TIP: GPU Temperature and blowing out fans

Hi All,

A non-invasive way to check your Graphics processor (GPU)
temperature and your CPU temperatu

Speed Fan:
http://almico.com/sfdownload.php

A too hot CPU or GPU usually means your fan has seized up, or is
full of dirt.

If you blow out your fans, be sure to capture the blades to
keep them from spinning. Fans are reservable electric generators
and will send a current back to what it is plugged into and can
also burn out your fan controller circuitry

HTH,
-T

T wrote:

A non-invasive way to check your Graphics processor (GPU)
temperature and your CPU temperatu

Speed Fan:
http://almico.com/sfdownload.php

A too hot CPU or GPU usually means your fan has seized up, or is
full of dirt.

If you blow out your fans, be sure to capture the blades to
keep them from spinning. Fans are reservable electric generators
and will send a current back to what it is plugged into and can
also burn out your fan controller circuitry

The video cards that I've used with their own fans have their own fan
speed control. Safer to let those cards regulate their fan speed than
to let the user decide to run it slower. That is, the card already
regulates its own fan speed so don't you try to unregulate it. Speedfan
is still handy to regulate the CPU and case fans; however, again, the
BIOS or software that came with the mobo might already regulate fan
speed to reduce noise but will up speed to make sure the device gets
sufficiently cooled. I use Speedfan but only to monitor GPU
temperature, not to alter the fan speed the video card already self-
regulates (and I don't need software to have the video card self-
regulate its fan speed). It is handy for its charting: you can see how
temperatures have fluctuated depending on your use of your computer. it
also has a log but I've found the chart (for temperatures, fan speed, or
voltages) gives me enough history to monitor temperatures as I change
how I use my computer. Make sure to enable its option "Set fans to 100%
on exit" to up fan speeds to full RPM when it is exited. You don't want
the fans left spinning slower all the time when you play a game or do
GPU or CPU intensive computing. Make sure you aren't using Speedfan
against the temperature controls that may be available in the BIOS.

It is more important to blow out the heatsink than the fan. Fans don't
accumulate much debris (unless you have the computer in an area with
smoke, like cigarette smoke or in or near the kitchen). Lint and dust
accumulate in the heatsink's fins and reduce its utility. For fans, use
an ear swab to scrub the dirt loose on its blades. When blowing out the
dust, yeah, use the ear swab or a tooth pick (through a grill) to hold
the blades from spinning or put your finger on its hub if the fan is
exposed (when inside the case). Besides protecting the logic, a fan
spinning because you're blowing compressed air across its means less of
the air is getting blown into the heatsink.

Remember to get those cables out of the way of the air flow inside the
case, too, especially if any are the old flat IDE cables. Fans don't
work so well trying to blow through a forest of cables. If you have a
side panel fan, make sure it blows in the same direction as the CPU's
fan. Having them blow at each other or away from each other means less
air flow. GPU heatsinks can be a bit tricky to blow out their dust
because often there is a plastic shell around the GPU, heatsink, fan,
and maybe the memory. If you must use the mobo card slot next to the
video card, make sure it is a half-length card that doesn't overlap
where is the fan on the video card. Much harder to get air flow in a
tight space and around obstacles.

Personally I would not recommend using Speedfan to user-regulate the
GPU's fan speed. Maybe on low-end video cards don't have speed self-
regulation but the ones that I buy do. They'll spin down when not
loaded and producing less heat and spin up when they get hot, like when
playing a video game. I don't need software for that and shouldn't use
software for that. The BIOS of the low-end mobos don't have much in the
way of CPU and case fan speed control. The salvaged one I'm using at
home only has a threshold alert, no fan speed control, so Speedfan comes
in handy to quiet that computer but used only for the CPU and case fans
and just monitoring the GPU temperature, and to provide alerts for all
(if you define events to issue popups).

Be aware to not accidentally change the CPU's fan speed to zero or some
very low RPM. The BIOS will see the CPU fan speed is too low and shut
down the computer. It won't wait until the CPU's temperature spikes too
hot. Configuring Speedfan can be tricky because it can sense the
hardware but may not provide easy-to-identify labelling. You might
think you are setting fan speeds for the case fan but are instead
setting them for the CPU. Once I figure out which sensor is for which
fan, I relabel them in Speedfan. You won't find help, a menu, or
right-click context menus to let you figure out how to rename the fans.
Hit F2 on a selected fan under the Fans tab in the configuration screen.
Seeing "Fan1 on IT8720F at $A0 on ISA" won't tell the user which fan it
represents.

If my mobo's BIOS had a decent fan speed control configuration, I'd be
using that instead of Speedfan. I don't use Speedfan on a video card
that already employs self-regulation. If the hardware can do it, don't
use software. Speedfan is one of those useful tools *if* you know what
you're doing with it. It is /NOT/ an install-and-go tool for boobs.
Considering you come here getting help on how you can help your
customers, you better hope you installing Speedfan on their computer
means they never putz around with its configuration assuming you get it
correct in the first place.

T wrote on 3/2/2018 8:37 PM:
Hi All,

A non-invasive way to check your Graphics processor (GPU)
temperature and your CPU temperatu

Speed Fan:
Â*Â*Â*Â* http://almico.com/sfdownload.php

A too hot CPU or GPU usually means your fan has seized up, or is
full of dirt.

If you blow out your fans, be sure to capture the blades to
keep them from spinning.Â* Fans are reservable electric generators
and will send a current back to what it is plugged into and can
also burn out your fan controller circuitry

At issue with speed fan is that its list of compatible motherboards is
older than I am. As an example, I think that the list of compatible ASUS
boards has exactly the same number of entries as it did about 5 years
ago. Win 10 compatibility is mentioned on the web site and I believe it.
However, I wont download that software unless I know that it will work
with my board and, therefore, do no damage when it initially pokes
around. I hear it's a great toy but the stale information spooks me.
--
Jeff Barnett

Jeff Barnett wrote:
T wrote on 3/2/2018 8:37 PM:
Hi All,

A non-invasive way to check your Graphics processor (GPU)
temperature and your CPU temperatu

Speed Fan:
http://almico.com/sfdownload.php

A too hot CPU or GPU usually means your fan has seized up, or is
full of dirt.

If you blow out your fans, be sure to capture the blades to
keep them from spinning. Fans are reservable electric generators
and will send a current back to what it is plugged into and can
also burn out your fan controller circuitry

At issue with speed fan is that its list of compatible motherboards is
older than I am. As an example, I think that the list of compatible ASUS
boards has exactly the same number of entries as it did about 5 years
ago. Win 10 compatibility is mentioned on the web site and I believe it.
However, I wont download that software unless I know that it will work
with my board and, therefore, do no damage when it initially pokes
around. I hear it's a great toy but the stale information spooks me.

On newer boards, I believe some sort of ACPI table was added,
which allowed the motherboard developer to pass the value of the
scaling resistors, to people like the SpeedFan developer.

As a result, the SF no longer needs a table of motherboards.
Older motherboards, yes, if they hadn't been added to the
table, manual work would be needed to get the scaling on
the voltage values done correctly. An older motherboard still
relies on the manual method, if the motherboard isn't in
some table of previously-collected empirical results.

But with newer motherboards, the SF guy doesn't even have to know
the motherboard exists. Probing the buses, reading the ACPI table
(whatever table it is), is supposed to give enough info to get
the job done.

It relies on the motherboard developer "encoding" the information
correctly. Why, the motherboard developer could use his
copy of the existing SpeedFan, to verify it all works :-)

*******

Just the name in the example here, hints at how it may be working.
It looks like all the sensor info is available as an ACPI object.
The "atk0110" thing is the Asus hardware "punch-thru" driver that
gives hardware access from a running OS (solves the Ring3/Ring0
problem).

https://www.linux.com/learn/discover...hardware-linux

$ sensors
atk0110-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
Vcore Voltage: +1.23 V (min = +0.85 V, max = +1.60 V)
+3.3 Voltage: +3.31 V (min = +2.97 V, max = +3.63 V)
+5 Voltage: +4.97 V (min = +4.50 V, max = +5.50 V)
+12 Voltage: +12.15 V (min = +10.20 V, max = +13.80 V)
CPU FAN Speed: 3183 RPM (min = 600 RPM)
CPU Temperatu +44.0C (high = +60.0C, crit = +95.0C)
MB Temperatu +40.0C (high = +45.0C, crit = +75.0C)

Using the ACPI dumping utilities in Linux, you may be able
to spot how it's being done.

Paul

In message , Jeff Barnett
writes:
[]
At issue with speed fan is that its list of compatible motherboards is
older than I am. As an example, I think that the list of compatible
ASUS boards has exactly the same number of entries as it did about 5
years ago. Win 10 compatibility is mentioned on the web site and I
believe it. However, I wont download that software unless I know that
it will work with my board and, therefore, do no damage when it
initially pokes around. I hear it's a great toy but the stale
information spooks me.

I think it knows how to read from certain _chips_, if they're on an
appropriate interface; I hadn't registered that it _had_ a list of
suitable motherboards, but I'm guessing it works with more modern ones
as long as they have chips it can talk to.

If you only use it for _monitoring_ temperatures (and possibly fan
speeds), and dismiss any obviously wrong ones (0 RPM, or -40 degrees, or
possibly even sensible temperature but doesn't change), then it's
probably safe to use (though I take no responsibility if it isn't!). I
just use it for temperature monitoring.

There are (or were last time I looked, which was many years ago) other
utilities that could read temperatures; not sure why I chose SpeedFan -
I think just that it seemed to work well, and as someone else (Paul was
it?) mentioned, its graphing of them is handy.

Better quality mobos might have (on the CD if any that came with them,
or downloadable) specific such utilities from the manufacturer. They
might even run under 7 to 10.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

If you believe in telekinesis, raise my right hand

On 03/03/2018 3:54 PM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Jeff Barnett
writes:
[]
At issue with speed fan is that its list of compatible motherboards is
older than I am. As an example, I think that the list of compatible
ASUS boards has exactly the same number of entries as it did about 5
years ago. Win 10 compatibility is mentioned on the web site and I
believe it. However, I wont download that software unless I know that
it will work with my board and, therefore, do no damage when it
initially pokes around. I hear it's a great toy but the stale
information spooks me.

I think it knows how to read from certain _chips_, if they're on an
appropriate interface; I hadn't registered that it _had_ a list of
suitable motherboards, but I'm guessing it works with more modern ones
as long as they have chips it can talk to.

If you only use it for _monitoring_ temperatures (and possibly fan
speeds), and dismiss any obviously wrong ones (0 RPM, or -40 degrees, or
possibly even sensible temperature but doesn't change), then it's
probably safe to use (though I take no responsibility if it isn't!). I
just use it for temperature monitoring.

There are (or were last time I looked, which was many years ago) other
utilities that could read temperatures; not sure why I chose SpeedFan -
I think just that it seemed to work well, and as someone else (Paul was
it?) mentioned, its graphing of them is handy.

Better quality mobos might have (on the CD if any that came with them,
or downloadable) specific such utilities from the manufacturer. They
might even run under 7 to 10.

Speed fan is good but I prefer Link 4.0 from corsair, Free, nice GUI
interface Graphing on all points, temp and speed, Really nice program.

Rene

On 03/03/2018 04:29 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
T wrote:

A non-invasive way to check your Graphics processor (GPU)
temperature and your CPU temperatu

Speed Fan:
http://almico.com/sfdownload.php

A too hot CPU or GPU usually means your fan has seized up, or is
full of dirt.

If you blow out your fans, be sure to capture the blades to
keep them from spinning. Fans are reservable electric generators
and will send a current back to what it is plugged into and can
also burn out your fan controller circuitry

The video cards that I've used with their own fans have their own fan
speed control. Safer to let those cards regulate their fan speed than
to let the user decide to run it slower.

I only use it to check the temperature too.

On 03/03/2018 02:12 PM, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
Link 4.0 from corsair

This one?

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/downloads#download_form_84

I am always leery of folks that want your
information before giving your something free.

In message , T writes:
On 03/03/2018 02:12 PM, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
Link 4.0 from corsair

This one?

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/downloads#download_form_84

I am always leery of folks that want your
information before giving your something free.


There is a "Or skip this step and start Download" link below the boxes.
(The version appears to be 4.9.5.25 .)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Life, liberty and the happiness of pursuit!

On 03/03/2018 5:41 PM, T wrote:
On 03/03/2018 02:12 PM, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
Link 4.0 from corsair

This one?

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/downloads#download_form_84

I am always leery of folks that want your
information before giving your something free.



I would think that you would be interested in receiving their newsletter
about all the corsair products, seeing you are in the computer sales and
repair business.
In any case all they ask for is your E-mail address, name and country.
And, if you look near the bottom of that form you will see that you can
skip that part and download the software anyway.

Rene

T wrote:
On 03/03/2018 04:29 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
T wrote:

A non-invasive way to check your Graphics processor (GPU)
temperature and your CPU temperatu

Speed Fan:
http://almico.com/sfdownload.php

A too hot CPU or GPU usually means your fan has seized up, or is
full of dirt.

If you blow out your fans, be sure to capture the blades to
keep them from spinning. Fans are reservable electric generators
and will send a current back to what it is plugged into and can
also burn out your fan controller circuitry

The video cards that I've used with their own fans have their own fan
speed control. Safer to let those cards regulate their fan speed than
to let the user decide to run it slower.

I only use it to check the temperature too.

Ah, but that's the trick, isn't it.

Fan speed on video cards is *not* set under
hardware closed-loop feedback.

The fan speed is set by the *software driver*.

At power-on-reset, the fan register is set to "100%".

If you boot a Linux LiveCD that doesn't happen to have a driver
for the fan setting, the card stays at 100% fan for the entire
Linux session. It sounds like a hoover.
(Paul fixed this!!! Paul hates this!!!).

It's also possible for NVidia to release a driver which
writes "0" into the register (stopping the fan) and nothing
more. This too is a breaking of the feedback loop. Nvidia
pulled this driver relatively quickly, but at a guess,
some video cards must have been damaged. I think actually
a couple of drivers, over the years, were released with this
particular defect in place.

What I did to the video card in this machine sitting next
to me, is:

1) Run demanding video apps.
2) Measure fan speed that results.
3) Disconnect fan from video card.
4) Make up a voltage source that runs the fan
at the same speed as (2).

Now, the card no longer relies on an NVidia driver
or a Linux driver or any driver. I can boot a Linux LiveCD
with a VESA driver, and the video card makes the same amount
of noise as it does in Windows.

I can do this because the card is low power, and the
moderate fan speed used, is of no consequence...
other than to guarantee the chip doesn't get too hot.
High power video cards, have occasions where the fan must
run at 100%. The fan on this card, handles everything
at only a 20-30% setting. There's really no need to change
the fan speed, ever.

*******

The video card companies should do two things:

1) Implement a proper hardware closed-loop-feedback fan control.
I'm not aware of any card doing that... yet.

2) Implement THERMTRIP for the GPU. If the heatsink falls off
the GPU, the GPU should be able to send THERMTRIP to the
Volterra "disable" pin, and drop the core to zero volts
instantly. I'm not aware of any video card that has the
capability to "protect itself". They will get so hot they
melt the plastic fan frame, then the GPU will laugh at you as it
overheats further.

The closest thing to a self-protecting chip, was the ATI9800Pro.
If you didn't plug in the Aux power connector, a red dialog box
would appear on the screen, telling you to plug in the power cable.
That's how I determined the card had burned right through one
of the Aux power pins one day. I got the red dialog. That's an example
of defensive design, where someone went to the trouble of storing
a canned image, to be loaded if the card wasn't powered properly.

Other than that, video cards are rather poorly equipped for
the real world. It's almost like they wanted them to burn out.

Paul

"Rene Lamontagne" wrote in message ...

On 03/03/2018 5:41 PM, T wrote:
On 03/03/2018 02:12 PM, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
Link 4.0 from corsair

This one?

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/downloads#download_form_84

I am always leery of folks that want your
information before giving your something free.



I would think that you would be interested in receiving their newsletter
about all the corsair products, seeing you are in the computer sales and
repair business.
In any case all they ask for is your E-mail address, name and country.
And, if you look near the bottom of that form you will see that you can
skip that part and download the software anyway.

Rene


Rene,

Thanks for the the suggestion on Corsair Link - that works great. I'm on my
daily driver which is an old i7 system with a Gigabyte motherboard, Corsair
memory and a half dozen SSD's and a 4 hard drives with a water cooler and
extra fans. Nothing - until I loaded this up could tell me *all* the temps
and fan speeds (5 case fans, 2 on water cooler, 2 for GPU's). This is nice
to see everything at a glance on the Home tab and then use the Configure tab
to drag 'n drop the individual device sensors on the graphic. Great way to
see if there is any hot spots building up.

On a new build, I use my digital infra-red thermometer to take spot
readings. That involves cooking it for awhile with the cover/door on, then
quickly opening and taking readings and running some other software to read
the sensors. I like this new toy....

Thanks
--
Bob S.

On 03/03/2018 7:36 PM, Bob_S wrote:
"Rene Lamontagne"Â* wrote in message
...

On 03/03/2018 5:41 PM, T wrote:
On 03/03/2018 02:12 PM, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
Link 4.0 from corsair

This one?

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/downloads#download_form_84

I am always leery of folks that want your
information before giving your something free.



I would think that you would be interested in receiving their
newsletter about all the corsair products, seeing you are in the
computer sales and repair business.
In any case all they ask for is your E-mail address, name and country.
And, if you look near the bottom of that form you will see that you
can skip that part and download the software anyway.

Rene


Rene,

Thanks for the the suggestion on Corsair Link - that works great.Â* I'm
on my daily driver which is an old i7 system with a Gigabyte
motherboard, Corsair memory and a half dozen SSD's and a 4 hard drives
with a water cooler and extra fans.Â* Nothing - until I loaded this up
could tell me *all* the temps and fan speeds (5 case fans, 2 on water
cooler, 2 for GPU's).Â* This is nice to see everything at a glance on the
Home tab and then use the Configure tab to drag 'n drop the individual
device sensors on the graphic.Â* Great way to see if there is any hot
spots building up.

On a new build, I use my digital infra-red thermometer to take spot
readings.Â* That involves cooking it for awhile with the cover/door on,
then quickly opening and taking readings and running some other software
to read the sensors.Â* I like this new toy....

Thanks

You're welcome Bob, Yes it is a well done program.
I also use an IR none contact digital thermometer to check for hotspots
in my PC, that's how I discovered my PSU was running too hot and led me
to installing a new Corsair 750i unit which led me to Link 4.

Rene

On 03/03/2018 06:25 PM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

[snip]

There is a "Or skip this step and start Download" link below the boxes.
(The version appears to be 4.9.5.25 .)

It does look like they're trying to trick you into paying (help them
advertise) for that free software. They hope you don't notice that it's
optional (and sometimes the trick works).

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"All diseases of Christians are to be ascribed to demons; chiefly do
they torment freshly-baptized Christians, yea, even the guiltless
new-born infants." [Saint Augustine (354-430)]

Rene Lamontagne wrote:

Speed fan is good but I prefer Link 4.0 from corsair, Free, nice GUI
interface Graphing on all points, temp and speed, Really nice program.

Nice GUI? Are you kidding us? What a farking mess. Extremely busy GUI
compared to the data. A perfect example of a bloated UI.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/landing...e=system-panel

Do they provide simple skins to present the information? Else, by
comparison, Speedfan is elegant because it is simple. This is like
comparing this outfit:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/...1851393284.jpg

to this outfit:

https://imgur.com/a/JpVUA

I've seen lots of users that love to make their desktops busy by using
loud and dense backgrounds and even animated ones (and too often have a
mess for a Start menu). I use a simple black background on my PC and
smartphone. The objective isn't the noise, it's the information. When
did users start relishing disorganization?

The only advantage with the Corsair tool is that is works with some
specific Corsair products other than just the fan and speed sensors on
the motherboard. If I had a Corsair mobo and PSU, I'd sure wish this
tool had alternate and less busy skins.