Cooling First Build

[Witzenman93]

Hello everybody. First post.
So I have built a G3258/R7 360 OC/H81 computer for my first *budget* build.

I am working on cooling it.

The case I bought is a TC-102. It does not come with a fan, but comes with a 500W PSU.

This PSU only came with so many cables, most of which I have used.

Basically I only have 2 cables left (The kind that power a SATA HDD)

I am confused how can I add fans with no cords to power them?

And also, is the PSU cheap? Should I increase my PSU and possibly wattage to power fans?

1 more, is aftermarket heatsink CPU fan worth it?

 

[Andrei-Florin Gogan]

1. The PSU you have is most likely a low quality one so in the future if you want a more powerful Graphics card, you will have to get a better PSU no doubt.
2. You can add more fans by connecting them to the motherboard instead of the PSU.
3. Fans consume very little and you should not worry about adding more fans.
4. Aftermarket cooling for CPU is very worth buying. Most of them are more silent then a stock fan and outperforming a stock fan by quite a margin in some cases. They are very recommended if you overclock as well.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

An aftermarket CPU heatsink is required for overclocking, but otherwise unnecessary.

Case fans are powered by headers on the motherboard and are usually labelled SYS_FAN. A typical fan configuration is:

Front - intake
Bottom - intake
Rear - exhaust
Top - exhaust
Side - intake (for GPU)

PSUs that are included with cases are always cheap and nasty ones, so I'd look at getting it replaced ASAP. Consult the PSU tier list at http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html for recommendations.

 

[Witzenman93]

I never should've gotten this TC-102. I know they have nice stuff, but this one not so much. So is there a way to split the SYS_FAN header in multiple? I only have one SYS_FAN input on my Gigabyte H81M-H.

 

[Andrei-Florin Gogan]

I never should've gotten this TC-102. I know they have nice stuff, but this one not so much. So is there a way to split the SYS_FAN header in multiple? I only have one SYS_FAN input on my Gigabyte H81M-H.

A fan controller would be ideal but you would have to get a molex splitter to power it up.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

You can buy splitter cables but I can't vouch for them as I've never used them.

 

[Witzenman93]

I just decided to get an EVGA 500W Certified Bronze. I was using the 2 molex w/ an adapter to 6 pin because the PSU didn't come with one. New one comes with 2x 6 pin and 3 molex. Might still have to split the motherboard fan header though.

 

[ktolo]

What are your current temps like?
I'm asking, as it's not always necessary to add fans. In your case, the bundled heatsink and fan and the GPU cooling could/should be enough.

 

[Witzenman93]

Temps are fine. When I was a newb, well still am, but no as much, I thought 50 degrees Celsius was like crazy. I'm getting away with one fan, CPU fan, and GPU fan, (and PSU fan I guess) in a HTCase. I liked Gogan's answer though of the fan controller, way easier than splitters etc. Splitters are nice I guess but can the split handle data from 5 fans? I doubt it. And a fan controller has to come out a drive bay. But if I needed more fans, honestly I'd get one of those touch screen fan controllers and run it out of the optical drive for a functional and aesthetic upgrade, and just use a external USB optical drive.