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From: poachedeggs on 5 Feb 2010 06:51
I've just assembled my first pc from a bundle I bought and some
innards from my last base unit. I wanted to ask about the fan, it's
currently installed on the left side of the case, blowing directly
over the CPU which has its own fan. Do I really need this case fan?
I'm not a gamer, and the pc isn't very tricked-out yet. I wouldn't
say it was a din, but there are two fan sounds, one like a quiet
breath and the other a faint whine. Maybe it's normal for a computer
these days, although I have seen adverts for 'silent' coolers and the
like, maybe for later purchase - I take it I could just screw-in a
quieter fan where this case one is now and reconnect?

This is an AMD machine, and t has 'cool 'n' quiet facilities, which
are currently disabled in the BIOS. The CPU is a 3 ghz dual core.
Does the cool 'n' quiet deal only with the CPU cooler or will it
quieten the fan? I've been loathe to try in case it would cook it.

The other question is I have seen a graphics card, an Asus nVidia 9500-
something with 512 mb. The graphics memory in my pc so far is 128 mb
apparently, but with 384 mb available, whatever that means. Is it
worth getting this card that's affordable to me, or should i hold out
till I can manage something with 1gb. I don't have any great problems
with graphics so far, but I do some tinkering with video-editing and
there is slight glitchiness with HD material from a friend's Flip
camera. I have more RAM arriving tomorrow, 2GB, either to replace the
genric 1GB that came in the bundle or to use with it (for some reason
Windows 7 tells me only 885 mb is useable, whether this is normal or a
fault I don't know).

Okay, that's effectively four questions, pardon me... Thanks for all
help.

Excellent little project though, I'm glad I went for it after a few
years' trepidation, partly after a few uses of this group.
From: Mike Easter on 5 Feb 2010 07:51
poachedeggs wrote:

> I wanted to ask about the fan, it's
> currently installed on the left side of the case, blowing directly
> over the CPU which has its own fan.

What exactly and specifically is the case? What exactly and
specifically is the case fan? What exactly and specifically is the cpu
cooler and also fan if the fan came separately?

> The graphics memory in my pc so far is 128 mb
> apparently, but with 384 mb available, whatever that means.

What exactly and specifically is the mobo?

Exactly and specifically in this context can be managed with such as a
brand and modelno.

> Okay, that's effectively four questions,

Yabbut your questions didn't include the background/specifics of the
hardware in question.

--
Mike Easter
From: poachedeggs on 5 Feb 2010 12:20
On Feb 5, 12:51 pm, Mike Easter <Mi...(a)ster.invalid> wrote:
> poachedeggs wrote:
> > I wanted to ask about the fan, it's
> > currently installed on the left side of the case, blowing directly
> > over the CPU which has its own fan.
>
> What exactly and specifically is the case?  What exactly and
> specifically is the case fan?  What exactly and specifically is the cpu
> cooler and also fan if the fan came separately?
>
> > The graphics memory in my pc so far is 128 mb
> > apparently, but with 384 mb available, whatever that means.
>
> What exactly and specifically is the mobo?
>
> Exactly and specifically in this context can be managed with such as a
> brand and modelno.
>
> > Okay, that's effectively four questions,
>
> Yabbut your questions didn't include the background/specifics of the
> hardware in question.
>
> --
> Mike Easter

Ah, okay:

The case is a basic CIT-brand AT case, nothing flash about it, just
the usual metal and plastic combo, with 450 w psu. The motherboard is
an Asus M2N68-AM SE2, which has a nVidia GeForce 7025/nForce 930a
graphcs chip (don't know why it has the forward slash and two model
names aspect though, 7025 and 930a). The CPU is an AMD Athlon II X2
'250, 3 ghz, "socket AM3 w/heat sink fan". I'll add what it says on
the fan in a second after I switch off for a bit to take the side off
and look.

Thanks.
From: poachedeggs on 5 Feb 2010 12:48
On Feb 5, 5:20 pm, poachedeggs <poachede...(a)hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
> On Feb 5, 12:51 pm, Mike Easter <Mi...(a)ster.invalid> wrote:
>
>
>
> > poachedeggs wrote:
> > > I wanted to ask about the fan, it's
> > > currently installed on the left side of the case, blowing directly
> > > over the CPU which has its own fan.
>
> > What exactly and specifically is the case?  What exactly and
> > specifically is the case fan?  What exactly and specifically is the cpu
> > cooler and also fan if the fan came separately?
>
> > > The graphics memory in my pc so far is 128 mb
> > > apparently, but with 384 mb available, whatever that means.
>
> > What exactly and specifically is the mobo?
>
> > Exactly and specifically in this context can be managed with such as a
> > brand and modelno.
>
> > > Okay, that's effectively four questions,
>
> > Yabbut your questions didn't include the background/specifics of the
> > hardware in question.
>
> > --
> > Mike Easter
>
> Ah, okay:
>
> The case is a basic CIT-brand AT case, nothing flash about it, just
> the usual metal and plastic combo, with 450 w psu.  The motherboard is
> an Asus M2N68-AM SE2, which has a nVidia GeForce 7025/nForce 930a
> graphcs chip (don't know why it has the forward slash and two model
> names aspect though, 7025 and 930a).  The CPU is an AMD Athlon II X2
> '250, 3 ghz, "socket AM3 w/heat sink fan".  I'll add what it says on
> the fan in a second after I switch off for a bit to take the side off
> and look.
>
> Thanks.

Firstly here's a link to what I bought:

http://advancetec.co.uk/acatalog/Advance_AM3_Dual_Core_Upgrade_2.html

And, minus the probably wacky translations on the fan like where it
says 'super fan', the salient details of this unbranded item are
hopefully 'DC brushless', DC 12v, 0.14 A. Roughly 3" x 3" and about 3
1/2 inches deep. Possibly too much detail now...

It feels odd both the Q-fan and Quiet 'n' cool mentions in the BIOS
and other material seem to do the same thing, but this is all new to
me. I'm still wondering which of the CPU/fan and the case fan is
making the breathy noise and which is the faint-ish whine.
From: Mike Easter on 5 Feb 2010 14:21
poachedeggs wrote:

> The case is a basic CIT-brand AT case, nothing flash about it, just
> the usual metal and plastic combo, with 450 w psu.

I've always called the AT case the type that took the old AT style mobo
and everything else since some kind of ATX such as mini-atx and so forth.

The reason I was asking about the case brand/model airflow design is
because the business of using a noisy case fan vs no case fan vs a quiet
case fan vs more than one quiet case fan depends on the airflow design
and how much heat you are putting in there.

> The motherboard is
> an Asus M2N68-AM SE2, which has a nVidia GeForce 7025/nForce 930a
> graphcs chip (don't know why it has the forward slash and two model
> names aspect though, 7025 and 930a).

That slash number business is about the nvidia north/southbridge functions.

> The CPU is an AMD Athlon II X2
> '250, 3 ghz, "socket AM3 w/heat sink fan". I'll add what it says on
> the fan in a second after I switch off for a bit to take the side off
> and look.

The way you could tell pretty quickly if your case fan were noisy would
be to disconnect it. Maybe you don't even need it or maybe you need a
quieter one.

If your cpu fan is being noisy, maybe you need a better cpu cooler and a
quieter cpu fan.

And/or some fan control.

--
Mike Easter
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