CPU fan speed AI control

[Péter Bártfai]

Is it ok if CPU fan is running at ~1100 rpm, or it's time to get a new cpu fan as well soon?
CPU temp. according to BIOS is 46-47C.
CPU: Intel Pentium D 915 (Presler, 2,8GHz)

 

[Jim Cole]

1100 is a bit slow, but with the temps you list, I wouldn't worry about it just yet as the system is probably what is causing the fan to run that slow. If the temp climbs over 55 and the fan is still that slow then you have a problem and it needs to be addressed.

Make sure that you keep the fan and heat sink clean. Wipe the blades of the fan carefully on both sides to allow for the most amount of air to be moved by it. Use a can of compressed air to clean out the heatsink to remove any dust in between the vanes.

 

[Ho3n3r]

My fan runs at about 2000rpm at 36-39, so yours seems low - although I have mine on Turbo mode, just to stay safe.

But as Jim says, your temp is low enough - as long as it's consistent and your fan speed increases proportionally with temperature.

 

[Péter Bártfai]

I have searched for some lga775 cooler tests and it seems my results are pretty normal for the stock Intel cooler.
I have also found on Intel's site that the CPU temp should stay below 63,5C, and it's recommended to have system temp. below 39.
I have also found someone saying his motherboard runs at 45C and ASUS replied to him that it's fine with this motherboard.

So I think I'm just within the limits. (except for what Intel recommends for motherboard temps)
Downloaded some system monitoring software and did a few tests.
After starting my PC, running on idle CPU cools down to 40-41C. Under load it goes up to 58-60, which is high, but when I stop it cools down quickly. (CPU fan speed varied between 1070-1170 btw)
Another thing though doesn't do that, the system temp. It goes up from 35-36C to 40-41, and doesn't cool down. (very slowly went down from 41 to 40) So I guess the problem is airflow here.
I have only one 8cm cheap case fan at the back blowing out the air. I guess I should replace it with a 12cm fan and put another 8cm to the front blowing fresh air inside the case. Now that'll be a new fan too as the current one can produce quite a noise as it's old. Probably not working at 100% performance as well.
Just by putting a new PSU in my temps went much cooler compared to the temperatures I saw when my old PSU's fan stopped working, so I guess it'll do the trick.

It's scary to think that I've ran this comp. for a year without that 8cm fan at the back, and another 3 years close to the limit, especially that the 9600GT produced much more heat than the Radeon HD5570 or the 7600GS. I guess I am lucky that I didn't have a major problem, though it might have something to do with the video ram going bad on the 9600GT.

 

[Jim Cole]

All of the specs you see for temps are only suggestions. Each CPU, chipset, GPU etc are manufactured within specific limits, but there are variations that are allowed. You have just gotten lucky that your system was able to handle a bit of heat for quite some time without serious issues. At least now you have an idea of what goes on inside your case and can pay attention to it to be sure you don't run into any real issues later on down the road.

 

[Péter Bártfai]

So today I bought an 80mm fan for the front intake, I almost went mad as I had to move the HDD, and I could only do it by plugging out the PSU from the motherboard again, and taking out the RAM-s. (stupid case) But OK I did that, now comes the interesting thing.

Motherboard temp still goes up to 40-41, but CPU temp/GPU temp went down with ~4C Not much but I feel better now that I see that. I guess the mobo temp. staying up might be caused because the sensor is at a place where the front fan doesn't really have an effect. Probably somewhere around the RAM-s I guess.

Next step will be replacing the old 80mm at the back with a 120mm.