motherboard fans

[ediab]

Hi, I was cleaning inside the box and noticed there are two fans on the
mobo. I left the case open for the hell of it and noticed one of the fans
never comes on (the smaller one which says cpu cooler); the larger one has a
heatsink beneath it but no writing on the actual fan and is always on. Could
someone please clarify any of this, and should I have the small one
replaced? Thanks in advance.

Asus A7V266 with an Athlon, Win. XP Pro

 

[Ted Zieglar]

In general, most computers made these days have two fans: One fan is inside
the power supply, and the other is over the CPU. The power supply fan is
intended to cool the inside of the case, and the CPU fan is added to provide
extra cooling for the CPU. (In addition, the more advanced video cards often
have their own fan, right there on the card.)

Both fans must work at all times while the computer is being used. (Neither
fan is needed when the computer is in standby or hibernation.) If a fan is
not working, get it replaced immediately. Excessive heat will shortly kill
your computer.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

NO! Newer PC now can have up to 3 fans included. One on the processor, one
on one of the chipset chips and one in the powersupply. You may also see an
extra fan used to blow "cool" air in (front) or "hot" air out (rear/top).

 

[NobodyMan]

In general, most computers made these days have two fans: One fan is inside
the power supply, and the other is over the CPU. The power supply fan is
intended to cool the inside of the case, and the CPU fan is added to provide
extra cooling for the CPU. (In addition, the more advanced video cards often
have their own fan, right there on the card.)

You are out of date and dispensing some erronous information.

Most computers these days have a minimum of three fans: 1 in the
power supply, one sitting on top of the CPU heat sink, and one in the
rear of the case itself.

The power supply fan was never really meant to pull heat from the
case; it was meant to cool down the power supply. The CPU fan is, of
course, meant to cool down the CPU. The rear case fan is what was
meant to cool down the inside of the case.

Many computers now either come with, or supply a place to attach, a
case fan to the front, and some have spaces for fans on the side.
These usually pull air INTO the case, to be exhausted out through the
rear fan.

Both fans must work at all times while the computer is being used. (Neither
fan is needed when the computer is in standby or hibernation.) If a fan is
not working, get it replaced immediately. Excessive heat will shortly kill
your computer

Not necessarily true. If the rear exhaust fan dies it's incovenient
but not necessarily fatal, depending on the system and what the user
is doing. A front and/or side fan, same thing.

 

[PCDaddy]

Aiee Caramba! The fan inside the power supply is to cool the power supply!

The fan in the power supply is for the power supply! The cpu fan NEEDS to be working or the pc wont for long! Most pcs come with 3 fans now, an extra to help cool the inside of the case itself. The cpu fan is the central processing unit, your computer brain if you will. Note the below if the brain overheats. (kidding)

In general, most computers made these days have two fans: One fan is inside
the power supply, and the other is over the CPU. The power supply fan is
intended to cool the inside of the case, and the CPU fan is added to provide
extra cooling for the CPU. (In addition, the more advanced video cards often
have their own fan, right there on the card.)

Both fans must work at all times while the computer is being used. (Neither
fan is needed when the computer is in standby or hibernation.) If a fan is
not working, get it replaced immediately. Excessive heat will shortly kill
your computer.

--
Ted Zieglar
"You can do it if you try."

"ediab" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi, I was cleaning inside the box and noticed there are two fans on the
> mobo. I left the case open for the hell of it and noticed one of the fans
> never comes on (the smaller one which says cpu cooler); the larger one has
a
> heatsink beneath it but no writing on the actual fan and is always on.
Could
> someone please clarify any of this, and should I have the small one
> replaced? Thanks in advance.
>
> Asus A7V266 with an Athlon, Win. XP Pro
>
>

 

[WayneM]

ediab,

Is it possible that the second fan on the mobo is for the VIA Northbridge
chipset? If this is the situation, that fan may only run under extreme load
conditions.

Wayne

 

[ediab]

thanks for all your responses. i'm not excatly sure it has a Northbridge
chipset, but i am assuming you are closest to the answer, because the larger
fan is always on; i'm sure that is the most important one, and the smaller
one is just that, small without a heatsink. this is what is written on the
manual: Socket A, VIA VT8366 chipset with Palomino support, DDR DRAM.

 

[ediab]

waynem, you're right on the money. just checked it out. thanks.

 

[WayneM]

ediab,

I believe all recent mobos have northbridge and southbridge chipsets
although AMD64s may have moved the northbridge function to the processor.

Here's some info on northbridge function:

The northbridge typically handles communications between the CPU, RAM, AGP
port or PCI Express, and the southbridge. Some northbridges also contain
integrated video controllers. Because different processors and RAM require
different signalling, a northbridge will typically work with only one or two
classes of CPUs and generaly only one type of RAM. There are a few chipsets
that support two types of RAM (Generally these are available when there is a
shift to a new standard). For example, the northbridge from the nVidia
nForce2 chipset will only work with Duron, Athlon, and Athlon XP processors
combined with DDR SDRAM, the Intel i875 chipset will only work with systems
using Pentium 4 processors or Celeron processors that have a clock speed
greater than 1.3 GHz and utilize DDR SDRAM, and the Intel i915g chipset only
works with the Intel Pentium 4 and the Intel Celeron, but it can use DDR or
DDR2 memory

Wayne

 

[Lil' Dave]

Thought it humorous, some of the replies, as you stated on the mobo. The
power supply, mentioned by some replies, is not on the mobo (motherboard)...

An onboard video chipset seldom has its own cooling fan. Many add-on video
cards today have such a cooling fan, however. The slot for AGP, or the
first PCI slot, a sore spot for me as this is a dead-air space on many PCs,
lack of incoming cool air circulation. Hope this is redesigned some day.
There are band-aid fixes.

 

[PCDaddy]

didn't catch that one.

Thought it humorous, some of the replies, as you stated on the mobo. The
power supply, mentioned by some replies, is not on the mobo (motherboard)...


Even the thread starter never said it was on the mobo. If refering to my reply, (if read correctly) I simply stated the ps fan was for the ps. Not for cooling the inside of the case.