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Hey Guys,

I haven't been on the forums for quite a while. But I'm building a new gaming rig and will hopefully be able to program more with it. My question is:

Is the stock fan for my processor going to be enough to keep it cool or should I buy another? Money is tight, but I also don't want to damage the processor at all. The processor I'm buying is:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849

What's your opinion? Thanks for your time! The TGC community rocks!

Cheers!

The fan that ships with a 'boxed' processor is sufficient to keep the CPU cool if the case doesn't overheat. Make sure the case has sufficient cooling space and fans and if it has a CPU air channel, then it's that much better.

Brian.

Thanks! The case I'm getting is a mid sized and it comes with some fans. So I guess I should be good. A friend of mine was pressuring me to spend another $100 on a fan for the processor and I just wasn't sure if I needed it. Thanks!

-Windsept

Sorry your friend is dead wrong. I've been building computer systems both professionally and for myself since 1996. With the exception of some of the Cyrix chips (very old don't worry about it). The stock fans have always been enough.

Some things to consider when building your gaming rig.

1) Airflow, make sure you invest in some cable ties. It's less of a problem these days thanks to SATA connections, but you should still be sure to tie your cables away from any spinning fans, and try not to let them block the spaces between the vents on your PC case. Some cases come with a funnel, attached to the inside of the case aimed above the processor socket, these are good because it allows unrestricted air to be blown across your CPU.

2) Positioning your computer. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a user decide to shove their PC into a cabinate with no airholes! This is not a good idea!! Most users won't make this mistake, but I've seen this, or users placing it into tight spaces, or stuffy area's too often not to mention it. The funnel I mentioned to you before only works if the side of the case see's fresh air.

3) Overclocking. This is were a lot of the fan debate really springs from, overclocking your CPU for a few extra cycles may seem like a good idea. I never do it personally, for the simple reason that I value stability and longevity over speed. Over clocking despite what many users will cry, does cause your system to overheat and the system to exhibit odd behaviours. Stock fans are designed to keep your processor cool at their recommended speed. Some users will show off water cooling systems and claim other wonderful ways of keeping your system cool. But at the end of the day, if you "need" that speed, just buy a better CPU! Only overclock a system if you can afford for that system to fail. Personally, I'm not that rich!

4) Noise reduction, this is a good reason for getting a different type of CPU fan, some of the noiseless models are quite good, but if you're going for this, please bare in mind all the other bits that make noise. There's no point slapping in a 3 fan nVidia 590 graphics card into your system and then buying a slient CPU fan. Same goes for the PSU. I often find the loudest bit of the machine is the DVD/ Bluray drive, and those 3.5 inch HDD's are not quiet by any means.

So if you're going to build your system for silence, then you need to research everything that goes into it, not just the fan.

Anyway that about cover's it I think. If you don't plan to overclock, or reduce noise, then don't bother. The fans that come with CPU's are designed to work. You certainly don't need to spend $100 on a new one, if you were prepared to spend that much extra, invest in a better graphics card instead. I'm sure for $50 extra you could get a decent upgrade

Cyrix, lol, that's what we had in highschool! Whopping 133MHz, and we programmed in pascal just fine with it! (I had a P133 at home)

I've always used the stock fans, but I also don't overclock. The important part is installing the heat sink correctly and not going overboard when applying thermal paste.


You remember the round IDE cables? I had a ton of those thick wires. Kids don't know how easy they got it these days!

Pfft. IDE cables were never my problem, flat or round

No, it was manually setting up your damned hardware, by altering tiny dip switches in order to manipulate the IRQ ordering that was the bane of my existence. Trying to get the SCSI card, to work with the modem, network, sound, video, video accelerator card, video capture, serial, and early proprietary I/O cards to bloody well work together was the challenge!

Some of the hardware would only work in limited IRQ ranges, meaning one or more of these things would need to be configured to the same channel which rendered the hardware instantly useless.

I would spend hours and hours flipping those tiny switches and in some case bridging connectors with those tiny caps (urghhh). I swear I've bled for some of these setups. I mean really physically bled! Some of those pins are damned sharp. Turns out blood doesn't replace a connecting cap either.

Then along came Windows 95, YAY! And it's automatic IRQ settings within windows. YAY! That is... if it worked, which alot of the hardware I was working with didn't! That meant that "some" of the hardware would require manual assignments via the hardware, and "some" would require it to be manually assigned in windows. Some hardware devices would be "automatically" assigned, to the same IRQ settings as something I had to "manually" assign other hardware to because of it's limited IRQ range. But windows never gave a damn, I'd turn my back for 2 seconds and it would often override my settings for whatever reason and start blue screening.

It was a joy when windows 2000 came out, and all the hardware had been updated to the point were IRQ settings were just handled automatically.

But the number of times I've rebooted windows trying to get all this hardware to work together was... (this user has committed suicide from the memory alone).

I remember early sound blaster cards causing issues with default IRQ settings. I also had a dual socket 5 server board and I too remember having to set many many dip switches. Changed your ram amount? Gotta flip another switch!


That's what tiny flat-head screwdrivers are for! Just don't slip and jam it through the motherboard.

I think people who are new to buildings PCs limited to just this past decade have no idea how much simpler it's become.

Thanks guys!

This is why I decided to ask my question here. I knew you guys knew your stuff, while my friend... I tend to think doesn't sometimes. haha

Cheers!