Full fan speed HP Z8 G4

[ermalkoci]

Hello,

I just tried to run a Passmark Benchmark and as soon as the software started all the fans of my PC went crazy. All working at 100% and didn't stop even after I closed the program. Is this normal? Is there something wrong I'm doing? I really want to run a benchmark but don't want to break my fans in the process.

Thanks.

[David (PassMark)]

Running a fan at full speed (or close to full speed) shouldn't damage the fan.

Fan speed is controlled via the BIOS in the computer and is usually proportional to temperature. (More load = More heat = Faster fans)

They should slow down again once the load is gone and a few minutes have past.

It might also be the case that the cooling solution (heat sink, thermal paste, airflow, fan size, etc..) wasn't well designed on your machine if the fans need to work so hard.

[ermalkoci]

It has nothing to do with the temperatures because the fans start spinning as soon as the program starts, and no benchmark is running. So, the system is at idle temperatures. And the fan start spinning way faster than they normally should even at full temps. I don't know if it damages the fan, I hope so. Or at least I hope I didn't damage nothing just to run a benchmark.

[David (PassMark)]

The main screen of PerformanceTest is animated. Some CPU / GPU time is used for the 3D animation. So machine is not idle.
But if you change to a different screen, without the animation, then the machine should be idle (assuming there is nothing else running in the background).

[ermalkoci]

I don't think that's it. As I told on the first post, the fans keep spinning at 100% even if I completely close Passmark. I think at some point the program interferes with the bios or some other low level sensors, that's what sends the PC in panic mode.

[David (PassMark)]

It isn't a known issue (and the software has probably been run on 5M machines) and even in theory it seems hard to come up with a mechanism by which this could happen. Bad BIOS settings, BIOS bugs or Windows power management settings seem more likely.

But post the full specs of your machine and version of the software you are using, and maybe someone else has the same issue.
If we get 2 or 3 people who have the same issue we can have a closer look.

[ermalkoci]

Maybe. Here are my specs.

Model: HP Z8 G4 Workstation
Baseboard ID: 81C7
BIOS version: P60 v02.90
Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6134 CPU @ 3.20GHz (2 processors)
Enabled Processor Count: 32
Total Memory: 128 GB
Local Storage: 3.92 TB (2 drives)
Graphics Card & Driver: Quadro P5000 -- 528.24

Performance test 10.2 x86
65 MB, Build 1017
For Intel and AMD x86 CPUs

[Michel-nl]

I have almost the same setup, only with a dual 6150 cpu and a P2000 gpu. And I have the same problem, when passmark or memtest86 starts scanning the system, all fans ramp up to max level and that can only be stopped thru a reboot. Shutting down the passmark app doesn’t change any thing, or limit the fps of the graphics in the startup screen.

[David (PassMark)]

So just to confirm you also have a HP Z8 G4 Workstation with P60 v02.90 BIOS ?

[David (PassMark)]

I just did some Googling for you.

Seems it is a known problem with this HP machine. See,

See,
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Busine...l/td-p/8576747
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Busine...t/td-p/6963526
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Busine...d/td-p/7192697
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Busine...D/td-p/6955365

That last post claims a firmware update from HP fixed the problem.

[Michel-nl]

Yes I had also version P60 2.90, i’ve just updated to version 2.92, but it still ramps up while scanning the system, just as with version 2.90

[David (PassMark)]

You might need to raise the issue with HP, as it seems to be a known issue since 2018.