z63a fan speed info?

Which software allows me to see the fan speeds and temperature thresholds for those speeds on the z63a? I see that the w3a's manual lists the "NB Probe" utility, and claims it allows you to view fan speeds. But the z63a did not come with that program, and it's not available for download on the z63a or w3a file lists.
I've tried speedfan and notebook hardware control, and they don't show any fan information for this laptop.

 

The driver CD with my W3A has a folder called "Probe2" which contains the Asus Probe software.

You can also find this software on the Asus download site as "PC Probe Utility" for the W3A.

(In case you don't know, the W3A is the Asus ensemble version of the Z63A with identical electronics).

John

 

My new z63a came with ver. 3.0 install cd, and that cd does not include pc probe. THe volume label for the CD is W3A_W3V_30, so I'd think it'd have the same software as is published for the w3a. Yes I've read claims that the hardware is identical, but I'm confused as to why the releasing of BIOS and ACPI (ATKACPI) software happens on a completely different schedule for these two products. FOr example, the latest z63a bios is 0503, but for the w3a, there are newer&older bioses reported. This leads me to wonder if there are some subtle differences in the DSDT data in the bios, which may burn me if I try and mix&match software.

 

Ok, I installed the published "Asus Probe" v2.11 from the w3a download area, and it is different than the "NB Probe" described in the w3a manual. "NB probe" reports SMART disk temp. info and the SMART data is nowhere to be found with "asus probe". "NB probe" supposedly also reports voltage info, also nowhere to be found with "asus probe".

 

1. You can get PC Probe from the Asus download website - I've just checked. Go to http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us and use the search boxes at the top left of the screen, not the menus on the right side. Search for W3A. The W3A version will work with the Z63A.

2. I'm sure someone (AuroraS ?) recently flashed his Z63A with the W3A BIOS and concluded that the difference was that he now got the Asus logo on initial bootup. All other hardware is the same, so the W3A drivers and utilities will work with the Z63A.

John

 

I have the Z63A and flashed the W3A BIOS. It works perfectly - no problems. The reason why they are different is that the W3A BIOS has an ASUS logo at startup, the Z63A BIOS doesn't (since it is meant to be branded by individual shops). So, yes, Z63A / W3A stuff is identical and can be mixed and matched. In fact, my notebook has "W3A" printed on the lid. Others even have "W3A" labeled on the ID sticker on the bottom.

 

Have you tried the latest bios - 0702A?

The release notes are completely different, so it's more than that.

Yes, I noticed that the logos all matched but I'm still worried about DSDT differences. Another example besides the bios itself is the different ATKACPI software released for the two models.

 

The w3a probe software, version 2.11, is over 2 years old and is not supporting the system's sensors such as the SMART disk monitoring. It looks like the wrong monitoring software for this system's chipset.

Thanks, I saw that but it was with older bios than the current ones...

 

I use MobileMeter to monitor CPU and HDD temperature and Asus Probe to show the fan speed. However, since the latest BIOS update has more than doubled the apparent fan speeds, this information is of questionable value. My ear can tell me if the fan is off, slow or fast.

John

 

Thanks. My ear tells me there are at least 4 states for the fan: off, quiet, somewhat obtrusive, and obnoxious. My observations are that the later 3 states only somewhat match up to how much load the CPU is under and how warm the air is coming out of the system. Reminds me of my car's AC And the behavior is different under windows & linux, even though the fan speed is described as not controllable via software. So I would like to be able to quantify what is going on so that I can tell what voltage tweaks/bios versions/driver versions/cpu multipliers work best for me. The defaults are not working great for me.

Thanks, guess I'll try that as well. Sounds the same as speedfan however. Also speedfan and linux's lm_sensors report an additional temp which seems to be the motherboard temp....

I was hoping that ASUS could provide software to fully report the state of the hardware. The 3rd party software seems to resort to incomplete guesswork.

I thought the doubling of fan speeds in the latest bios was just in the reported numbers, not actual speed?

 

1. I've never noticed the 4th fan speed. I rarely get to the second speed - my CPU is undervolted and struggles to reach the 60C threshold, even under full load.

2. Yes. I think the latest BIOS does not change the actual speed - only the reported values.

John

 

I can hit the 3rd fan speed, 4th if you count off as speed 1, after about 5-10minutes of 100% cpu load. Under linux, this happens when the cpu hits 80.2C, and it doesn't go off until the temp. drops back down to 65.2C. Only takes 5-10minutes to hit this fan speed with a 20C ambient air temp., and a starting cpu temp of about 40C.