Attention: ASUS engineers -- quick, small change for Rampage Forumla IV BIOS

[Mart12]

Hello,

If I may could I request a simple, quick change to the Formula IV BIOS for the next update?

* Remove the limits for the CHASIS Fan Control ranges for Manual Fan Profile.

Right now they have un-changeable minimum limits on temperate and duty control, rather than allowing the user to set these. CHASIS is the only setting that has these limits, other profiles (CPU, OPT etc) give full control. Please make CHASIS the same. If you're wondering, I need this to properly balance cooling/noise as required based on system load with my particular setup.

Thankyou for reading and considering my request, love ASUS products!

Regards,

Mart

EDIT: To be specific, the Minimum Fan Duty Control is fixed at no lower than 60%. I need to be able to set this as low as 10%. It would be nice to have full control over the other values too, but this is the one that's holding me back at the moment.

[HiVizMan]

Hello I have passed this on to the bios team.

[Mart12]

HiVizMan wrote:
Hello I have passed this on to the bios team.

Awesome, thankyou 🙂

Incidentally, I noticed some of the discussion for the RIVE 4104 and 4206 BIOS where the PCH fan profile has changed -- the CHASIS settings are controlled by PCH temp, so I'm presume the PCH fan on the RIVE is controlled by the CHASIS settings, so I'm wondering if such a change has already been made in the RIVE BIOS and just needs to filter down to the RIVF.

Can someone with the new RIVE BIOS confirm what the minimum values you can set are for Manual Fan Control on the CHASIS fans in the BIOS?

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Mart12 wrote:
the Minimum Fan Duty Control is fixed at no lower than 60%. I need to be able to set this as low as 10%. It would be nice to have full control over the other values too, but this is the one that's holding me back at the moment.

This is probably because setting the % so low would mean the fan would not start....this % is straight voltage control and hence speed reduction...I think 10% voltage wouldn't start the fan even if it would keep it running which is doubtful for a lot of fans....

[Mart12]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
This is probably because setting the % so low would mean the fan would not start....this % is straight voltage control and hence speed reduction...I think 10% voltage wouldn't start the fan even if it would keep it running which is doubtful for a lot of fans....

This is actually exactly what I want 🙂

At idle/browsing/email/general work my case fans can be turned off, and my system is quiet, and CPU and GPUs hover at no more than 30-35 degrees. Silence.

At load, playing games etc, I need them to gradually spin up to full speed from this stopped state. The PCH temp control for the CHASIS fan headers do this perfectly on the Rampage Formula IV -- with the above exception that I can't actually supply anything less than 60%, whether I like it or not.

I have three 140mm case fans with a high/low resistor switch (Silverstone FT02). If I leave them on 'low' the fans are stopped at idle and under load spin up -- but only to around 800rpm. It's not enough for high loads with games, especially with a 3970X and SLI GPUs cooking up a storm! If I use 'high' the fans spin at full speed 1500rpm under load and cooling is good, but at idle sit at 700rpm and are constantly noisy. So, I have to keep getting up and flicking switches on the case depending if I'm playing games/other demanding loads or not. Pain in the bum.

However, if the CHASIS had no forced 60% limit, I could simply set this to 10-20% and leave the fan switches on 'high' (no resistence). At idle loads they'll remain off, at high loads they'll spin up to full speed depending on the fan curve set by defining the lower and upper temp ranges for CHASIS fans.

Hope that makes it all clear why the 60% limit needs to be removed -- or more correctly, allow the user to have control over it. Given the target market for these boards, I hope this is something the ASUS engineers can accomodate 🙂

Mart

[Raja]

Just a heads up. This has been requested before. It won't be added AFAIK because many fans won't spin up and that caused HQ a LOT of hassle (a lot more than the occasional request for it). Just letting you know. It's not my call, the powers that be have to deal with more requests than I do.

The workaround on supporting boards is to use Fan Xpert in the OS as that will set the fans lower (where possible).

Probably won't please you, but that's the way it is and will likely remain no matter how logically you present your case.

-Raja

[Mart12]

Raja@ASUS wrote:
Just a heads up. This has been requested before. It won't be added AFAIK because many fans won't spin up and that caused HQ a LOT of hassle (a lot more than the occasional request for it). Just letting you know. It's not my call, the powers that be have to deal with more requests than I do.

Thanks Raja, appreciate the response.

Unfortunately while Fan Xpert is a possible solution for Windows, this doesn't help Linux 🙂 I do most of my work under Linux (and the occasional gaming now Steam and many games are on Linux) and this where I really need the fans to spin down to be silent.

Of course, if I could set lower thresholds in the BIOS, this would work for both Windows and Linux.

If I may, could you please pass on one more thing to the engineering teams? (*hands you beer and pizza for extra incentive*). I understand the concern regarding possible extra work for HQ, so hopefully this is compelling reasoning and case:

Keep 60% as the default value for CHASIS minimum, but allow the value to be set lower (10% or 20% preferably). This has the following benefits:

• Users who install the BIOS will notice no change. The default 60% is still there -- There would be no extra reports for HQ to deal with.
  
• However, users who want to set it lower can do so.
  

Everybody wins! *clinks glasses*

Finally, if there are still concerns then please make it an optional download from these forums instead of officially listed on the product page. I believe it would only take a few minutes for an engineer to set this value and compile a new BIOS. And it would help tremendously all your loyal users who rely on ASUS products to be the most powerful -- and flexible -- gear for their needs.

Incidentally, before I posted above I actually went looking for official BIOS tools, including downloading commercial and official (aka, usually costs money) engineering tools from torrent sites, in an attempt to edit the BIOS to make this change myself. I actually think I found the right tools for the job, too -- except they were for the previous BIOS format before .CAP. I couldn't find anything to open .CAPs.

I tell you this because it highlights how important this change is (to me, at least). I'd much rather not go downloading commercial software via torrent sites. ASUS, please consider the above request as a great example of value-added service to your customers and their needs 🙂

Mart

[Shamino]

yes as raja has said many fans may not spin when too low

[Mart12]

Shamino wrote:
yes as raja has said many fans may not spin when too low

As explained in post #5 above, this is exactly the intended behavior I am looking for.

[Mart12]

Hey Raja,

I tried out Fan Xpert (I must admit, I didn't look at this before given previously bad press I've read on AI Suite II) and it only allows setting CHASIS fans down to 40% from the BIOS 60%. This is better but not ideal. I'm not entirely sure why any limit is imposed given the target market for these boards, as if a user is setting a lower limit (either via software, or the BIOS) then they're well aware of the results.

Please pass on my post #8 above *hands you a years supply of beer, pizza, and your most favouritest chocolate in the whole world* 🙂

Yours,

Mart