Improve fan control settings on vp66 protecli series / IT8659

[ZeChArtiahSaher]

The problem you're addressing (if any)

Current fan control settings provided by the IT8659 (in protectli vp66 series) do not allow for a 0rpm setting, it would be nice if such option was added instead of having to plug in 'fan simulators'

Describe the solution you'd like

I imagine either BIOS firmware could be updated to interface more granularly with the IT8659 chip or have firmware update for the IT8659 if possible.

In terms of solution options I could see two:

• have manual 0pwm be true 0rpm
• provide the user the ability to disengage fan control completely with a boolean toggle

Where is the value to a user, and who might that user be?

An owner of protecli hardware in office space or private space where noise levels are more important than that of a server room

Describe alternatives you've considered

Patching bios to see if hidden settings could possibly change fan control but it seems that it8659 control the logic and it's not clear for me how to instruct it8659 not to have fan control on. No datasheets available in the public and also no docs on how to interface with it8659.

The only other option is using a so called 'fan simulator' circuit instead of the fans but this solution given the relative openness of the platform seems cumbersome + protecli ships units with fan headers glued onto the board so it requires the user to commit to basically dismantling the unit. Nevermind the extra cost of purchasing 'fan simulators'

Additional context

There is no reason to enforce min rpm on vp66 i3 esp as they never top out tj max as intel thermal throttling does a good job and other components never top out 50-60 during stress tests like mprime/stress

No response

[miczyg1]

Simpler option:

Integrate the support for fixed fan profiles (Silent and Performance) (https://docs.dasharo.com/dasharo-menu-docs/dasharo-system-features/#power-management-options) and extend the profiles with Fans off to address the feature requested. Each of the profiles will have a predefined set of fan curve settings programmed by coreboot on ITE chips.

More sophisticated option:

A dedicated UI module for UEFI payload which will allow more fine-grained control over the fan settings for ITE chips. Plus some additions like HW monitoring of voltages, temperatures and fan speeds in real time.

[ZeChArtiahSaher]

I actually got lucky that bios still posts with fan headers being simply plugged off