Fans, cooling systems, thermal grease, etc.

[Alucard draculA]

I have never built a computer before and i am more concerned with the small stuff right now. Like fans, cooling systems, thermal grease, and all the things many builds don't really say much about since everyone seems to know what they're doing.

My other main concern is the wattage need of the power supply are fans included in calculations? Also the case, i'm guessing the amount of fans you will need depends greatly one the case. Should the power supply have another fan? Lots of dust always got into my desktop, i had it for 8 years.

I have taken a computer apart, so putting in a motherboard, motherboard faceplate, power supply, cpu, ram, etc. shouldn't be a problem. I have a decent size green anti static mat and wireless anti static wrist band from microcenter.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-pc,2601.html I looked through this but I don't think they mention how you determine how many fans you need or if the air/liquid cooling replaces fans...

So before i do a thread for a build, i want to know the basics. I shouldn't have much trouble with the main components of a build.

 

[Efrain96]

Heloo Alucard draculA,

The fans which are essentially the cooling system for the computer do take up energy for they need power to operate especially those that feature led lighting. But the power draw is very small I am tempted to say that they are negligible otherwise their power consumption would be included in the case specifications . The thermal grease or paste as it is more commonly referred as, helps to act as a conduit to allow heat to transfer from the CPU to the heatsink fan/cooler. Otherwise it would not go anywhere but stay on the processor and cause it to heat up quite rapidly leading to Blue Screens of Death and potential burning out your cpu physically if its too great in a short amount of time. Here is a guide on how to deal with the application and usage of thermal paste, or grease whichever you prefer to call it.

 

[Alucard draculA]

Where is the guide? Also do i need rivets for under the motherboard?

 

[Efrain96]

Holy hell, i am sorry for such a late reply and sorry for the non inclusion of the guide!

If it's of any help telling you now, is that you need to screw down with your fingers what are called brass standoffs, not rivets. It provides insulation between the motherboard and your case. I did the mistake for my first build to DIRECTLY screwing the motherboard to the case and it caused electrical short circuiting and fried it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rn0BqMyXBM