ASUS Tools: building a quiet system with Ai quiet, Q-fan 2 ?

[GreenRay]

Building a quiet performing system with ASUS Tools

The Asus ASUS AI Life Style motherboards features some neat tools like Ai quiet and Q-fan2, even a 8-phase power design. For me these are important options as I am trying to build a quiet system without compromising in the systems performance. However, not all of the options are included on all of the ASUS motherboards.

Question 1 (general best noise reduction tool)

Q1 So my first question is which of these options (see quotes for more info) will contribute the most to building a quiet system? Note: tools like Ai gear are of less relevance to me. I am only interested in tools that regulate the voltages etc. automatically, which is not the case with Ai-gear.

Question 2 to 4(Ai Quiet)

AI Quiet
The ASUS AI Quiet function dynamically controls CPU speed and reduces temperature and fan speeds when peace and quiet are what you desire.

Q2 If some of the Ai lifestyle serie owners could provide me with a little more information on HOW Ai quiet works I would be very pleased. The information about Ai quiet on the net is somewhat scarce.

Q3 Could someone clarify what is meant with "dynamically controls CPU"? Does it mean that it continuously AND automatically adjust the RPM of the CPU / case fan or does it regulate the fanspeed in like 3 steps (slow-medium-full)?

Q 4
Is Q-fan2 (always) included in Ai Quiet?

Question 5 (Q-fan2)

ASUS Q-Fan2
ASUS Q-Fan2 technology intelligently adjusts both CPU fan and chassis fan speeds according to system loading to ensure quiet, cool and efficient operation.

Q 5 (Q-fan2) In how many phases can Q-fan speed up or slow down a fan and can you manually set the thresholds?

8 Phase Power Design

* Cooler and quieter system
* Longer components lifespan
* More stable and reliable under heavy-loading and overclocking

The ASUS 8-Phase Power Design provides highly efficient operation to generate less heat (at least 15°C (59°F)) than other conventional power solutions. It reduces input ripple current and output ripple voltage, which keeps CPU and power module from suffering the risk of high power stress. It has the advantages of quick transient response and stability, especially beneficial when CPU requires more current immediately under heavy loading or overclocking mode.

Final question (ASUS board with finest noise redution tools)

What ASUS motherboard (+ Intel Conroe compatible board) is best suited for building a quiet system. Crossfire/SLI setup is not required nor is a overclockable board?

-Ray-

 

[Guest]

I have an ASUS A8R-MVP with Q-Fan 2.

AI Quiet and Cool'N'Quiet (or Speedstep)

AI Quiet regulates voltages and speed? I'd leave that to Cool'N'Quiet or Speedstep. I don't have AI Quiet on my board otherwise I would try and be more helpful. Both Cool'N'Quiet and Speedstep are CPU manufacturer implemented schemes to lower clock speed and core voltage on idle. If you want to do this I would recommend downloading utilities that monitor core frequency and voltage to check it is actually turned on and working. I used AMD's own Power Monitor software from their site to check my AMD chip. It does NOT use Cool'N'Quiet with the right drivers unless you go into Power Management in Windows and select another power profile! (I selected Max Battery, despite being a mains desktop) I thought that was a bit annoying that I had to go digging for it, but hey.

Q-Fan 2

I was very hopeful about this! I got this board off someone else (2nd hand) and personally I'm not convinced from my own experience that ASUS produce a polished end product. Anyway, what are my experiences with Q-Fan 2?

Well I very much wanted to make a system that was silent on idle. I have the gigantic ninja scythe heatsink, the special PSU etc... I needed to regulate my fan speeds now. A BIOS solution is perfect to me.

I have got it working, I have my fans wired up with status LEDs that present at the front of my case. The weird thing about Q-Fan 2 on my board is that it has a start fan temperature, a full speed fan temperature, an off temperature (presumably for system shutdown) and a final and curious "Start PWM" value.

The manual says this is to do with Power Management despite it being a handy acronym for Pulse Width Modulation. It does appear to pulse width modulate the signal to as it is slowing the fan down in proportion. All sounds great, so what's the snag?

Well for some bonkers reason they decided to implement the partial speed phase as one second on, one second off (and repeat). Why? I've not seen other boards doing this! they just vary the fan speed.

I love the control that Q-Fan 2 offers, but the quiet sound of a fan starting and stopping continually every second is damned annoying. It also provides questionable cooling. It baffles me as to why they did this. I have tried a couple of BIOS releases but it's all the same. As soon as it goes to full speed it's constant, but not before.

 

[Guest]

Seems Google likes this page about Q-Fan so I'm going to add my input.

ASUS' Q-Fan is an alternative, a good one in my opinion, for people who don't have PWM fans, the ones with 4 pins. From what CPUID Hardware Monitor tells me, my 2008 board has 3 control circuits, so each of the 3 heads present can be controlled independently, while only one is a 4 pin head for actual PWM fans.

That said, 3 pin fans ca be controlled without being PWM fans, but... yeah, there's a but, actual more than one:
1) it appears that if a fan doesn't have the speed sensor wire like cheap case fans (e.g. Arctic Cooling) it will work at its rated speed regardless of the settings in CPUID
2) setting the fans is tricky because the percentages in the program aren't coinciding with those of the speed of the fan... if I set my Zalman below 40% it will stop, so that means 40% Q-Fan = 0 rpm, 50% = 1000 rpm, etc

The 2nd issue will also affect some setting that can be made in the BIOS regarding Q-Fan, some boards might have detailed options, others just a simple 3-choice Silent/Standard/Performance option. Be sure that the Silent option won't turn the CPU fan off, enter the OS and quickly launch a tool that tells you the speed of fans and see for yourself if it's 0 or has some rpms, or you might unwillingly kill you processor.

Overall, it's a nice feature for Noctua fans as they still haven't release those PWM fans showcased half a year ago, never-mind that I was told about them a year ago. Those and other fans which are cheaper than their PWM counterparts.

I still have to try SpeedFan... it collects dust somewhere on my HDD.

As to what Anon said above in the last paragraph, I can't relate. My Zalman is working continuously, regarding of the step. It might just be a power hungry fan that after a pulse it will eat all the power and stop before the second pulse is emitted.

Q1, A: Not the best. The best would be separate controllers or PWM-ready fans, however it offers good value for non-PWM 3-pin fans.

Q2-4, A: There are alternatives, I suppose, one just has to look for them.

Q5, A: If set to auto in the respective programs or by default and if the temp recorded gets higher than usual, the speed will be increased. So would continuous CPU usage and I suppose that is the way it calculates how it increases the speed. One thing to note is that a silent setting will not help during heavy full-loads (CPU burn-testing right now) as the fan speed will barely be increased, however it will be near silent but on the long-run I wouldn't keep it this way. Of course, the more fans and fan heads, the better the airflow, and the lesser the worries.