My AN8 Ultra' software(EQ) is scary

[sherminator27]

Hy! I'm having problems with my system that I've built:
ABIT AN8 Ultra
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ @ 1.8Gh Venice
2x 512RAM OCZ Performance
Sapphire Radeon X800GT 256MB PCIE
The ABIT EQ monitoring software shows me the NB and OTES1 and OTES2 always on RED. Why is that? Is my chipset temp too high or what?
I should say I have my stock cooling on the CPU and no other system fan, and when I run games at high settings the CPU temp reaches 54C, and sometimes I get bad FPSs and the game shuts down. The sys temp reaches 44-46C.
I would very much need an advice on this issue. I am a novice, so I'm hoping that you wuold understand me. Thanks!!!

 

[kemosabe79]

Did you install AbitEQ off the disk that came with your motherboard? If so, go to the Abit website and download the latest version for your board.

Your CPU & System temps are a bit high...You have to get more fans if want lower temps. AbitEQ is probably relatively accurate. Your machine is shutting down because its overheating.

 

[sleepdeprived82]

They are red because there is no fan attached to them so it is not picking up a fan rpm. This means it thinks fans are not spinning so highlights it as red. As you dont have fans attached to the motherboard just go into abit EQ click setup then untick the boxes for the NB otes1 & 2 fans, problem solved. Those are purely for extra fan controll, I have mine all hooked up to fans apart from the NB fan as it uses the heatpipe so does not have one.

My sys temp is 36c so yours does seem higher and a bit too high. Maybe get some more fans if possible. Get ones with 3 pin connectons and fan sensors so you can hook them up to the motherboard and contro;; them with Uguru.

 

[sherminator27]

Thanks!
Well what can you tell me about Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro fan - is it good for my CPU. I've read some reviews about it and heard it can decrease the CPU temp by 8C. However there is a lot of dust in the air in my room - does that have to do with the temps. And guys, for my sys how many fans should I have to keep it cool enough to run maxed games?
I'm frustrated that I'm getting very bad frames at Quake4(Hi rez, 2xAA, 1024x768) and only 3780pts in 3DMark2005.
Can that be solved? Do I have to get another tower, a larger one? I'm not very familiar with these things.
Thanks a lot!

 

[sleepdeprived82]

Dust will increase temps so clean out those fans.

The AC freezer is nice, about 8c degrees is about right compaired to stock
check Here on the last graph for a nice comparison on coolers.

Having said that I do not think the CPU cooler is prob not the problem, a bigger cooler will help move more air in the case but I think there are better options.

At the minimum you need a fan on the back of the case to expell hot air.

A better option is to have one fan at the back expelling hot air and one at the front drawing cold air in, thereby creating a wind tunnel drawing cold air across components and then removing the heated air at the back.
Modders and ocers will use a lot more than 2 fans but that is a good benchmark for most.

Sounds to me more like your graphics card is cutting out as its overheating prob because of the high ambuinet case temp. Clean all the fans, have at least a fan removing air and see how it goes.

I dont think new cooling will solve your peformance issues apart from the cutting out. The graphics card is your problem, your 3dmark is right for the card and I think that it would struggle on high for quake even without a heat issue.

I think you should get some fans 80mm or 120mm depending on your case. If you want to run modern games on high you will need a new graphics card or overclock the old one for a bit more life.

 

[Plasmoid]

I had the Abit AN8 Ultra but now i have the SLI version after having some... problems.

Abit EQ sets itself up on all AN8 systems as if they were the AN8 Fatal1ty Sli which comes with 2 fans connected to the OTES1 and OTES2 connectors so by default fan monitoring is turned on. On your system you probably havent added fans to these connectors so yeah, as others have said it thinks fans are at 0 rpm. Don't worry about it.

Your temps do seem a bit high but the AN8 series calclulates temperature bad and a new bios was released in September to fix this. If you download the latest bios (version 20, versions 17 onwards have fixed temperature readings) it should decrease your idle temperatures by 5 degrees and full load by 10. I saw a review somewhere where they confirmed that the original temperatures were uncorrectly too high. You can update it by running the abit flashmenu utility (you might need the new version from abit-usa.com)

If that doesnt solve it, or you have the new bios already, you should check that the motherboard is not overvolting your processor. By default it uses 1.45 volts, which is too high for venice core CPU's. IF you do have a Venice core cpu ensure that it is running at 1.4v. Also i've noticed on my motherboard that 1.45 volts works out at 1.47 volts which is much too high, so you should use something like Cpu Z to double check this voltage. You can get it at cpuid.com

Also the Abit OCGuru utility will try to change your voltage depending on its settings, so make sure that it isnt overwriting any voltage choices in the bios. You can change your voltage in the bios by going into the uGuru menu, the first choice on the menu.

 

[sherminator27]

Yes! You may be right about the venice core voltage - it goes from 1.42 to 1.44 all the time, it's never constant(as shown by the AbitEQ). But I cannot change it using AbitEQ and I'm not sure I'll be up to the challenge of going through the Bios(I've never done it ).
I'll see what I can do. Thank you! Oh, do you think that I should reinstall the windows. Can this be a solution in this problem?

 

[sleepdeprived82]

My bios over rides uguru when it comes to voltage, you have to turn voltage of auto in bios to reduce it.

reinstalling windows will not change any thing im affraid, make sure your bios is uptodate and maybe take the side of the case to see if it solves some heating probs, if it does get some fans to cool the thing down.

Edit: also eq will not change voltage UGURU can

 

[sherminator27]

Did you watch those Newegg reviews about my Athlon 64 3000+ proc - man those guys are thrilled with it. They're saying that it runs oc'ed with stock cooling at barely hits 45C.
I think that's insane - mine never went below 38C, withot running anything. :?
That's frustrating man. So many great ones and mine dissapointing.....mmmm