Mild upgrade the easy way - what do you think?

[lehtv]

Just put everything together and noticed that the stock LGA 1155 CPU fan that came with the Dell is LOUD! Never noticed it in the old system for some reason. Any advice on what to replace it with?

Cryorig H7 looks pretty promising. $35 for a 120mm HSF with 6 year warranty, and a fan that runs at min. 330RPM allowing for silent idle operation and very low noise load operation. Most other 120mm fans start at 600-800RPM which can be audible depending on noise from other components and the case. It looks pretty sleek too and the shape is offset to avoid covering DIMM slots.

It's pretty massive though, close to Thermalright HR-02 size. But will easily fit inside your case.

EDIT: It seems to be a limited offer, not sure what the default price is. Alternative: Good ol' 212 EVO $30 AR

 

[mfenn]

Just put everything together and noticed that the stock LGA 1155 CPU fan that came with the Dell is LOUD! Never noticed it in the old system for some reason. Any advice on what to replace it with?

Burpo is correct that the default settings on most motherboards is to run the fan at full speed. Make sure you have the fan plugged into CPU_FAN1 if it is a 4-pin (PWM) fan, or CPU_FAN2 if its a 3-pin (voltage control) fan. Then go into the BIOS and set the CPU fan speed to Auto.

 

[highlanderfil]

Cool, thanks, guys. Now, another question - do I use onboard audio or my Audigy FX? Speakers are Klipsch 2.1. Reason I ask is that the board lacks a wlan card and only has room for one of the two. So either I need to buy a wi-fi adapter or pull the Audigy.

 

[mfenn]

Cool, thanks, guys. Now, another question - do I use onboard audio or my Audigy FX? Speakers are Klipsch 2.1. Reason I ask is that the board lacks a wlan card and only has room for one of the two. So either I need to buy a wi-fi adapter or pull the Audigy.

Try out the onboard and see if you like it. If so, then you can safely get rid of the Audigy.

 

[highlanderfil]

Turns out the cards are different, so I'll be keeping the Audigy and getting a wi-fi card...any advice on the latter?

 

[lehtv]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-133-_-Product

 

[highlanderfil]

How about PCI, not PCI-E?

 

[mfenn]

How about PCI, not PCI-E?

Any reason that you would need to go and buy an old PCI card? You should have at least two usable PCIe slots after a GPU is installed. One x1 slot above the GPU and one x16 slot below. You can put the Wi-Fi card in either.

 

[highlanderfil]

Any reason that you would need to go and buy an old PCI card? You should have at least two usable PCIe slots after a GPU is installed. One x1 slot above the GPU and one x16 slot below. You can put the Wi-Fi card in either.

Oh, duh, good point. Don't know why I blanked on this one.