# MSI motherboard smart CPU Fan help



## paulb100 (Mar 17, 2005)

Ive just built a basic budget dual-core celeron system for someone using a MSI P4M900M3-L motherboard - all is great - but the CPU fan is on all the time (stock HSF) the temps are only 30-35 Idle - she is only using it for internet / office (no games or demanding stuff) so i doubt the CPU will push over 40'c

in the BIOS

under H/W MONITOR
there is "CPU SMART FAN TARGET" set to disabled..when enabled i can choose temps upt o 70'c
now if I enable it another option appears called "MIN. FAN SPEED" which gives options of percentage of fan speeds and default is 62.5%

now what is this?
is this the target to kick the fan in on the temp I choose or is it the max temp before shutting down the system?
I 'think' its to allow to turn on the fan when the CPU reaches a certain temp...

any help greatly appreciated

thanks

is it? - can I use this to bring the fan on at say 40'c? at 50% the fan speed?


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## BG-0 (Jan 1, 1970)

I think 50-50 would be a good setting. It would propably keep the speed at 50% until reaching 50'C and then kick it up to keep it at that temp or lower.


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## paulb100 (Mar 17, 2005)

im running core temp whilst running WMP / reg mech and AVG scan and its barely hitting 36'c - so u think thats what it means it will run at 50% until it reaches 50'c..?!

thanks for quick reply - i need it she has PC in 3 hours


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## BG-0 (Jan 1, 1970)

Have you set them to 50-50? If so, try stress testing with prime95 for half an hour or so and check the temps and keep an ear on the noise too..

EDIT: and that's what I think, but it propably isn't quite exactly so...


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## paulb100 (Mar 17, 2005)

i have changed to 50/50 and fan sounds the same
temps are same...

any ideas?


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## BG-0 (Jan 1, 1970)

70-50? Maybe it's "afraid" of letting the temps go up.. Being too "smart" for you.


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## paulb100 (Mar 17, 2005)

i have tried fan 0% with 40'c but it still running as before same 'loudness'

maybe its a setting to choose what speed to goto WHEN it hits that temp - cos default is 62.5% 
shame as its so cool at 30'c and 37'c under load the fan has to be on as it is...


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## BG-0 (Jan 1, 1970)

It'd not make sense if it's the speed it will go when getting too hot, as it should do all it can to cool it down when at "critical" temp, meaning to hit full speed... Any chance there's a setting to force the fan speed lower?


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## paulb100 (Mar 17, 2005)

no on same page is only chassis intrusion:disabled
 she got too have PC in few hours maybe i leave on disabled?


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## BG-0 (Jan 1, 1970)

Propably best to leave it disabled. The smart/cool and quiet CPU fan speed things aren't too smart, so they're good to be left unused. It's a shame if you can't have the speed down... Maybe there's some software to force the speed down? I just don't know of any :down:


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## paulb100 (Mar 17, 2005)

here is a screenshot


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## BG-0 (Jan 1, 1970)

No go.. I DLed the manual pdf for your MB, but it wasn't any help, like I assumed... I really can't think of anything now.. I'm gonna go mess with my own BIOS with those settings and test a little..


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## BG-0 (Jan 1, 1970)

Interesting. I went to BIOS, set my target temp as 40 C, min fan speed 25%, saved and rebooted, and almost had a heart attack  My CPU fan just stopped spinning. It made a little twitching move, like it tried to rotate, but still, didn't move. Went fast to BIOS disabled the thing and saved. Everything was fine. Thought that the CPU fan just wasn't able to rotate at such low speed, set the settings to 40 C and 50%, and voilá, I got my CPU fan spinning slower(1534 rpm to be exact). Haven't checked temps yet, but I'm not too concerned, as my idle core temps were like 15-20 C, according to some software, and BIOS said that CPU temp was around 22 C...

Really wonder why you can't get it to work.. Maybe "your" board just doesn't work right with those settings. Only difference in BIOS views were that I only had 4 choices for the target temp, (40, 45, 50, 55), and there was a CPU fan power connection selector (3-pin, 4-pin).


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## paulb100 (Mar 17, 2005)

yeah the mobo CPU Fan slot had 4 pins but only fitted over 3 of em
no matter what i change it to in BIOS then restart to BIOS again the RPM is still 2200rpm 30'c...?


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## BG-0 (Jan 1, 1970)

The pin setup propably is the heart of this problem. It won't regulate the voltage going to the fan correctly if it isn't the correct connection. I don't know if any adapter would help, the next option is an aftermarket CPU cooler that has 4-pin connection or a speed controller with it. And that would be a bit of a waste, while the stock one cools it so well. But perhaps a cheap one... Anyways, you're not going to have the time for anything like that.


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## paulb100 (Mar 17, 2005)

yeah your right but she has the computer now - you should of seen of seen the dust in the 7-year old Packard Bell iMedia I took away lol - ive never seen anything so bad.... do my mother though hehehe - i wished I took shots of the bundle of dust i spent 1 hour getting out , a good few grams...

I had a Arctic Cooler in the box but its for a future build for my Dad AND she wouldnt have wanted the extra cost - this was a 'cheap-as-you-can' build - all parts totalling £146 trying to stick non-value stuff (for longer guarantee's aswell as lower failure rates)

XP
1Gb OCZ 667 RAM
2Ghz x 2 Celeron Dual-Core \ 512K \ 800Mhz
80Gb SATAII Seagate Barracuda
MSI Mobo \ 7.1 HD sound \ SATAII
HiPER 425watt PSU
Cheapo Case (nightmare - slashed me up that sharp poor cabling)

She couldnt believe how fast the windows were opening when i was flying through my memory stick.....

one problem i did have was I said i would be able to copy the 'My Docs' from he damaged windows (old PC) using KNOPPIX and my 8Gb USB stick but even with 2Gb spare it said I had only 60Mb free (in Knoppix) and when i finally got it to allow me to copy it would only copy 60Mb worth of data - theres defo 2Gb spare I removed 3 movies from it to make the room (on laptop) then rebooted old PC (with my Knoppix CD) and again it said 60Mb free on my USB stick - it can see 8Gb cos it says 60Mb free of 7.6Gb...??

any advice there?

ive got the old one to get her documents off then send them to her before I re-install windows on it and give it to my mother...

thanks


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## BG-0 (Jan 1, 1970)

Any chance to hook her old drive to your current computer and recover the files internally to your HDD, then copy them to the USB drive?


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## panicrooster (Aug 25, 2008)

My experience has been don't trust the "smartfan" in bios. It will allow the cpu to get hotter than it should and some mobos restrict how low you can set the temp for max fan speed to kick in. The default fan speed is the minimum the fan will ever be running and the temp you choose will be where it goes into max (or supposedly). Cpu fans are relatively cheap and best to leave smartfan off and let it run. If your goal is just to lower the noise level, focus on the other fans. Depending on the cpu cooler you use, most also help to cool the motherboard.


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## paulb100 (Mar 17, 2005)

tried sticking the drive in new PC whilst at her house but it slowed it down and said it was inaccessable... it was IDE i put it on secondary to DVD-RW and BIOS recognised it...
I just thought afterwards that maybe they both set to master was why - i own/use laptop so cant hook it up - im now about to try KNOPPIX again... now have 4Gb spare on USB stick


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