Fans slowing down on MB

[Chism]

I have an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mother board. The fan on the chipset recently started having difficulty starting up. Once it does start up it runs at about 3 - 4K RPM, every once in a while it slows and spikes downward to <1000 RPM. The voltages coming from the PSU appear to be stable: 12V - 11.8, 5V = 4.8, 3.3V = 3.26, Vcore = 1.39. The PSU is a Coolermaster 450W. The chipset hasn't gotten overly hot yet - runs around 38 - 40C.

I also think the fan for the CPU has slowed down recently. I built the computer in Feb. and seem to remember the fan running around 3K rpm. Now it idles at 1400 rpm and 37C.

I don't have any fan controllers running (ie. Q-fan, etc.)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[sivart]

Does the BIOS have any fan controllers? I know that on my Gigabyte it does and kind of freaked me out when the CPU fan stopped spinning upon the first boot.

 

[Chism]

It does have a fan controller in the bios but I have always left it off. I read in one of these forums that the controller ran the fan too fast so it stays off.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

I hate chipset fans. You can replace the chipset fan with a Zalman chipset heatsink for under $10 shipped.

 

[Chism]

I had thought about swapping to a Zalman...is it a difficult thing to do?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Usually very easy, but your need to take the mobo out of the case. Your existing mini HSF should have two pins holding it to the mobo. Squeeze heads of the pins (the ends poking through the bottom of the mobo) and you can pull them out. The heatsink may have some double-stick tape holding it down to the chip but a little careful wiggle and pulling will release it.

The Zalman uses the same type of pins to attach itself to the mobo.