newbie: cooling help

[mrbitter]

I already posted about this in the motherboard section... but since i want to install a few case fans too... I am posting here again


Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS A7V266-E
CPU: Athlon XP 2000
RAM: 756
GC: GF 4 Ti


here are my few problems

1.)

The little fan on my motherboard (ASUS A7V266-E) broke down, now my CPU gets way to hot (88°C). I saw a passive fan for North Bridge passive cooler at a webshop..... would this one do the trick?

2.)

I don't have any fans (besides the one in the power supply) installed in my case. Now I want to install 2 fans inside my case... one in the back and one in the front. The Problem is that I have absolutly no clue about fans.

2.1) How do I know which fans (mm) fit into my case?

2.2) Are there any brands and fans you would recommend?


3.) Anything else I should know ?



thanks for your help

 

[mrzed]

What you should do depends on how much you are bothered by computer noise. You can probably replace it with a larger heatsink and no fan. Only if you are trying to do a high FSB overclock do you sometimes need active cooling. If you don't care about noise, you can buy any cheap fan that fits for less than a good heatsink would cost. Other than silence, a nice thing about a big heatsink only is never breaking down. I've never owned an actively cooled motherboard and I never will.

If that's really CPU temps you're talking about then it's way too high. I know some Asus boards have a rep for reporting high temps, but that's way out of line. Don't run your computer at those temps for any period of time. You may not have appopriate thermal interface between the heatsink and the CPU. Any time you take off your heatsink you have to clean it properly and reapply compound or new thermal pad.

If you have an older/cheaper case, chances are good you might have mounting for 80mm fan at least at the front. If you have it at the back, that's even better. Take a look at the fan in the back of your power supply. If its the same size as the one there, then that's 80. Some cases come with 90 or 120 mm mounting holes, but usually only Dells or servers, or newer more expensive cases.

Panaflo fans are generally good. NMB are supposed to be good. Enermax.

There are few bad fans really. Just different characteristics. Some push a lot of air well, but have a loud annoying sound (any 60mm or under fan that tries to push much air basically). Others do well at low speed, and move a decent amount of air quietly. The main thing is using fans at least 80mm or larger. These can move a lot of air without spinning too fast.

The other thing that affects fan noise and efficiency is surroundings. All fans move the most air when the space in front of and behind the fans is free airspace. Obstructions (eg heatsinks, fan grills and cutouts, filters, hard drives) will increase turbulence and noise while lowering airflow. Some fans are better than others at dealing with obstructions.

edit:

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