X9 IPMI Temperature Control

[Daniels25143]

I am in process of wrapping up a new build using a X9-SRLF motherboard and E5-2655 processor. I am using a Noctua heatsink which has low speed fans. I've successfully used the thread on Freenas forums to adjust the upper and lower fan speed limits so that the fans don't go to 100% when the motherboard thinks that they have stalled.

However, I now have a new problem, the motherboard isn't ramping up the fans enough to keep the CPU at (what I think) is a reasonable temperature. With the IPMI fan control set to 'Optimal' the CPU has gotten up to 79 C, which is too warm for my liking though it's still below max for the CPU. Looking at the motherboard IPMI webpage shows the CPU high threshold as 98 C, do I just need to adjust this down to 70 C using the same IPMI commands I used for the fans, or do I need to perform other actions?

 

[darkwarrior]

Hello there,

I think you need to work on your airflow, I have a Noctua heatsink too and the temps are never going above 60C under very very load.
Concerning the threshold you see on the IPMI page (98C) that is the temp when the CPU will start throttling (slowing down) to avoid overheating. Just a bit higher and you have the thermal emergency shutdown kicking in....
You really don't want to get even closer to that

A good target is 65C under highest load, if you want to keep your CPU running for a long time ;)

 

[Daniels25143]

I'm not sure I'm dealing with an airflow problem as it seemed the fans were never ramping up from just over idle. With the fan profile set to optimal I was reading about 450 RPM on each of the CPU fans, but the temperature was into the 70's.
I've temporarily set the fan profile set to full speed I can run the CPU at 75% and the temperature levels out around 60 C.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[Glorious1]

What's the manufacturer's RPM range on those fans? Optimal isn't what you want to use - it is the lowest fan mode, ranging from 30-100% duty cycle. Standard gives you more cooling, ranging from 50-100%. HeavyIO (if you have it) will use Standard mode for the CPU zone and a 75-100% for the 'peripheral' zone, so it is the coolest mode other than Full.

If those other modes don't satisfy you, you may want to check out my scripts. spincheck.sh will monitor temps and fan speeds and duty cycle easily. There are also two fan control scripts that you can set to ramp the CPU fans up as you wish by setting a reference temperature and a scaling factor.

 

[Daniels25143]

The CPU fan range is 300-1200 RPM. I adjusted to standard and ran a stress test which had the CPU run up to mid 60's C, but I never noticed the fans increase speed at all. At what temperature should I see a fan speed increase, is there a chart hidden somewhere on supermicros site that shows that?

I've seen your scripts and may run down that route. Will they work on an all in one system, as my freenas box is running on ESXi.

Thanks again for the replies, I'm slowly learning all the new things.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

 

[Glorious1]

I'm not aware of any data showing how temperature affects fan control, so anybody's guess. I can tell you I also have a board with an integrated processor with passive cooling (just the case fans). It idles around 56 C and gets up to the high 60s when stressed. One time I screwed up an experiment and I think it got to around 90. No big deal.

Since the board is designed for that processor, I have to conclude that Supermicro believes those temps are fine, and no reason to ramp up to high duty cycles on the CPU headers. This assumes you actually have the CPU fans hooked up to the CPU zone (FAN1 and FAN2). That's what the board expects.

I don't know what ESXi is, so can't answer that question.