How to know if cooling is adequate for case/component/fan combination

R

reel2real

Member
As a newcomer to custom builds I've had excellent advice so far on putting together the spec below and feel happy it's a well matched set of components to see me well into the future. Partly why i've gone for a more powerful PSU than needed.

However i've no idea once it's up aqnd running whether it will run hot with this case and the components. Whether the 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan on the case are enough. Whether the CPU or graphics card get very hot. I don't intend to overclock.

Mainly for CS5/Capture NX2 for photography.

I'd really like your expert opinions. Thanks :)

Case
FRACTAL DESIGN R3 - BLACK PEARL CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost
Motherboard
ASUS® P7P55D-E: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ ***SPECIAL PRICE***
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS450 - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - DirectX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
3rd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD20EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£78)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155/1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Wireless Desktop® MK300 Keyboard and Mouse Combo (£19)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £974.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-core-i3-pc/
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Prolific Poster
This build is better and the cooling from the case is actually quite good and better than some of the more expensive cases available:

Case
FRACTAL DESIGN R3 - BLACK PEARL CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2400 Quad Core (3.10GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 PRO (NEW REV 3.0): QUAD USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS450 - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - DirectX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD20EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155/1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Wireless Desktop® MK300 Keyboard and Mouse Combo (£19)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £980.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/

Unless you already know that you'll want to use a power hungry graphics card in the future then the 450w power supply will be fine, the motherboard is also a 3rd revision so won't suffer the issues plaguing the current 1155 chipset.
 
R

reel2real

Member
Thanks Phoenix for the info/advice. Now i have to think some more.

I'd steered clear of this option when i read about the "Sandy Bridge" problem. So they've started shipping a revised product?

I tried selecting this combo in the build menu but the dropdown list didn't show the (NEW REV 3.0). I eventually found this by starting at a different point in the "My Budget" options, but then it didn't allow the NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS450 selection. Confused! :confused:

I just read somewhere that it has built in graphics capability, but really it starts to go over my head. A bit more advice greatly appreciated on this one.
 
Nemesis

Nemesis

Moderator
Moderator
There are inbuilt graphics on the CPU but for Photoshop the GTS 450 will speed things up due to NVIDIAs Cuda processing where the GPU acts somewhat like a CPU
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Prolific Poster
reel2real said:
Thanks Phoenix for the info/advice. Now i have to think some more.

I'd steered clear of this option when i read about the "Sandy Bridge" problem. So they've started shipping a revised product?

I tried selecting this combo in the build menu but the dropdown list didn't show the (NEW REV 3.0). I eventually found this by starting at a different point in the "My Budget" options, but then it didn't allow the NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS450 selection. Confused! :confused:

I just read somewhere that it has built in graphics capability, but really it starts to go over my head. A bit more advice greatly appreciated on this one.
Click to expand...


Yes this new Asus motherboard is a revised version and doesn't have the problem, it should be the one at the bottom of the motherboard dropdown list.
 
R

reel2real

Member
Thanks gents i found the motherboard.

It's raised a few more questions....

There doesn't seem to be a 3rd/4th HDD option now. I had it in mind to have OS & programs on 1st. Photography on 2nd. Music and video on third.

And now there is a RAID option that wasn't there before i don't think. I don't understand the significance of RAID - mirroring the disk? I was just going to backup to external drives?

Thanks again for your patience and invaluable advice.
 
Nemesis

Nemesis

Moderator
Moderator
RAID is not a form of back up its a form of speeding up data read and write times
stick with back up for back up
RAID will not have features such as earlier versions of data so i would stick to a software solution or whatever

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
 
R

reel2real

Member
Thanks. Having read a little bit today RAID doesn't appeal.

I'm still a bit puzzled why there is no 3rd/4th disk option on the build menu now. Fancied the extra separation of file types. Oh well...guess i'll have to stick with two.

And still not certain how you know if your choices combine to give an adequately cool system. Guess there are too many variables for anyone to say.
I assume as a non gamer the innards will remain cool enough even in a case designed for quietness...

Never thought i'd think so much about these things :)
 
Meds

Meds

Moderator
Moderator
We prevented customers ordering more than two HDDs with the Sandy Bridge PCs until the issue was resolved. You will be able to order more than two HDDs shortly.
 
R

reel2real

Member
Great thank you! I'll prob wait for that extra HDD option to reappear.

In the meantime i've read up about partitions. It's all new to me. I stumbled on the fact the OS (and programs?) should be on a separate
partition on the 1st disk to improve performance. Use rest of disk for data? How much space tho? Or just a small drive with os and programs and data on separate drives? 2 disks better than 2 partitions? Aaarrggghh

This is a real can of worms! But worth it i hope.
 
L

liamnic2

Super Star
hello guys.

I am getting a gaming PC in august or christmas and I am having some problems on choosing a case.
I am deciding between two cases. The antec 902 and the coolermaster 932.
By picking the coolermaster I will cost me £1,299. If I chose the antec then I might buy liquid cooling if someone can tell if it decreases the amount of dust you consume.
I researched both cases on the internet ( mostly youtube and I have made a list of advantages and disadvantages for both cases.

Antec 902

Its got dust filters on intake fans and has got the awsome window I want
It has fan controllers which I dont have a clue about.
Plus I have been told it is quite noisy.

Coolermaster 932

Got plenty of space
Got the awsome window
Got big fans
But it doesnt have any dust filters



I dont know alot about gaming PC's but I know they need to be cleaned of dust about once a month maybe but I dont know which case will fight against the cause of dust the best.
Right now I am aiming towards the antec.

This will be my spec if I decide to go for the antec.

Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DirectX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TX SERIES (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£89)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19) (Can anyone tell me how loud this is
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Gamer (£59
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Speakers
PHILIPS SPA2602 5.1 Surround Speaker System (Special Offer) (£45)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Internet 350 USB Keyboard (£9)

If anyone could tell me any tips or advice I would be very grateful
 
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