>This board has a Fintek F71878AD, a perfectly capable Super IO controller that can read temperatures, control fan PWM, and monitor fan speeds, but MSI just didn't connect it to the board.
is not true. There is a diagram available for this mobo and U32 (F71889AD) is connected over LPC (modern serial ISA version). Its a full Super IO and it cant be _not connected_ as it also provides keyboard/mouse, serial and printer ports.
The problem must lie elsewhere, most likely bad BIOS.
>Here's what I knew:
> Windows can read CPU temperature directly from the CPU's internal thermal diode, completely bypassing the useless Super IO chip.
why not read temperature directly from Fintek using HwInfo?
https://www.hwinfo.com/forum/threads/faulty-sensor-readings-... and yes it also works on 970 https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/msi-970-cpu-temps...
not to mention MSI Command Center can read those sensors AND set FAN speeds/curves, and most likely also SpeedFan.
> asked LLMs
LLM failed this person :(
... but he had fun doing it!
Yeah I was going to say that the presence of a PS/2 port almost certainly means it has a SuperI/O chip wired up. You wouldn't be able to shutdown the PC without the LPC bus talking to the SuperI/O. MSI just didn't write code to talk to the fan controller or just didn't bother with displaying it in the BIOS config page.