Help on Cooling with new purchase

[aviwil]

I don't know too much about cooling , except from what I've seen on websites . I am purchasing an Athlon TBird 1 Ghz system with an ASUS A7V motherboard . I will not be doing any overclocking , but if I understood properly , cooling is still important . I mentioned this to the retailer , and was told that the case is 300 W and has 2 fans - it'll be enough . I asked the agent of the motherboards , and was told that the heatsink comes with the processor . I've noticed from some website photos that there is a combined fan/heat sink ( ? ) which sits on top of the actual processor . Is this the 2nd fan of the case that the retailer mentioned , or the heatsink the motherboard agent mentioned ? If so , should that be enough ? If neither of these 2 , then must I insist on getting such a fan/heatsink installed on the processor ? ( there will then be 3 fans ? ) .

 

[Zenthar]

You cannot use a CPU without it being direclty cooled (Heatsink+fan and/or other means). So you can be sure there will be a Heatsink+fan on the CPU (otherwise the CPU will live about 5 to 10 seconds then literaly melt).

This post is a bit confusing. A got a TBird 1Ghz on A7V with a GF2 GTS. The only fans I have are the one in my power supply, the one in front of my casing and the one on my Heatsink. The combined heat of the GTS and CPU make my system unstable (if I run only CPU intensive tests for 12 straight hours there is no problem, but 3 or more hours of intensive gaming makes my PC crash). To solve the problem I will add Arctic silver thermal past to my CPU and probably a 120mm fan on the side of my casing.

I am not sure this will be of any help, if not simply post your question a bit clearer.

 

[Bubba]

The most important thing is to make sure you have a good Heatsink/fan sitting on top of your processor. Don't turn it on without one.
I'm not real clear on your post. Are you talking case fans, PS fans, HSF???

Just make sure you have a HSF on the chip, you can worry about the rest later if things get too hot.

 

[aviwil]

Thanks for the replies and sorry for not being clearer . Your answers have helped me somewhat . The truth is that I don't really know what the 2 fans included with the casing are . What does it normally mean when there are 2 fans in the casing ? Are they usually case fans or PS ( Power supply ? ) fans or what ? Zenthar , do the Heatsink+fan on the CPU you mentioned , come with the CPU ( i.e. with the Athlon ) , or does the PC shop provide this ? As for adding any additional fans later - I don't think I am familiar enough with such things to do this myself , and would prefer to have this all set up , when I buy the PC . Thanks .

 

[Bubba]

I'm not sure what fans they are referring to. It depends on the vendor. They may try and make their product look better by saying it has more fans.
For example I you are just talking case fans, I would say I have 5.
However I could also say I have 9 fans in my computer if you count HSF, video card fan, and 2 fans for the powersupply.

You specific case could contain 2 case fans or one case fan and one PS fan or one PS fan and one HSF.
Who knows, you need to either look inside your case to find out or contact the vendor and ask if you just ordered it or are planning to order it.

 

[Crashman]

An honest vender will say 2 fans if the system has a front and rear case fan. Most venders are not this honest. They will usually include the power supply fan and/or the CPU fan in that number.

Suicide is painless...........

 

[Guest]

See Tom's very own article on this subject to find out about CPU fan and heatsink cooling.
http://www4.tomshardware.com/cpu/00q4/001211/index.html


- Every private citizen has a public responsibility

 

[cellbiogeek]

Your system will come with a heat sink and fan already on the processor if the retailer is building it for you. The heat sink and fan are probably the ones which come with the processor. These are adequate but a better cooler MAY lengthen the life of your processor and is necessary for overclocking (which it doesn't sound like you're planning on doing so don't worry about it).

At the molecular level I'm really quite busy.

 

[cellbiogeek]

If you want to put another fan in your case, they're cheap ($8-$9). Just make sure you have an open connector to plug it into (ie. if there's no where to plug it in on the motherboard get one with a normal power supply connector; they're the same kind your hard drive is plugged into).

At the molecular level I'm really quite busy.