New midrange gaming PC build looking for some advice

[mfenn]

It looks like the biggest issue with my GPU was the stock fan control. It was at 80c and running at 50% fan, this was without the sound card in there and the side panel off. I downloaded Afterburner and set a custom profile, now it's running at around 65c or so under load with the fan at around 70% to 80% speed. Looks like I just need to get that splitter in there to power my front fans and I'll be good.

That tight fit between my sound and video card still bothers me though. It's probably closer to 1/4 inch than 1/2 inch.

Once you get some cool air coming into the case, I think that you'll find that the GPU temperatures go down significantly, perhaps enough to go back to the stop fan curve.

 

[elthenar]

I got this in the mail last night and my case fans are in business.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812311002


I also added an intake fan to the top to push fresh air right to the intake of the CPU cooler, which the case fan then sucks right out the back. All my temps are great now. I don't have any newer games to really push the GPU yet, but with the Crytek 3 based Archeage maxxed out I am still running in the 60's.

In hindsight, I should have gone with a different motherboard. I got twitchy when I saw all of the 970's disappearing. I can live with it though, everything is working great and staying cool and my sound card fits. Thanks for the help and advice

 

[mfenn]

Glad it all worked out in the end!