quick fan question

[derekhot]

forgive my ignorance... i'm looking at buying a computer case, maybe the enermax 5688 or the 5866 and was wondering: if the case has room for say 4 or 5 fans, do all of them have to hook up individually to the mb?
i have a new microstar neo2-ls that has one fan hookup for the cpu, one for the northbridge chipset, and one for 'system'. that's it for 3-pin connectors. so for example if i have a case with 3 fans, do i need 3 3-pin connectors or what? i bought a new power supply (enermax eg365pe fma) which has the ability to adjust fan speed from the mb, but i don't have a spot on the mb to plug in the 3-pin from the power supply. so i guess i do without this feature and just let the power supply fan run w/o adjustment, right?

 

[error_911]

you can plug your fans directly into the powersupply and not the motherboard if you wish, its up to you... as for the powersupply's plug for the motherboard, unless you have a fan header designated for the PSU then yeah, you go without that feature

<b>I have nothing better to say</b>

 

[derekhot]

with a new p4 should i use thermal paste between cpu and heatsink? the installation instructions from intel don't mention using it. i was just looking at arctic silver etc and wondering if i need it...

 

[error_911]

yes, you NEED to apply thermal paste between CPU and heatsink, otherwise you'll get a pretty sh!tty thermal transfer between the two and you're basically frying your CPU.. AS3 is good.

<b>I have nothing better to say</b>

 

[mister_e]

The instructions don't mention using thermal grease because they are assuming you will be using the stock HSF which probably has a thermal pad preinstalled for you. If this is true, you do not NEED thermal grease, but you can certainly use it (it is better). But whatever you do, do not mix the two. If your HSF has the thermal pad already on it and you want to use thermal grease, be sure to scrape the thermal pad off using something that won't scratch the HS like a credit card. And if you decide to use the thermal pad, do not use thermal grease. It's one or the other.

 

[TKS]

If I were you, for optimal heat transfer, I'd use silver nitrate thermal paste. Works better than the silocone thermal grease that comes default with most proc's and fans.

Insert_ending_here,
TKS