Heat Flow Question

[skewedview]

Hey guys, I know that probably all of these questions have been answered in various places around the board ... as I've spent an hour going through threads. Just trying to get a grasp at all of this, as the last time I built a computer, AMD has just released the Athlon XP.

The system I built has the following specs:

Case: Corsair Carbide 200R
Mobo: ASRock 970 Extreme4
CPU: AMD FX-8350
Gfx: Sapphire 2GB HD-7850
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

All of the coolers are stock at the moment are stock, so this thing sounds like a jet engine when I push the CPU a bit. I am trying to figure out what I should do first to fix this, and cool things down a little bit.

Noise level is a high priority, as this machine is in my living room as a combo gaming/htpc rig.

I've seen some good things about the Corsair Hydro Series H55 Quiet Edition Water CPU Cooler. This is my first venture into any form of water cooling solution, but from what I can tell, the fan included with that H55 replaces one of the exhaust fans? Is that correct?

I've read many things about getting a "negative pressure" going in there, with one intake fan and two exhaust. Is that the way to go?

I don't think I need to be concerned about the Gfx fans, unless there's a way to quiet those down some ... I couldn't tell what noise was what, as when I push it, the whole thing is just plain loud. But running Skyrim at 1080p on Ultra settings with the high-res texture pack installed, the HD-7850 only reached about 65c temp ... so that seems fine.

But should my priority be to replace the CPU cooling system first? Or case fans?

Another random question. I downloaded SpeedFan to monitor things for me. Not controlling through it, as I've got BIOS set to handle that. What on earth is this "AUX" fan that I see? Even when the system is just chillin', that baby shows to be running at 100% and temp will go from 30c to 140c in half a second.

As lastly, one specifically for the HTPC crowd I assume. I have this sitting in my living room, on a hard-wood floor. Should I consider some sort of hard padding underneath? I wonder if this might have something to do with the overall loudness I'm experiencing. Everything bounces off wood floors, so I didn't know if anyone had a nice solution for that?

 

[clutchc]

I always felt positive pressure was preferable. Keeps dirt/dust exiting the case.

The stock AMD 4-pipe cooler is notoriously noisy with its small high-speed fan, and the big 8 core puts out a lot of heat. I would replace the cooler first. Even if you don't O/C, the noise reduction alone will be worth it.

If your PSU is intaking air from the bottom of the case, be careful placing anything under the PC that could limit air intake.

 

[skewedview]

In terms of cooling and keeping things quiet ... would it be a better move to go for the Corsair H55 or to go for the Noctua NH-D14? That Noctua looks like it is a LOT quieter than the water-cooled option.

Does anyone have any specifics on the dBA of the stock heatsink and fan that came with the FX-8350? I couldn't find any specs on that. The H55 says that it is 30.32 dBA, and the NH-D14 says the following:

Acoustical Noise: 19.6 dB(A)(NF-P14)/ 19.8 dB(A) (NF-P12)
Acoustical Noise with U.L.N.A.: 13.2 dB(A) (NF-P14) / 12.6 dB(A) (NF-P12)

Of course, I don't know what all of that means ... but I do know that it's at least 10 dBA quieter than the H55.

In terms of compatibility, the NH-D14 says it is compatible with my ASRock 970 Extreme4 board, and has no notes next to it. I've noticed that on many of their board, there is a note that says it extends past the RAM slots. But on the compatibility checker, it says it's not compatible with my Corsair Vengeance RAM. Is that a factor since my board doesn't have any notes next to it? Or will I be fine?