BioStar TA690G and Speedfan 4.33

[Deliriou5]

So, on the speedfan site, it is indicated that in this new version of speedfan (4.33)

"ATI SB600, Intel ICH9 and nVidia MCP55 SMBus are fully supported and devices are discovered through them."

I'm thinking, "Great! I just got a SB600 board." So I downloaded it and gave it a try on my new build:

Biostar TA690G
BE-2350 (stock speed/voltage w/ C&Q enabled in BIOS)
Samsung HD321KJ 320GB (x2 in RAID 1)
Corsair 2x1GB 6400

I get 3 fan readings and 4 temps, but I do not know which goes to what. I have have the following readings:

Fan1: 1080 RPM
Fan2: 1500 RPM
Fan3: 1080 RPM

Temp1: 37C
Temp2: 34C
Temp3: 28C
Core: 18C

I guess I'm wondering if there is anyone here who has tried this "new" version and what you are getting. Especially anyone with a BE-2350. I know there was talk about earlier versions not working well with this proc (temp) and mobo (fan control), but I was hoping that this newer version would be better.

Other questions would be:
Do you have any idea what the three "Temps" relate to?
Why is my "Core" reported so low? (same as in the "Core Temp" program)
Any luck "configuring" anything in Speedfan?
Am I stuck only doing mobo fan control via the BIOS?
Are you able to see your SATA HD's temp and/or SMART info in Speedfan? (I cannot)

Thanks for any in site you have with this, or just your experiences in general.

-Deliriou5

[banaan]

Hi Deliriou5,

A have a few question if you dont mind, I want to build a similar setup. Do you use the stock cooler from AMD ? How does it perform ? Do you have by any chance a picture of it ? At what speed does the fan on it run and whats the noise level ?

What case do you use ? And what brand are the 2 casefans you use ?

Thank you,

[SebRad]

Easiest way to find out which fan is which is to unplug (or stop) each fan for a few seconds and see which reading drops to 0.
For the temps can be more tricky. The "Core" temp is probably being read from the CPU diode, although it looks rather low. CPU core diode temps will react very fast to CPU load, eg start Orthos stress test and see the temp jump 5-10+C in 2-5 seconds. A CPU socket temp will follow a CPU diode temp but much slower response and typically 5-10C lower, may take 5-10 minutes to climb and stabilise following start of full CPU load. A "system" temp will typically not vary much with CPU load but should vary with room temp and possibly with case fan speed (hence case temperature).
Hope this gives you some clues, Seb

[Deliriou5]

Hi Deliriou5,

A have a few question if you dont mind, I want to build a similar setup. Do you use the stock cooler from AMD ? How does it perform ? Do you have by any chance a picture of it ? At what speed does the fan on it run and whats the noise level ?

What case do you use ? And what brand are the 2 casefans you use ?

Thank you,

Hey banaan,

I have this set up in a new SOLO case, which was nicer than I expected it to be

I'm currently using the stock cooler, which is not too bad, but I can hear it under my desk. It's the loudest part. I'm using the BIOS fan control right now, which quieted it down quite a bit. Right now is is just a tad louder than my old Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu (stock fan) @ 5v.

The two case fans are both Nexus, 120 in back, 92 in front blowing over the two HDs suspended in the fabric bands of the SOLO case. I do not hear either these two fans or the HDs over the stock AMD HSF.

Performance is nice. I upgraded from an Athlon 2800+ (130nm), and the dual core plus speed bumb is nice. I've only had the machine up for 3 days, however. I have not had the chance yet to really stress the system. I have not undervolted yet, or installed crystal CPUID, both of which I'm planning on doing. Still just trying to get things up and running, like being able to monitor temps and what not to get a good base line.

I'm running Vista Home Premium. I use to do light gaming (Morrowind), but I'm intentionally stearing away from that and will "make due" with the intigrated video right now. For non-gaming, this seems to be working out well. On a side note, my gaming is headed toward the Wii to play with my young kids.

As for stock cooler, it is a "box" of aluminum with a fan on top, nothing fancy. Seems to do the job on this low powered proc. If at some point in the future I get more of that "quiet itch", I may change it out, but again right now I'm still getting use to the new build.

As far as pictures go, I haven't really looked at a where I can post them to and then link from. I have not had the need, yet. If I get some time I'll try and figure out where I can host them.

-Deliriou5

[Deliriou5]

After some experimentation, I believe the following:

Temp 1: Northbridge
Temp 2: System Temp
Temp 3: CPU temp, measured by the mobo
Core : CPU temp from the proc

NOTE: I had to add 10°C to the Core temp to bring it in line with the value for Temp 3 and the temp from the BIOS screen.

The northbridge temp varied when I ran the "rthdribl" program. This is a stress test for the GPU which is in the NB. When run, this was the only temp that rose (and fell when stopped).

The system temp (south bridge?) was pretty constant and was the slowest to rise.

Temp 3 and Core followed each other up and down when running orthos. The Core temp was just slightly ahead of the Temp 3 when I ran or stopped the program. They always stabilized at the same temp though.


Fan 1: CPU Fan Header (JCFAN1)
Fan 2: System Fan Header (JSFAN1)
Fan 3: NB Fan Header (JNFAN1)

I have my 120 Nexus (rear) plugged into Fan3, and the 92 Nexus (front) plugged into Fan2.

After running all night (base line for idle), these are my current temps and fan speeds.

Temp1 (NB): 33C
Temp2 (Sys): 31C
Temp3 (CPU): 24C
Core (+Offset): 24C

Fan1 (CPU): 1060 RPM
Fan2 (92mm): 526 RPM
Fan3 (120mm): 1080 RPM

Hopefully this can help someone else. The only thing I still cannot figure out is my HD temps for my Samsumg HD321KJ (SATA). Any thoughts here would be helpful

-Deliriou5

[GnatGoSplat]

I can't believe the Biostar motherboard runs the NB so cool! My GigaByte GA-MA69G-S3H NB temp is around 51C if Speedfan is to be believed (and as hot as it feels to touch, I believe it).

[Mats]

System temp (or at least one of the temps) is most likely the temp sensor in the ITE chip above the PCI slots in this picture. Try to cool it down and see what happens.

[CountChoculaBot]

Download the trial version of Everest. It gives you the same temp readings that Speedfan does, plus it actually tells you where those temps are coming from (same for fans, as well). Just match up the Speedfan temps with Everest temps and labels and label the Speedfan temps accordingly.

[ronrem]

After some experimentation, I believe the following:

Temp 1: Northbridge
Temp 2: System Temp
Temp 3: CPU temp, measured by the mobo
Core : CPU temp from the proc

NOTE: I had to add 10°C to the Core temp to bring it in line with the value for Temp 3 and the temp from the BIOS screen.

The northbridge temp varied when I ran the "rthdribl" program. This is a stress test for the GPU which is in the NB. When run, this was the only temp that rose (and fell when stopped).

The system temp (south bridge?) was pretty constant and was the slowest to rise.

Temp 3 and Core followed each other up and down when running orthos. The Core temp was just slightly ahead of the Temp 3 when I ran or stopped the program. They always stabilized at the same temp though.


Fan 1: CPU Fan Header (JCFAN1)
Fan 2: System Fan Header (JSFAN1)
Fan 3: NB Fan Header (JNFAN1)

I have my 120 Nexus (rear) plugged into Fan3, and the 92 Nexus (front) plugged into Fan2.

After running all night (base line for idle), these are my current temps and fan speeds.

Temp1 (NB): 33C
Temp2 (Sys): 31C
Temp3 (CPU): 24C
Core (+Offset): 24C

Fan1 (CPU): 1060 RPM
Fan2 (92mm): 526 RPM
Fan3 (120mm): 1080 RPM

Hopefully this can help someone else. The only thing I still cannot figure out is my HD temps for my Samsumg HD321KJ (SATA). Any thoughts here would be helpful

-Deliriou5

Nice.

That should be one of the best AMD matx mobos so it's good to hear it's working well with speed fan.

Armed with this info---you should try running the 2 faster fans 1+3, down around 800 rpm,or #3 at 800 or less and the CPU set up variable with 1060 the max speed. You can run 10C hotter in each of those with no concerns.

I think Samsung may have a "Smart Drive" type utility that can give a HDD temp. Check the site.

[ronrem]

Seems Samsung's utilites don't inclue a temp monitor

Google up HDD Thermometer,which is a freeware prog.

[banaan]

Hello Deliriou5,

Thank you for your reply, i'm going with a simiral build as yours. Still waiting for the new BE-2400 tho This is my topic. I wonder has the Solo the same cable management ties on the backplate as a P182 ? Because I ordered a non-modulair Corsair VX450 PSU, so this could be quite handy.

Als I'm interested what the effect is of placing an aditionnal 92m Nexus in front on those HD temps.

[Deliriou5]

Nice.

That should be one of the best AMD matx mobos so it's good to hear it's working well with speed fan.

Armed with this info---you should try running the 2 faster fans 1+3, down around 800 rpm,or #3 at 800 or less and the CPU set up variable with 1060 the max speed. You can run 10C hotter in each of those with no concerns.

I think Samsung may have a "Smart Drive" type utility that can give a HDD temp. Check the site.

Ronrem,

Not to get your hopes up, but I do not have control over the fan speeds via speedfan. I guess I could try and use some kind of inline resistor for both of them to slow them down. Another thought is to take the 120 Nexus in the rear (fan #3) and just "5volt it", but I would then lose the monitoring. There is not a lot of control in the BOIS for the speeds.

Having said all of that, the set up is pretty quiet. I only notice the sound in the late evening after everyone is in bed.

-Delirious

[Deliriou5]

As an update of sorts, I have Crystal CPUID running and have the system down to the following three states:

10.5x (2.1 GHz) @ 1.050 V
8.0x (1.6 GHz) @ 0.925 V
5.0x (1.0 GHz) @ 0.800 V

I stopped on the high end because I thought that was "good enough", not because of any errors in orthos. This is a nice low power chip


On the HDD Temp side of things, I have given up for now. I think the real problem is the fact that I'm RAIDing the two drives. No where in the system does it think that I have Samsung drives. It just sees "ATI 1x2 Mirror /RAID1 SCSI Disk Device". I've tried Everest 4.0, HDD Thermometer, and a number of others. ATI's WEBPam (used to work on the RAID array) is able to see the individual drives and see their smart status (Healthy), but no temps I guess that is one of the prices I pay for RAID 1.


I am having a weird issue with the DVI on this board. When I first set it up, I was having trouble booting. On the board there are two LEDs that show status. I was getting the error LEDs showing a VGA error. Since I had the machine hooked up via DVI, I hooked up an old monitor to the VGA and it booted fine. I went into the BIOS and changed the option for the boot order for video from being "PCIE" to being "Onboard". That seemed to fix the problem. I was now able to boot using just the DVI connection.

Well, two weeks have gone by and now the machine has stopped booting, giving the same error as before. I thought to my self, "Hum, the setting in the BIOS mus have some how been reverted". So, I hooked this box upto the VGA monitor again and went back into the BIOS. The setting was still "Onboard", nothing changed. I will try and set things back up using the DVI next and see if this "fixed" anything, but I'm not too sure that just looking at the BOIS would just make it work again.

Has any one else seen a problem with the DVI on this board? I'm not talking drivers in windows, but boot up issues? When I had it up and running in windows, things were good.

Oh, just thought of something! Could my LCD display be dieing, or maybe the DVI port? It's a Dell 1901FP from 9/2003. Would an LCD that is 4 years old be starting to "go"? I do remember seeing some strange coloration on my old box during the last month before this upgrade. This happened after coming out of "Sleep" and I thought it might have been a bad driver from NVIDIA (6800). A reboot seemed to "fix" the issue at the time. Hummm, well this is a bit off topic, but I guess since this is some what related (and this is my thread), I hope you will give me some grace

-Deliriou5

[Deliriou5]

Well, it looks like the issue is my monitor. I was able to bring home from my work a Dell 1901FP monitor (same revision even) and it works great. I was not planing on getting a new monitor with this build, but I guess that is now out of my hands...

-Deliriou5

[banaan]

Really sorry to hear that, I'm getting my parts delivered next week

[Deliriou5]

I just updated my BOIS on this board (from 8/28 to 9/13) and my NB temps has shot up in speed fan to around 55C. I verified this with the finger test. It's around 2 seconds before it needs to be removed. I'm not sure if they just raised the voltage to the NB, or what.

Does anyone know how to check the NB voltage? Maybe we can compare what I currently have to what we had under the old BIOS revs.

-Deliriou5

[jackylman]

On my old mobo (EPoX nF4 Ultra), I had a setting in my BIOS for HD SMART (Enable/Disable). I never figured out if it actually did anything, because I was able to retrieve SMART info regardless of the setting. You might want to look for a similar entry in your BIOS though.