Dear All,

Reaching out to all you experts out there as Gigabyte have been a complete waste of time having sent my motherboard in for servicing only to find that I get a different motherboard (well, thats what they told me) back after a month with the exact same problem although they claim to have tested and all is well at their end - this is after having told me that they don't have a P4 CPU with stock heat sink fan to test with!! I mean, what kind of a company are we dealing with here?!?!?!

I have a Gigabyte 8IP775-G motherboard with a retail Intel P4 3.0Ghz FSB800 with stock heatsink and fan. Problem I have, is that I am using a smart fan feature to control the CPU fan speed and when the CPU temperature hits 51C and above, the fan speed drops to around 1200-1300rpms from 2200. I can't believe this is normal and was wondering if anyone has experienced something like this and can kindly confirm if it is a problem with the motherboard or heatsink fan.

I have disabled the speed fan option on the motherboard and my PC is currently idling at 40C with the fan speed at 3068rpm. Is the fan speed running too high or is this normal? I assume the stock heatsink and fan has an intelligent sensor to speed up as needed or does it simply run at one speed?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I really have had a rough time with Gigabyte in solving this problem and I just want to make sure that I have the right setup so that the fan runs in line with the CPU temperature as needed and not causing any unecessary wear and tear.

Cheers,
Vin.

Welcome to the PC Guide Forums!! :D

Hmmm... that is indeed odd. I've never used that particular mobo, so I can't comment on an issue with it, but that does sound strange. In any case, I usually leave those "smart fan" features turned off - more trouble than they're worth.

3000 rpm's for a stock P4 fan sounds about right. 2200-2500 rpm's are stock fan speeds for the Celerons, but P4's need more cooling. And no, the stock HSF unit itself is incapable of controlling its fan speed. That's usually up to the mobo, but yours seems to be acting strangely. Have you updated the BIOS recently? I wonder if that would help...

Where are you getting these temps from, anyway?

Yes - The BIOS has bee updated and Gigabyte themselves updated to the latest. I am getting the CPU and FAN readings using several tools. One being EasyTune 5 which is provided by Gigabyte and the other is a tool called SpeedFan which they both report identical values.

Thanks for the info...
Vin.

Just to add...

The CPU temperature reads 42-44C and the Fan is now running at 3750-3835rpm! I think things may be getting worse. Do I go back to smartfan mode and let it run at 2250rpm while it is idle?

I think at this point you may need a new HSF unit. Just replace the d@mn thing! Or call up Intel and ask them if these sort of things are normal for the stock HSF unit.

Hmmmmm....CPU temp at 41C and the fan is now running over 4100rpm!!! Something definetly not right here.... :-(

Thanks Saphalline - I'll call Intel on Monday to find out if they can help in any way. Otherwise, I will try a new HSF from another vendor and see if that helps. Failing that, I will probably throw the motherboard in the fish tank and go with something more solid like an ASUS board.