Desktop Computers

As long as you plug them into mobo power headers they can be controlled. However, most of them are set for specific fans, and a lot of the cooling software the motherboard comes with will be kinda useless unless you set it up the way they intended. I tried a fan controller a long time ago, but it drastically cut the lifespan of the fans. IDK why.

Gnomedolf_sl said:

Thanks. I know this is a dumb question, but if I have a case fan that has a 3-pin plug, and my motherboard has 4-pin connectors, do I have to use an adapter, or can I skip a pin?

Edit: I suppose it would need to be 4-pin for the motherboard to control it, right? Would an adapter fix that?

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You can plug a 3-pin fan into a 4-pin MB fan connector. The connectors are designed to work with both types, and any relatively modern board will only have 4 pin connectors for maximum flexibility.

The 4-pin fans arePulse-width Modulation (PWM)fans, which is a type of fan control usually used with CPU fans that adjust the speed of the fan without adjusting the actual fan voltage. The 3-pin fans arelinear voltagefans, where the fan speed is changed by adjusting the voltage, there is a linear relationship between voltage and speed in these fans (hence the name). These are usually used for case fans.

Mass market water coolers can be really good for noise reduction, but they don't offer a lot of advantage over really good air coolers for actual temperaturs. I have a Corsair H100i and I love it, I replaced the stock fans with some fans that had better ratings for noise, and the pump itself is very quiet. Easily the quietest PC I've ever built, and the cooling is still solid, I run my 3.4ghz 3570k at 4.6ghz with no heat issues. I can push it to 4.8 and its stable under normal use and gaming, but it does fail under stress tests at 4.8ghz, so I dialed it back to 4.6.

I slapped 4 of these onto my H100i radiator:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835214029

The advantage of 4 over 2 is also that I can run them at slower speeds and get equivalent cooling to just 2 fans, but the option is still there to crank them all up if needed. I have them all idle at about 25% power/RPMs, and they are completely silent, and they never need to raise above that unless I'm doing some gaming for quite a while.

Like I said before, unless you're willing to spend big on watercooling, a high end heatsink will do a better job at the same sound level.

For pro and con arguments, go back a few pages, we went at it for a while


edit : Regarding the cpu, it all depends on your budget and what else you do with your computer and how long it will be before you're gonna upgrade again.

I'd rather go i5 with a 770 instead of 760 or 256gb ssd instead of 128gb or shit like that but for me, the only cpu intensive part is gaming and games right now don't take advantage of what the i7 is offering.

Anything from the Thermalright HR-02 Macho (~40$ and my favorite for price/performance) to the Noctua NH-D14 (100+$).

Also if you're talking about silent computing you really need an aftermarket gpu cooler. Arctic Cooling are pretty much the best and most popular but there are other options as well like DeepCool.

edit : we can't forget the best air cooler (dual tower) right nowPhanteks PH-TC14PE(85$) or the best single towerThermalright Archon SB-E X2(85$). You'd need to change the fans on the Phanteks so that puts it a bit over 100$.

I'm a techpowerup / xbitlabs / anandtech reader so I base my recommendations on those websites.

Parts are coming in tomorrow. Friend is going to help me put it together. So excited.

Since I'll be getting a SSD around cyber monday, will there be a way to transfer stuff from my normal drive to the SSD one? Or will I have to reformat and re-do everything?

Sithro_sl said:

Parts are coming in tomorrow. Friend is going to help me put it together. So excited.

Since I'll be getting a SSD around cyber monday, will there be a way to transfer stuff from my normal drive to the SSD one? Or will I have to reformat and re-do everything?

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My understanding is that it's generally best to do a fresh install on an SSD, because Windows 7 and up specifically configures some options during the installation for SSD's. However I believe it's also possible to do that stuff manually if you upgrade.

Eomer_sl said:

My understanding is that it's generally best to do a fresh install on an SSD, because Windows 7 and up specifically configures some options during the installation for SSD's. However I believe it's also possible to do that stuff manually if you upgrade.

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This is true. Do a clean install on an SSD!! Much less headaches. Quite a few processes are changed and / or disabled by default on an SSD install. (Prefetch, defrag, TRIM, etc)

I see.

Would it be possible to create two partitions on the hard drive, one for the OS and one for games. That way when I get the SSD, I can delete the OS partition on the normal HDD, install the OS on the SSD and save myself a lot of new installations?

If this is a dumb idea, forgive me. I'm tired.

You will still have to reinstall a lot of games that cannot be run in a "portable" mode. Almost everything uses your %appdata% folder in some fashion these days even if installed on a different drive / partition.

Nvidia cards are apparently now coming with a code for the new Arkham game. All I got was Splinter Cell

This is why I always recommend that if you are on a tight budget for a build, to go ahead and get the SSD now, and skip the large storage drive if you can't afford both. Re-installing an OS is a bit of a pain in the ass, not to mention all the other programs tied to it that have to be reinstalled. A 128 GB SSD is still enough storage to get you through for a few months until you can add more storage.