Installing Cooler Master Hyper TX3 and new case fans question?

[necyht]

So I figured I'd ask for a new heatsink and some silent case fans for my birthday as I wasnt my PC to be MUCH quieter and cooler as well. I was dead set on wanting the Hyper 212 EVO but It looks like it wont fit in my case (NZXT Source 210) so I settled for the Cooler Master Hyper TX3. I also wanted to get some silent fans and I found these on amazon with pretty good reviews: http://

Anyways, this is my first time installing these things so I wanted to ask a few questions.

Are the heatsink and the fans a good choice or is there a better option at a decent price for the two?

The heatsink comes with its own thermal paste. but would it be better to go with the Arctic Silver instead?

I heard to only apply a "pea" sized drop of the thermal compound on the CPU. However, some people say to spread it around with a credit card or something like that. How crucial is it to get this step perfect in applying the thermal compund and what is the best way to do it?

I heard that for my case, optimal airflow includes one fan on the front of the case, another fan on the top and another on back, but what direction should the fan on my heatsink be facing?

and finally, this is something a beginner could easily do myself right? I had my PC originally prebuilt by a company and while I'm familiar with my parts inside I like to be cautious when messing with the components inside. This is something that I can't screw up right?

Thank you

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

The case would fit a 212 Evo with about 30mm to spare, so if it's not too late, I'd go back for it. The TX3 is fine as a quieter alternative to a standard heatsink, but it doesn't perform much better and isn't suitable for overclocking.

The case fans you're looking at are standard Cooler Master fans that will come packaged with CM cases. Personally, I would avoid them, but you'll probably struggle to find an alternative product for the same price. I use Sharkoon Silent Eagle 120mm fans and they're very quiet, even at full speed.

Pre-applied thermal paste is fine, but I prefer to use my own, which is Arctic MX-4.

There's a lot of debate about how to apply thermal paste. Personally, I stick to the old method of applying a pea-sized amount and spreading it with an old credit card. That way, I know for sure that the entire surface area of the CPU is evenly covered. If you don't spread the paste, it doesn't necessarily cover everywhere evenly.

Typical case airflow goes like this:

Front fan - intake
Rear fan - exhaust
Top fan - exhaust
Side fan - intake

The heatsink fan should be blowing toward the rear case fan. It can be either push or pull, it doesn't really matter. Just make sure that the heatsink fan goes into the CPU_FAN header on the motherboard.

The TX3 installs with push-pins, just like standard Intel and AMD heatsinks. Case fans attach to the SYS_FAN headers located on the motherboard, so make sure you have enough of them. Alternatively, you can buy a fan controller and attach the case fans to that.

Everything is very easy to do, you would have to try hard to break something.

 

[necyht]

The case would fit a 212 Evo with about 30mm to spare, so if it's not too late, I'd go back for it. The TX3 is fine as a quieter alternative to a standard heatsink, but it doesn't perform much better and isn't suitable for overclocking.

The case fans you're looking at are standard Cooler Master fans that will come packaged with CM cases. Personally, I would avoid them, but you'll probably struggle to find an alternative product for the same price. I use Sharkoon Silent Eagle 120mm fans and they're very quiet, even at full speed.

Pre-applied thermal paste is fine, but I prefer to use my own, which is Arctic MX-4.

There's a lot of debate about how to apply thermal paste. Personally, I stick to the old method of applying a pea-sized amount and spreading it with an old credit card. That way, I know for sure that the entire surface area of the CPU is evenly covered. If you don't spread the paste, it doesn't necessarily cover everywhere evenly.

Typical case airflow goes like this:

Front fan - intake
Rear fan - exhaust
Top fan - exhaust
Side fan - intake

The heatsink fan should be blowing toward the rear case fan. It can be either push or pull, it doesn't really matter. Just make sure that the heatsink fan goes into the CPU_FAN header on the motherboard.

The TX3 installs with push-pins, just like standard Intel and AMD heatsinks. Case fans attach to the SYS_FAN headers located on the motherboard, so make sure you have enough of them. Alternatively, you can buy a fan controller and attach the case fans to that.

Everything is very easy to do, you would have to try hard to break something.

Thnaks for the help. I'll try to switch to the 212 instead.

 

[necyht]

The case would fit a 212 Evo with about 30mm to spare, so if it's not too late, I'd go back for it. The TX3 is fine as a quieter alternative to a standard heatsink, but it doesn't perform much better and isn't suitable for overclocking.

The case fans you're looking at are standard Cooler Master fans that will come packaged with CM cases. Personally, I would avoid them, but you'll probably struggle to find an alternative product for the same price. I use Sharkoon Silent Eagle 120mm fans and they're very quiet, even at full speed.

Pre-applied thermal paste is fine, but I prefer to use my own, which is Arctic MX-4.

There's a lot of debate about how to apply thermal paste. Personally, I stick to the old method of applying a pea-sized amount and spreading it with an old credit card. That way, I know for sure that the entire surface area of the CPU is evenly covered. If you don't spread the paste, it doesn't necessarily cover everywhere evenly.

Typical case airflow goes like this:

Front fan - intake
Rear fan - exhaust
Top fan - exhaust
Side fan - intake

The heatsink fan should be blowing toward the rear case fan. It can be either push or pull, it doesn't really matter. Just make sure that the heatsink fan goes into the CPU_FAN header on the motherboard.

The TX3 installs with push-pins, just like standard Intel and AMD heatsinks. Case fans attach to the SYS_FAN headers located on the motherboard, so make sure you have enough of them. Alternatively, you can buy a fan controller and attach the case fans to that.

Everything is very easy to do, you would have to try hard to break something.

So I just installed my Hyper 212 EVO and it is AMAZING. I'm looking at HWMonitor and I dropped from 30 C to 8-16 C on idle, plus its SUPER quiet. Is there any other program I should run to make sure the temps are 100% good or is looking at HWMonitor fine?