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Asrock Bios fan control is it equal on all models

Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: Intel Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock Intel Motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2270
Printed Date: 27 Dec 2024 at 5:20am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Asrock Bios fan control is it equal on all models

Posted By: Abula
Subject: Asrock Bios fan control is it equal on all models
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2016 at 2:43am

Hi,

Im currently interested on trying out an Asrock motherboard, mostly to test how they are working with their Bios fan control, but i have a kinda hard question for owners, do all Skylake AsRock motherboards have the same bios fan control and limitations? For example for MSI is the same i have tested Z/H/B seriers and there is nothing different in the bios, aside from the smaller motherboards have less headers, but the control is practically the same, with the same options and restrictions. The thing with AsRock is that it has tons of options to chose from, and to me i would buy the cheapest if the bios fan control is the same, but i would spend higher cost mobos have more options and lower restrictions.

Currently im interested on

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157675" rel="nofollow - ASRock Z170M Extreme4 (the highest i could find on micro atx)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157637" rel="nofollow - ASRock Z170M Pro4S (a little cheaper, not sure what the S stands for)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157642" rel="nofollow - ASRock H170M Pro4S (cheaper, but not sure if it will have all the fetures on fan control being lower end model)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157644" rel="nofollow - ASRock B150M Pro4 (even cheaper, but more worried it might have a worst bios fan control)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157670" rel="nofollow - ASRock H110M COMBO-G (the cheapest of them all, and would be my pick if it has the same options os the Extreme4 on the bios fan control)

Thanks for any info or suggestions,

Replies:

Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2016 at 3:17am

That is an interesting question. I have not noted any differences between my 2 ASRock Skylake boards in fan control settings however I am not overly fussed with controlling my fans, I generally just set to the silent preset and be done with it. My case has 6 120mm fans in it and my CPU coolers are always overkill so it really hasn't been a concern for me as even the most basic "silent" mode is usually silent enough for my needs.

The "S" in Pro4S I suspect means "simple", if you look at the S and non S versions you will note simpler heatsinks on the VRMs/chipset as well as the absence of the IO Armor on the S model. From what I can tell it is a cost saving device to allow users to spend less for the same features of the non S board. If the "look" isn't important to you then the S version is perfect for your needs. If you want a windowed case with all the bells whistles and fancy lighting then the non S version may be preferable.

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Posted By: Abula
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2016 at 5:50am

Xaltar wrote:

The "S" in Pro4S I suspect means "simple", if you look at the S and non S versions you will note simpler heatsinks on the VRMs/chipset as well as the absence of the IO Armor on the S model. From what I can tell it is a cost saving device to allow users to spend less for the same features of the non S board. If the "look" isn't important to you then the S version is perfect for your needs. If you want a windowed case with all the bells whistles and fancy lighting then the non S version may be preferable.

Thanks for the explanation on the S, i saw the none S more appealing to the eye, but never really saw put attention to the heatsinks.

Xaltar wrote:

That is an interesting question. I have not noted any differences between my 2 ASRock Skylake boards in fan control settings however I am not overly fussed with controlling my fans, I generally just set to the silent preset and be done with it. My case has 6 120mm fans in it and my CPU coolers are always overkill so it really hasn't been a concern for me as even the most basic "silent" mode is usually silent enough for my needs.

For me presets are not enough, specially to the sound levels i want to reach, i need full control, specially on PWM fans, although full control on voltage is also welcome and would allow me a lot more options. THat said, i seen in the past the AsRock has very good PWM fan control on the CPU_FAN1, with multiple breakpoints and 1% increments, thus making it imo the best in the market, and i believe they also have the CHA_FAN1 as true PWM, same as the CPU, with full control with 1% increments, but this was on a Haswell ATX, not sure how it is on a micro atx and skylake. What i dislike in haswell is the rest of the headers are presets (silent, normal etc), but i can live with 2 good fully adjustable headers, just wondering if the micro atx skylake would give me that, or i need to go enter ATX for the mobo to have the CHA_FAN1 being full PWM and controllable in 1% increments.

Thanks again for the reply,

Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2016 at 11:42am

In the past, the level of fan speed control sophistication on ASRock boards varied somewhat with the price of the board.

That meant that cheaper boards did not have all the fan headers controlled in the same manner. That has changed and evolved with the last two or three Intel processor/chipset generations. The fan speed control options are not simplified on most if not all of the more budget oriented Intel based boards.

Recently, ASRock has added a GUI type FAN-Tastic Tuning option in the UEFI of most if not all of their 100 series chipset boards. This can also be found on some of their X99 boards.

From what I can find in the manual of boards like the H110M Combo-G, this new feature is included in the H/W Monitoring screen. The drop down menu type option settings for the fans is still included, but the new GUI type FAN-Tastic Tuning feature is very convenient.

I would suggest checking the manual of the boards you are interested in to verify this feature is included in the board's UEFI, to avoid any disappointments:

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Posted By: Abula
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2016 at 10:11pm

parsec wrote:

In the past, the level of fan speed control sophistication on ASRock boards varied somewhat with the price of the board.

That meant that cheaper boards did not have all the fan headers controlled in the same manner. That has changed and evolved with the last two or three Intel processor/chipset generations. The fan speed control options are not simplified on most if not all of the more budget oriented Intel based boards.

Recently, ASRock has added a GUI type FAN-Tastic Tuning option in the UEFI of most if not all of their 100 series chipset boards. This can also be found on some of their X99 boards.

Thanks for the info, really promising this leveling of all motheboards on the fan control.

parsec wrote:

From what I can find in the manual of boards like the H110M Combo-G, this new feature is included in the H/W Monitoring screen. The drop down menu type option settings for the fans is still included, but the new GUI type FAN-Tastic Tuning feature is very convenient.

I would suggest checking the manual of the boards you are interested in to verify this feature is included in the board's UEFI, to avoid any disappointments:

Thanks for the info again, really promising the H110M might serve what im planning.

And i'll checking the manuals for each motherboard, but to be honest, two that i have checked dont have much detail on the fan control.

A couple of question that comes to my mind now that you showed that picture are,

1) In the past AsRock allowed 1% incrments on PWM with no minimum restrictions, at leat on the CPU_FAN1 header, but watching the new GUI seems all numbers are rounded, wondering if they still allow 1% or they moved toward 5% or 10% incrememnts.

2) In the past AsRock also had 2 true PWM fan headers, in most cases was the CPU_FAN1 and CHA_FAN1, but there were some cases that they used the CPU_FAN2 (very few mobos come like this like the power and fatality). But wondering more how is on skylake today, did they are still following this design?

3) Are all headers true PWM headers or some are voltage controlled?

4) Minimum restrictions on CPU_FAN and CHA_FAN, in the past AsRock only offered presets on CHA_FAN2 and 3 for example, no GUI or allowing to have a custom graph behavior. On MSI the restrictions on voltage controlled headers are high, around 50% wondering how is this being manage on the AsRock bios.

Btw you guys dont need to answer this, this are the kinda things i want to test, not saying if you know them dont post them, just i feel im asking to much. Overall i seen so many good things going on AsRock since sandy bridge, and gradually improving toward bieng a brand that i personally im very eager to test and move all my setups toward, just i do plan a lot in advance, so this are things that i interst me and breaks a build for me.

Thanks again for your replies, really interesting and useful info you have provided,

Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2016 at 12:41am

I must agree you won't see much detail about the fan control capabilities in the manuals. What caught my eye in the H110M Combo-G manual was this:

At the bottom of the screen picture we can see the highlighted in red entry for Fan-Tastic Tuning. That is the GUI type feature for creating custom fan profiles, as in the picture in my previous post.

We also see it listed below the picture, as well as the standard fan setting options. If you can find the Fan-Tastic Tuning entry in the H/W Monitoring screen in a board's manual, it will be there.

I see you noticed my personal need to have fan speed percentages in 5% or 10% increments. Wacko

I can assure you that the steps in the GUI interface are in 1% increments for fan speed, and 1° C increments for temperature.

The CPU_FAN1 and CHA_FAN1 headers should be true PWM fan headers on all these boards. I say should only because I have not used all of these boards. My ASRock Z170 board PC has PWM fans connected to those headers, and they operate as they should, in PWM mode.

My board has all four pin fan headers too. I have not done the true test on the chassis fan headers to determine if they truly operate in PWM mode, or in voltage mode. That can be done with a PWM/molex power adapter cable, and a PWM fan.

We can find this statement in the specifications of the H110M Combo-G:

1 x CPU Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
2 x Chassis Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)*

*CHA_FAN1 can auto detect if 3-pin or 4-pin fan is in use.

My board has a similar statement, except the 3 or 4 pin fan detection applies to all of the fan headers. That seems to be one of the few differences between more expensive and budget boards.

The GUI Fan-Tastic Tuning screen in the UEFI, at least on my Z170 board, allows you to set fan speed percentage all the way down to 0%. That is, at least on the chassis fans, I don't recall if that is the case for the CPU fans. The only restriction I have is the minimum temperature that may be used, 30° C.

The H110M Combo-G is well built IMO. The main things that I would miss is the lack of an M.2 port, and only four SATA III ports.

Did you ask to much? IMO, you asked a lot of questions, but since they all made sense, I have no problem answering them. Wink

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Posted By: Abula
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2016 at 5:25am

@parsec

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply, really amazing info, and you have sold me into AsRock, all the things i want on Bios Fan Control are there, specially liked the autosensing of 4pin/3pin, even if its only in one header, on Asus you can but manually changing it on the bios, on MSI you cant from a build i did a couple of weeks ago on H170.

I really hope all works out well, this setup its more a testing setup for me to see what to expect in the future, but for now AsRock seems to have a big lead over the competition on their bios fan control, and that to me aside from stability is the biggest thing i look for on motherboards. If this work out as i expect, i'll be switching my main rig toward a Fatality or Formula.

Again thanks so much for your reply parsec , im left without questions and eager to buy now the mobo to do some personal testing.

Btw this is the most helpful forum i seen from manufactures, really amazing responses, ill hang more here, hoping to contribute as you guys help me out.

Take care,

Posted By: Abula
Date Posted: 15 May 2016 at 9:35am

Just some comments, i manage to get some time today and still in the process of testing on an AsRock H170 Pro4, their bios fan control is the best that i seen, better than Asus or MSI, but not all is perfect, there are some things to take into account.

CPU_FAN1

Its an autosensing header, that means the mobo can sense if its a 3pin or 4pin, and according to what you plug thats how its controlled. I tested the Intel stock CPU cooler (PWM), Thermalright TY147A (PWM), Noctua NF-S12B 700rpm Redux (3pin) and Silverstone AP182 (3pin). All were controllable with in their own range of operation, no issues at all.

CHA_FAN1

Same as the CPU_FAN1, its autosensing and can control either PWM or DC at will on the bios.

CHA_FAN2

its a 4pin, but only can do PWM control, no autoseinng and no voltage control, tested all the fans above.

CHA_FAN3

This is a 3pin, and doesnt even appear on the bios, its a pure 12V or for somone trying to get rpms (for example a pump). Usless to me.

I bought a value motherboard from AsRock, so i cant say how will higher end mobos would work, some even have CPU_FAN1 and CPU_FAN2 and more CHA_FANs, so i dont know if AsRock has the policy of only two autosensing or if its open to more in higher end mobos, i wish all were autosensing though, that would put it on par with Asus switching, that said, still a heck of fan control if you understand the limitations. The no restrictions, 1% vairtions on 1C is amazing, you practically can reach any operation without having the bios restrictions that ASUS has, and to some point MSI also.

Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 15 May 2016 at 1:27pm

Thanks for the info Abula Thumbs Up

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Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 15 May 2016 at 1:41pm

Abula wrote:

Just some comments, i manage to get some time today and still in the process of testing on an AsRock H170 Pro4,

CPU_FAN1

Its PWM fan control its the best that i have seen/tested, you can set any temperature and any % pwm, no restrictions at all that i can see, by far what i always wished other manufacturers do. You can go in 1% increments on 1C, so this allow to reach whatever you want, 4 breakpoints allow you to do the cueve you like.

CHA_FAN1

This fan does the same as CPU_FAN1, it has a difference though, its autosening decides if its 3pin or 4pin, and this is very good, as you can use the bios the same as you do CPU_FAN, I tried a Noctua NF-S12B REDUX 700rpm (3pin) and it can do the full 700rpms or drop down to 200rpms on pure bios on voltage control. I also tested a TY147A and the austosering worked the same, as far as i could tell, as with my MSI and Asus mobos i can drop it to 300rpms or pull it up to 1300rpms, and as the CPU_FAN1 you have the 4 breakpoints, so there you can do the graph you wish with it, again no restrictions that i can see, love the this. But there is turn down for me, seems it cant power the silverstone AP182s, it bearly starts them on booting, but once bios loads or windows.... the fan is off, no matter the settings i change on the bios, even the presets, even the full 100% doesnt move the fan at all, my only conclusion is the header doesnt have enough power to move it.

CHA_FAN2

This is a different header, its 4pin as the CHA_FAN2, but seems the autosensing doesnt work (from what i have read only 2 headers have this feature on Asrock so in my case are the two above), that said its not a big deal, and this header can power the AP182, just the issue is that its always on 12V, no setting change on the bios (presets or graph) that would undervolt it. I also tested the Thermalright TY147A here and it works great, same as two above, this leads me to say this is a fully PWM fan header (not switchable).

For the above, and because im with FT05 i cant use the AsRock, mainly its the AP182, i'll do some more testing tomorrow. AsRock semes very good, i like what they have done on bios, for a pure PWM fan build is superb, for a 3pin mix.... i would say it has its restrictions, and not many headers that can do voltage control, i think it still can be done fine, as long as not many 3pin fans. Im happy to see how AsRock has design their fan control, but sadly its not for me.

It's a shame that the AP182 fans in your PC case are affecting your choice of mother board. IMO, it is the AP182 fan that is the problem, not the board itself, more on that below.

Also, you cannot expect a lower priced board like the H170 Pro4 to have the same features as more expensive boards. I don't know what the price of this board is where you live, but in the USA it is about $90.

All fans are different regarding their electrical specifications, such as maximum power usage, starting voltage (minimum voltage needed to get the fan spinning), maximum speed, etc. There are no standards for power usage or starting voltage, they are whatever the fan designers give us.

Most modern PC fans have a starting voltage of about 6V, many start spinning at 5V or less. Maximum power usage of these fans is about 0.5A (6 Watts), although many fans use much less power than that. The size of a fan is not related to the amount of power it uses, very large PC fans can use the same amount of power that a very small fan does.

Let's look at the specifications of the AP182, these are from the manual supplied with these fans when sold individually:

A link to the AP182's manual: http://www.silverstonetek.com/downloads/Manual/fan/Multi-AP182-manual-V1.pdf" rel="nofollow - http://www.silverstonetek.com/downloads/Manual/fan/Multi-AP182-manual-V1.pdf

The AP182 is not a typical PC fan, its power requirements are greater than most PC fans. From the AP182 manual:

The AP182 is a relatively high current fan. At its maximum speed, the AP182's current will peak at 1.8A with continuous current at 1.3A.

Not all motherboard fan headers will support the AP182... To properly support AP182, the fan header needs to be able to provide continuous current of at least 1.3A.

The fan headers on ASRock boards are rated at 1.0A/12W maximum (continuous), which is standard for PC mother boards. This fan can use more power than is available from mother board fan headers. It will be difficult finding a mother board with a greater power rating for the chassis fan connectors.

Note the Start Voltage, which is measured with the manual speed control connected to the fan. 9V is the lowest starting voltage. Very high for a PC fan.

Then the fan's speed range of 500 - 2000 RPM is controlled only between 9V and 12V. That 3V range is small, which is another reason for the manual fan controller. I wonder how precise the speed control can be with manual speed controller?

The CHA_FAN2 connector is not the problem, the unique requirements of the AP182 fan simply make it unusable with mother board fan connectors. I'm not surprised that the CHA_FAN1 header could not get an AP182 spinning if you are connecting it directly to the mother board. Even if the board could supply enough power to the fan, the high starting voltage and small voltage range for speed adjustment is not compatible with standard mother board fan speed control.

I highly doubt you will be able to find a mother board with fan connectors that can work with AP182 fans, at any price. SilverStone knows this fan is not compatible with standard mother board fan connectors, and supplies the manual speed controller for that reason.

You'll never find a mother board with fan connectors that provide more than 12W of power, that costs $100.

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Posted By: Abula
Date Posted: 15 May 2016 at 3:54pm

THanks parsec for the detailed info.

I edited my post, probably while you were seraching for all that great info. =)

I manage to get it working upon further testing, it was my fault, the AP182 have a very high starting voltage, depending on the sample 60-70%, so both the CPU_FAN1 and CPU_FAN2 can manage the fan dynamically with the CPU temps. Sadly the CHA_FAN2 cant, it seems its a pure PWM header, so ill have to use the CPU_FAN for one of the AP182 on the FT05.

All in all im pretty happy with AsRock and their bios fan control. The only thing that i would like to see in the future, is all fans headers with autosensing and allowing to be manage as the CPU_FAN1 and CHA_FAN1. At least on the Extreme or Fatal1ty series, i would drop more money on a mobo if i can get more control and flexibility on the fan control.

Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 15 May 2016 at 11:43pm

Most if not all of the ASRock Z170 Extreme and Fatal1ty boards have the Smart Fan Speed control on all the fan connectors. You must verify that with the specifications of a particular board.

Don't forget that the power usage of the AP182 fan is more than any of the fan connectors on your board is designed to supply. If you constantly prevent that fan from running at full speed, you might not damage the fan connector circuit, but you are taking a chance and the board could be damaged. SilverStone, in their excellent manual for that fan, includes several warnings about that.

I'm skeptical that the CHA_FAN2 connector on the H170 Pro4 only has PWM fan speed control. But I would need to test that myself. Usually, PWM fan speed control is more expensive to implement than voltage control.

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Posted By: Abula
Date Posted: 16 May 2016 at 12:15am

Thanks again for your reply parsec

parsec wrote:

Most if not all of the ASRock Z170 Extreme and Fatal1ty boards have the Smart Fan Speed control on all the fan connectors. You must verify that with the specifications of a particular board.

I checked the

ASRock Fatal1ty Gaming Z170 Gaming K4

http://www.asrock.com/mb/intel/Fatal1ty%20Z170%20Gaming%20K4/

And from the manual

2 x CPU Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)

4 x Chassis Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)

* CPU_FAN1 and CHA_FAN1 can auto detect if 3-pin or 4-pin fan is in use.

It seems the same as my Z170 Pro4, just mine has two auto detect on CPU_FAN1 (same) and CHA_FAN1 (different as its CPU_FAN2). So i would think the rest of the fan headers are the same as my CHA_FAN2, that its PWM but cant do 3pin voltage control. And dont get me wrong its fine, ill adapt to it, but would be much better if all were autodetect, Asus atm has all their headers switchable manually on the bios, to me it would be great if AsRock considers doing the autodetect on all their headers, at least on their higher end mobos.

parsec wrote:

Don't forget that the power usage of the AP182 fan is more than any of the fan connectors on your board is designed to supply. If you constantly prevent that fan from running at full speed, you might not damage the fan connector circuit, but you are taking a chance and the board could be damaged. SilverStone, in their excellent manual for that fan, includes several warnings about that.

Thanks for the warning, i have been running the AP182 on MSI mobo for almost two years now, no issues, but i dont run them full, i usually have the knob like 30% up and the use the mobo to undervolt it further, at the end i get 350rpms on idle and 650rpms on load (out of the 2150rpms that it reaches), that doesnt mean that it will work fine or in time that i wont have issues, but ill take my chances, i bought AsRock specifically because of the Bios fan control to control AP182, if i cant do this, ill probably switch to another case or go water.

parsec wrote:

I'm skeptical that the CHA_FAN2 connector on the H170 Pro4 only has PWM fan speed control. But I would need to test that myself. Usually, PWM fan speed control is more expensive to implement than voltage control.

I did test mulitple fans, on the Intel stock cooler i was able to drop it 1100rpms and on the thermalright TY147A PWM i manage 299rpms, which are in line with Asus can do with FanXpert and MSI on bios. I then tested a Noctua NF-S12B Redux 700rpm (3pin) and it ran at 725rpms, and i tested the AP182 and it ran at 2150rpms, i entered the bios and tried customized and the profiles and no difference, to me, the header is PWM only, as PWM headers/fans always operate at 12V and regulate via the pwm signal.

At the end CHA_FAN2 being PWM and not able to control 3pin is not a big deal, i will route the cable in the back and use this for my CPU fans (all pwm) and then route CHA_FAN1 and CPU_FAN1 (auto detect headers and able to do voltage control) to both AP182s, and be done with it.

Again really happy with AsRock atm, i think the bios fan control its the best that i seen, really amazing stuff, specially no restrictions, mulitple breakpoints, and love the autodetect headers (they really work), but the only thing i would like to see is all headers autodetect, this will allow users to use the included fans or upgrade to PWM and the motherboard will handle it.

Posted By: Goore
Date Posted: 26 Jun 2016 at 6:06pm

Hi,

I just bought AsRock Z170 Extreme7+ MB with new Intel i3-6320 processor. Processor is provided with standard NIDEC fan (E97379-001). I played a lot with BIOS setting (I downloaded the last 3.00 version) for CPU fan control but I am not able to set it as I want. The fan is generaly noisy so I wanted to set lower rpms for the fan. First I tried to set Silent mode but the fan didn't start up to CPU temperature=65 deg. C. Then I tried Custom option and every other posible setting (4pin vs. automatic too) but it all ended by not starting the CPU fan when I chose the fans speed lower then 50%...

I contacted the AsRock support but they didn't reply (quite sad for customer who has their the most expensive MB...)

Thanks for any help.

Posted By: LTRMcrew
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2016 at 1:33am

Hi All,

I'm about to build using ASRock H170Pro4S and had question with the fan speed control. I'll be using (correct if I'm wrong) CHA_FAN1 for the front fan; my question is with the fan there is a three place switch attached to the fan (L,M,H) which do I leave the manual switch to in order to let the BIOS and mobo control the full range of fan speed?

Thanks!

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i5-6500/H170Pro4S/16GB HyperX Black DDR4

Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2016 at 2:28am

H, H stands for High. This will allow the motherboard to slow it down when necessary and have access to the fan's full speed when needed.

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Posted By: LTRMcrew
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2016 at 2:33am

Ok, thanks for the quick reply Xaltar.

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i5-6500/H170Pro4S/16GB HyperX Black DDR4

Posted By: outlawzgr
Date Posted: 22 Nov 2016 at 11:37pm

" rel="nofollow - I 've got also a question regarding the uefi fantastic tuning,
I've the h170 fatal1ty hyper board with pwm headers and also pwm fans, but the fans wont go lower than half their speed, i set them to 0% rpm in uefi, all of them, and all of them run at 30-50%, i want them.to stop when cpu temp is bellow 60c but i can't see that happening even if i adjust the fan curve to be 0% until cpu reaches 80c, the fans spin no matter what,
Speedfan does not work with the board so i am stuck with the noise that the fans make at 50% and i have 7 so it will be nice i could make them stop or at least if i can adjust the board to provide 5 or 7 volts instead of 12 to lower their rpm values

Is there any way to make the stop? Or make them go to lower rpm value?

Posted By: 11mail22
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2016 at 6:51pm

Here my story about FAN control on the ASRock Z170 Gaming K4 board.

First of all I want to mention in this thermal thread, that I am glad to decide for Gaming K4 instead of MSI Tomahawk, as the 45% larger Z170 heat sink is valuable. This device is really a heater. But back to FAN control.

My Miditower has 5 DC controlled Fans, but the board just have two ports to control that (CPU_FAN1 and CHA_FAN1), as ASRock decided to save some cents (which MSI does not). The layout is prepared for each port, but the FAN voltage regulator device for this 3pin mode is just mounted at two of them. My thought was to connect two FANs in parallel to one FAN port of the mobo.

So I measured the power consumption of a single 12cm fan:

0.13mA@12V, 0.11A@10V, 0,09A@8V, 0,07A@6V Startup: 5V

The FAN voltage regulator device is a Nuvoto 3943S which is similar to http://www.nuvoton.com/hq/products/power-management/voltage-regulators/fan-driver-ic-series/%3F__locale=en" rel="nofollow - http://www.nuvoton.com/hq/products/power-management/voltage-regulators/fan-driver-ic-series/%3F__locale=en confirmed by customer support of Nuvoto (Thank you for that).

This is the important information in this datasheet (beside the 500mA drive capability)

PD(MAX) = (TJ(MAX) - TA) / θJA Where TJ(MAX) is the maximum operation junction temperature 125?? TA is the ambient temperature and the θJA is the junction to ambient thermal resistance. θJA for ESOP-8 package is 75??W on JEDEC51-7 (4 layers, 2S2P) thermal test board with minimum copper area. The maximum power dissipation at TA = 25??can be calculated as: PD(MAX) = (125??- 25?? / 75??W = 1.33W

As slower the fan should run, as more power will be converted to heat in this device (MOSFET). dP = dV*I.

For my parallel FANs this result in (12V-6V)*2*0,07A = 0.84W so it will work. In practice this small device, which is well thermal connected to the board (look at the spare foot prints), get really warm. You cant put your small finger longer time on that. So ~60°C.

So keep in mind, lower speed is more critcal for you board.

If you have similar thoughts please check your fans carefully. My lighted top FANs does have 0.08A@5V (startup 3V), which already lead to the maximum of 1.33W of the device.

Finally I put the back fan to CPU1_FAN and both front fans in parallel to CHA1_FAN. The two lighted top fans are in serial (2x6V) direct to 12V.

My only PWM fan (4 pole) is the Arctic Freezer 13. Connected to CPU2_FAN, but at lower speed I got strange buzzing noises. I tried CHA4_FAN and this works absolutely silent. No idea what generated this sound, may be a wrong PWM signal to the fan or a coil of the 12V on board power supply (but guess the 12V for the FAN is comming directly from main power supply).

The controlling in the BIOS or App is customized. Only in this mode you know what happen and can perfectly adapted to your FANs noise profile. It can be done very accurate by single % steps, which already changes the noise behavior of the fan.

ASRock should really spent at each port that 3pin option, as MSI do.