Z820 CPU fan does not automatically speedup when CPU temp raise at high load

[horsem]

I have an Z820 with dual Xeon E5-2687W CPUs, liquid cooling. BIOS updated to v3.94

When I run high CPU load work, the CPU temperature reaches 80-90 Celces degrees. I tried to tune the fan idle speed in the BIOS, and it help to control the temperature when the idle fan speed is set high. However, I don't always run high load work on this machine and it is really noisy when the idle speed reaches level 4. 

Shouldn't the cpu fan speed be automatically adjusted according to the cpu temperature and cpu load? I would expect this to be a standard feature for this expensive workstation. I think I am running the newest drivers downloaded from the hp support website. However, the HP performance advisor app just crashes the system every time I run it. It disappears after the system restart. So I couldn't verify if everything is up to date.

Please help me solve this issue. It might be a common problem as I saw many people with Z420, Z620 also have similar issue. 

My guess is a driver issue or compatability issue with windows 10 system.

I appreciate any help!

Thanks

Z.

[BambiBoomZ]

Horsem,

Firstly, the E5-2687w  is rated by Intel to 67C, measured to the CPU heat spreader, but whereever it's taken , it's certain that at 80-90C it is being run well over it's rating and may be damaged by continuing.  I suggest coninuing to run the system at full fan speed until the underlying problem is solved. Also, run HWMonitor at all times on top, watching the Package temperatures  and cease operations at 65C. The E5's- are tough, but not immortal.

It is probable that the high heat load is based on the 150W power rating of the E5-2687w, one of the highest  ratings of any Xeon.  

The solution has two parts: One;  is to verify the working condition  of the special z820 liquid coolers:

This is mounted conventionally and plugs into the original motherboard fan header.

Mount the coolers carefully using a high quality thermal paste- for example Arctic Silver 5, Thermal Grizzly, or Noctua NH to ensure the proper thermal transfer.

Secondly, ensure the system has the 1100W power supply.

Perhaps Performance Advisor looked at this system and decided it wasn't ready for performance tuning!

 One other factor may have to do with the CPU temperature  sensor malfunction.   

Let us know what happens.

BambiBoomZ

HP z620_2 (2017) (R7) > Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8-core@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid Cooling / 64GB DDR3-1866 ECC Reg / GTX 1070 Ti 8GB / HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 256GB AHCI + Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe 500GB + HGST 7K6000 4TB / Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 sound interface + 2X Mackie MR824 / 825W PSU /> HP OEM Windows 7 Prof.’l 64-bit  > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H  (2560 X 1440)

[DGroves]

the "OP" stated he has the liquid cooling option installed, so the question becomes are the cooling pumps working?

the pumps connect to the headers marked "LC0/LC1" on the motherboard and you might/should be able to feel the hot water being moved by holding one of the rubberhoses (which is the water outlet going to the radiator) that connect the radiator to the pump. if this hose does not get warm within 3 min then the pump(s) may not be working

[horsem]

Hi BambiBoomZ,

Thanks for the response!

I already have liquid cooling as stated in the first paragraph.

I have triedIdle fan speed adjusting works on lowering temperature, but I don't want a high idle speed all the time, as the machine won't always run on high load work and high idle cpu speed is really noisy.

As you mentioned, maybe with the liquid cooling, the pump is connected to the cpu fan header, which might cause the cooling fan speed not adjusted according to the temp. Because the fans that cools the radiator is connected through the "top cooling cover"

Any way to automatically change the fan speed according to the temp? It might be able to do it because the BIOS fan idle speed option do increase the fan speed when I raise it.

Z.

[DGroves]

the liquid cooling radatior is cooled by the two fans in the black cooling shroud

the case/memory fans are controlled by a seperate temp sensor and are seperate from the CPU temp sensor circuit

although the do interact with each other somewhat

[horsem]

Thanks for the reply.

I have not checked the pump power connection yet but I guess it is working. As tested earlier, when I withdraw the cpu load, the temperature drops down very quickly. And adjusting the idle fan speed in the BIOS also helps lowering the temp. But I don't want it to constantly run at high speed because of the noise. I also use the workstation a lot on low cpu load work.

Is there a way to make sure the radiator cooling fan is connected to the CPU cooling fan power? I just got the workstation and everything seems pre-designed for the power of the cooling fan.

Thanks in advance for any other comments!

Z.

[horsem]

is the cooling fan for the liquid cooling radiator integrated in the liquid cooling set? It looks to me that the heatsink is cooled by the fans integrated on the Air Shroud and Fan Assembly.

Do you have a photo of the radiator cooling fan you mentioned? like where can I locate them and see if it is working?

Thanks,

Zhibo

[horsem]

Hi DGroves,

Do you know which fan does the idle fan speed option in the BIOS control?

Thanks,

z

[BambiBoomZ]

Horsem,

Given that the fan speed is responsive to manual BIOS control, there is a possibility that the temperature sensors are misreporting the temperatures internally to the fan and'or pump controllers, but do appear corrently on an external temperature monitor. Check the temperature sensors link to the fan controller. If those sensors ares not difficult to replace- that is, without precision soldering, it may worth considering replacement.

If the GPU fans are being regulated properly according to temperture, that may suggest the CPU sensors are at fault.

Checking, I could not find any information on the location or specification of the sensors.

Have you experienced any signs of thermal throttling, espeically a drop in CPU clock speed?

I'm also curious as to the relationship of the fan and pump controls.  Are they interlinked - both rising and falling together  or is the pump volume constant? On the z420 liquid cooler- which is an all-in-one unit, the pump and fan seems to rise and fall in unison.

BambiBoomZ

[horsem]

Hi BambiBoomZ,

At least the temperature reading from the CPU cores are available, and their changes are associated with cpu load. So I guess the CPU temp sensor at least is working.

Regarding to the sensors for the radiator cooling fan, I am not sure where they are located. Do you mean that the radiator cooling fan use a seperate sensor that sense the air near the radiator? This doesn't make a good sense to me as a good design. Why don't they just use the cpu core temperature as input?

CPU clock speed seems OK, as at the times I checked, they are in the hyper threading range, above the set frequency.

Do any of you work in HP so they can look up in the design sheet of this board to see how the fan speed of the fan that cools the liquid cooling radiator is controled?

I am guessing that it might be a bad design because of the seperate liquid cooling system. The board might just adjust the voltage to the pumps and the fan just uses geenral voltage reguatioin from the BIOS system idle fan speed. Do any of you know which fans does this option reguate?

By the way, for some reason, CPUID-HWMonitor couldn't detect CPU fan speed. Temp and fan report on GPU works fan.