank you everybody for your replies. Based on the first reply (BTW, it's called "Hardware Monitor" on the P4P800), I disconnected the "Fan Mate 1" and plugged the Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu directly into the mainboard. Then I enabled Q-fan in the BIOS and selected the lowest ratio available (11/15). I rebooted and went again to the hardware monitor in the BIOS, to see if there is any difference in fan speed:

Sure enough, it dropped from about 2600 RPM to 2100 RPM (CPU temperature is relatively low (26C) since the PC is currently located in a very cold basement...

Now... I know that the Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu fan can (and is designed to) work effectively at 1350 RPM, so obviously while Q-fan works, it doesn't really support this kind of fan.

Which leaves me with the option of either using the supplied "Fan Mate 1" or... examine the other solutions:

1. The Uber BIOS - what is it? Is it a replacement for the ASUS BIOS? Is it reliable as the ASUS one?
2. Speedfan - seems pretty safe. Do I have to disable Q-fan in the BIOS first, before using it?

Thanks,
Sam

matttaylor · Post by **matttaylor** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:43 am

I've tried using the Q-fan on my Asus A8N-SLi Premium board along with the fanmate that came with the Zalman CNPS7700.

I found that with the fanmate turned either full up or full down it doesn't really like it and the fan fails to spin.
With the fanmate set about half way its OK.

I have also found that with the fanmate set like this and Q-fan set to keep the processor below 60 degrees the proessor fan doesn't actually spin most of the time because the CPU temp is usually around 35 degrees. This makes for a very silent system.
The trouble is, when the CPU fan does decided to spin up, it can sometimes make a bit of a knocking noise if the speed is right. It's almost as if it can't decide to start or stop.
It makes me wonder if the two are really compatible together.

To avoid the knocking I've disonnected the fanmate for now and opted to use just the Q-fan. This makes the CPU fan spin all the time though, allbeit slowly.
Having the CPU fan not spin at all when not required is a luxery I'd like to get back to.