How Man Case Fans Do I Need? / Sound Card

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Tamir

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Hi there,
I am buying a £850 budget casual gaming/general computer and I am fairly familiar with hardware and what to get. I have no idea what the standard amount of case fans are so I hope someone can help me. I do not plan on overclocking because I want to preserve the life of my processor since I will not be upgrading for a while after this build. I am planning on getting 4 Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm fans and I don't know how many to get. Are 4 too many? Here are the specs of the computer I will be cooling:

AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste
Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB DirectCU II Video Card
Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer
Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter
(4 x) Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan

Also, does the motherboard come with an onboard sound card or do I need to buy a separate one?
Regards, Tamir
 
Solution
geofelt
To answer your questions:
4 extra fans is probably too many.
All modern motherboards will include HD sound.

I have some comments on your prospective build:

1. The case is a poor one for airflow. It has only one front intake fan.
That might be ok for a low wattage cpu with integrated graphics, but not a FX and a gaming card.
Look for a case with two 120mm or 140mm intake fans.
An example might be the Antec 300:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-Three-Hundred-Gaming-Construction/dp/B0017Q8IAA/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417274978&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=antec+x500+case
I might add a second 120mm intake fan. Look for a yate loon fan, they are cheap and good.

2. FX-8350 is good for multithreaded tasks such as video rendering.
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geofelt

geofelt

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To answer your questions:
4 extra fans is probably too many.
All modern motherboards will include HD sound.

I have some comments on your prospective build:

1. The case is a poor one for airflow. It has only one front intake fan.
That might be ok for a low wattage cpu with integrated graphics, but not a FX and a gaming card.
Look for a case with two 120mm or 140mm intake fans.
An example might be the Antec 300:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-Three-Hundred-Gaming-Construction/dp/B0017Q8IAA/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417274978&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=antec+x500+case
I might add a second 120mm intake fan. Look for a yate loon fan, they are cheap and good.

2. FX-8350 is good for multithreaded tasks such as video rendering.
For desktop usage and gaming, not so much.
The FX cpu cores are very slow, some 30% slower per clock than intel cores.
It is also a very hot chip(125w)
If you are on a budget, I might pick a less expensive i3-4160(54w).
It comes with a decent cooler, no extra required. No paste is required.
A i5-4460 is the next step up.
Read this article for gaming cpu's :
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-3.html
Virtually any lga1150 motherboard will do.

Intel does not need fast ram for performance. 1600 speed will be about 1% slower than 2133.

Lastly, I will never again build without a ssd for the "C" drive. It makes everything you do much quicker.
120gb is minimum, it will hold the os and a handful of games. If you can go 240gb, you may never need a hard drive.
I don't.
I would defer on the hard drive unless you need to store large files such as video's.
It is easy to add a hard drive later.
Samsung EVO is a good choice.
Intel is OK too.
 
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Tamir

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Thankyou!
Do you think it is worth spending £30 more than the i5 4460 on the i5 4690K? Because there is not much price difference between them, would it be a good investment?
 
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Tamir

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Do I need thermal paste for the Intel i5 4790K?
 
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MuchResearch

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Most coolers come with thermal paste (such as your cooler master hyper 212 evo) To invest in better thermal compound for a pretty low price is up to you. I've noticed that good thermal compound can have quite an impact on temps tho, so u may want some Arctic silver 5 or w.e its called. This is from videos and such, I'm still working on my parts list for my first build, so no first hand experience yet :)
 
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Tamir

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Thanks for all your help. I have three more questions:
1) Is the Antec One a good case for airflow?
2) If I got the i5-4460, does it come with a stock cooler/heat sink? If it does, should I get a better one or is the stock cooler good enough?
3) What should the setup for my case fans be + how do I change a fan from exhaust to intake and vice versa?
 
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MuchResearch

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1. Not bad, you could do better but it should work just fine.
2. Yes, if its not a K series its fine since you wont be overclocking. Might be a little noisy, your choice to replace it.
3.1-120mm fan front intake. 1-120mm fan back exhaust, 1-120mm fan top exhaust (optional), 1-120mm fan intake bottom (optional), 1-120mm fan intake on side (optional) If you only use 2 fans (rear exhaust and front intake) make sure they are quite strong with good cfm and directed airflow.

You just turn the fans around to change the direction they blow. It is usually labled, if not then the sticker usually is an indication of the direction it blows. Look at how the pre-installed case fans are set up to get an idea, the rear exhaust fan would be blowing out of the case. The sticker is the direction the fan blows I believe

You might want to look for a case with 2x front intake (preferably with a dust filter), maybe 2x top exhaust depending on how much your willing to spend on fans. The case wouldn't be bad, but theres definitely better choices in the same price range for cooling.

I actually didn't notice its price is so inexpensive. You may need to spend 20 dollars more for a better airflow case. Corsair 200r is one of many good choices for under 50 dollars
 
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Tamir

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Thanks! Do you have any recomendations for cases with more options for fans? (That look good xD)

 
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MuchResearch

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http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-case-rc912kkn1

Haf 912 is pretty good and has a 20 dollar mail in rebate making it pretty cheap. It might not be your cup of tea tho, and its cooling is pretty decent.

Go to pcpartpicker, select the check boxes on the side for 4-5 star ratings, your prefered sizes (what your board will fit into) and check off usb 3.0 front headers if they are a must for you. Then organize the list from cheapest to most expensive using the option at the top and start clicking down the list, I'm sure you'll find one you will like :)

I'd recommend one with a removable hard drive bay for better airflow since you wont be filling all the drive bay slots any how, and 1 big fan intake or 2 fan intakes in the front(2 120mm fans for intake are better than a 200mm intake fan, big fans are best for exhaust). If it has good front ventilation and dust filters where intakes would be thats even better. Extra exhaust on the top is also great. Happy hunting!
 
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Tamir

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I think i'll go with the Corsair 200r. The onl problem with that case is the front fans are in the way of the hdd/hdd drive bays.
 
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MuchResearch

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With only 1 HDD in the bay it shouldn't be much of an issue, especially since it can have 2 120mm intake fans on the front. If you're really worried about it a static pressure optimized fan would have no trouble pushing air past a HDD bay that only holds 1 drive.
 
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Tamir

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I'm more worried that the fans for the Corsair 200r wont fit in because of the hdd/ssd drive bays. I have changed my mind now and i will be getting an ssd as well as an hdd. Will 2 front fans fit in with my hdd and ssd in?
 
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MuchResearch

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Yea as long as they're 120mm fans. Most fans don't vary much in thickness, and that case is made to accept 2 front 120mm fans in front of the HDD bay even if you populate all of the drive slots
 
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Tamir

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Cheers! xD
 
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