Different motherboards have differing capabilities for fan monitoring.  Most
can only monitor the CPU fan and one other system fan.  Some add another
system fan header, which may be monitored (it might be labeled PWR,
suggesting you can use it monitor the speed of the fan in your power supply,
if your power supply is capable of this). However, for the fan to be
monitored it will need to be using a fan header on the motherboard and the
fan will need to be a "three wire" fan that has the ability to monitor its
rpm.

To see whether your fans are working correctly or not, you'll have to
visually inspect them when your system is running.  You can't really depend
on the motherboard's monitoring capability to inform you of what all your
system's fans are doing, especially with as many as 5 of them.  If a fan is
not running, it may be a simple matter of needing to plug it back in.  If it
uses a larger molex connector, it can plug directly into your power supply
connectors.  If it uses a smaller plug, it can either be plugged directly
into the motherboard, if you have a free fan header, or you can connect it
to a power supply connector with an adapter.  (If the fan is a three wire
one capable of being monitored, you lose the ability to monitor when
plugging it directly into the power supply, but it otherwise will work
fine.)

The temperatures that you mention sound fine, thought these are probably
what are referred to as idle temperatures, taken while you system is sitting
at the desktop.  I usually like to use a CPU intensive program, like the
torture test of Prime95, in order to see how well my cooling is holding up
while under load.

Many systems have a fair number of fans to keep an eye on.  There are
usually one or two fans in the power supply, the fan on the CPU's heatsink,
at least one, but often more, case fans, and often there is a fan on the
heatsink of your video card.  It's not unusual for these fans to collect
enough dust to fail over time.  So, paying attention to what things inside
your case look like and doing some periodic cleaning is a good idea.

John Sproule
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kathleen" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 10:27 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] CPU temps/fans


Good evening,



I have been working on my computer these past couple of weeks, installing
new HDs, etc.  During this time, I apparently disconnected or damaged? On of
the several fans that my CPU box came with-I believe this was a 'gaming'
box, so I think I have 5 fans in all.  I am concerned about this though, as
I don't want any overheating of the components.



I cannot recall what 'safe' temperatures are to be.  I have a Soyo
Dragonplus 2 MB that has the Smartguardian that monitors the temperature of
the chassis and cpu.  As well as the fan speeds. Only one fan is working
now, according to this so I am worried.



Currently the chassis is 95 degrees and the CPU is 117.Can anyone tell me
what we should expect for the safe temps?



Any help would be appreciated-I am getting mind numb over here and will
listen to suggestions.



Thank you all for your input.



Kathleen LaValley

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