confusedxxx

hi there, so i got a motherboard for my computer and put it in and hooked everything up etc...but after i turn on teh computer, i run pc probe and it tells me my PSU fan is not on. now i thought i had plugged everything in, was there a plug for my PSU fan that i missed? my motherboard is a p5ve-vm hdmi asus motherboard and my psu is a 650 watt antec earth. Is the fan damage and not working or is it on powersave mode and not going on untill critcal temps? because my mobo stays between 38-45 C and my cpu is 30-35 C and idk if that is critical. please advise and hopefully help.

grimx133

Psu's used to let the motherboard control their fan speed by connecting a fan wire from the psu to the pwr_fan header on the board. Now it is very rare, the psu itself controls fan speed based on it's temperature. PC Probe is detecting that there is nothing plugged into that pwr_fan header and notifying you of that. It can't detect the psu fan speed, as that fan isn't connected to the motherboard. Ignore it, or set it not to display in pc probe's settings.
The temperatures that you have listed are fine, no worries there.

confusedxxx

ah ok, so the fan is working but it just doesnt display it working? also, when should i b worried about the temperatures? cuz i recently started using pc probe and i havent done any hard gaming yet, just warcraft stuff. Later on i will get back into playing stuff like fallout 3 and supreme commander, and im guessing that will elevate the temperatures signifigantly.

grimx133

Not really, with an idle temp of 35ish C. I'd think that your 100% load temp would be somewhere around the low to mid 50's. Of course, that will vary depending on the cooling that you use. If your cpu temps are above 60 on a regular basis, then it's about time to do something. As long as your heatsink is solidly mounted with the proper amount of paste, and you keep your system relatively dust free, you shouldn't have any heat issues.
Graphics cards run much warmer than cpu's do, it's good to keep their load temps no higher than 70-75C, but they can get much higher. They usually start cutting performance to try and cool down around 100C. for the graphics, and around 70C. for the cpu.

confusedxxx

ah cool, good to know. 1 question tho, paste?

grimx133

Thermal paste, goes between the cpu and the base of the heatsink to help with the transfer of heat away from the cpu. The surfaces are not perfectly flat and have microscopic cracks etc. in them. The paste fills the gaps so that there are no air bubbles. Air is a good insulator, so a loose or unpasted heatsink will have airgaps, and temperature rises. A computer can shut down in seconds if they are too bad. A stock heatsink comes with thermal pad usually pre-applied. The same principle as paste, the heat melts the pad and it flows into any gaps. It isn't as good as paste, but it is functional. And then there's things like "lapping" the cpu and heatsink, but don't do that, bit of work and voids warranties.

A few links for your reading pleasure. Not that you need them, as your temps are fine, but you may find it interesting.
Arctic Silver makes paste, the most popular of which is Arctic Silver 5, oddly enough, often referred to as AS5. Here's their application instructions. It's a servicable method, one of several.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

This article is a tad long in the tooth, but good reading nonetheless. 33 way TIM (Thermal Interface Material) comparison. There are newer pastes out that aren't mentioned, but it's still an informative article. And pastes like AS5 and MX-2 still stand up as among the best. I haven't tried MX-3 yet, should of grabbed some, but already had a 12 grammer of AS5 in the order.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...=138&Itemid=62

And from the same site, thermal paste application.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...d=170&Itemid=1

confusedxxx

oh how cool, thank you very much.