Two questions about my homebuilt thingy

[poachedeggs]

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.

 

[Mike Easter]

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.

 

[poachedeggs]

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?


What exactly and specifically is the mobo?

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


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

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.

 

[poachedeggs]

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.

 

[Mike Easter]

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.

 

[Benedict]

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?

generally the noisiest fans are the small ones that spin very fast as
opposed to the larger slower moving fans - if I want to tell where the noise
is coming from I put my finger very gently on the hub of the fan to slow it
down just for a second and listen. If you're using a retail CPU that came
with its own heatsink - those are generally poor quality in terms of cooling
efficency and noise. A third party cooler is usually better.

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.

Cool n Quiet is designed to slow the CPU down when its not being stressed.
Its a power saving feature and besides - you dont need 3ghz to do word
processing do you.

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).

Your 7025/930 is an intergrated graphics chip. Motherboards have chips to
handle
certain functions like controlling hard drives - generally referred to as
the Northbridge and Southbridge - thats the 930 number. The 7025 refers to
the graphics part. It uses a portion of the system RAM for texture memory
(whereas a plug-in card has its own dedicated memory).
Currently its using 128mb of the 1GB you have installed.
That chipset is okay for web browsing and word processing but its no good at
all for gaming.

 

[poachedeggs]

generally the noisiest fans are the small ones that spin very fast as
opposed to the larger slower moving fans - if I want to tell where the noise
is coming from I put my finger very gently on the hub of the fan to slow it
down just for a second and listen. If you're using a retail CPU that came
with its own heatsink - those are generally poor quality in terms of cooling
efficency and noise. A third party cooler is usually better.


Cool n Quiet is designed to slow the CPU down when its not being stressed..
Its a power saving feature and besides - you dont need 3ghz to do word
processing do you.


Your 7025/930 is an intergrated graphics chip. Motherboards have chips to
handle
certain functions like controlling hard drives - generally referred to as
the Northbridge and Southbridge - thats the 930 number. The 7025 refers to
the graphics part. It uses a portion of the system RAM for texture memory
(whereas a plug-in card has its own dedicated memory).
Currently its using 128mb of the 1GB you have installed.
That chipset is okay for web browsing and word processing but its no goodat
all for gaming.

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

Great, thanks. I was hoping to try with the case fan disconnected but
just needed the go-ahead from someone as I didn't know it wouldn't
cook without that. And yes the case fan was the noisier culprit, it's
fine now. So I will enable Cool 'n' Quiet in the Bios and see if it
goes any further, but this is fine now. There are plenty of vents in
the case, more than in my old PC, and plenty of space, if that
constitutes airflow. I'll look into case fans that claim to be silent
later, and that is helpful what was said about larger slower ones
being better. Two inches down from where the case fan is mounted is a
larger vent grill area, 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" where I imagine I could screw
a bigger fan instead.

Can you confirm that a 512 mb graphics card is perfectly fine for my
purposes as mentioned? I'm not a gaming man, but I imagine video-
editing is similar demand-wise, DVDs and online video, including BBC
iPlayer, being the other uses. I see there are inexpensive 1 gb cards
but the price makes me suspicious of other shortfalls I wouldn't at
present understand. I see some have fans on, and maybe I'd end up
there getting some noise back.

Thanks. Cheers.

 

[Benedict]

*snip*

Great, thanks. I was hoping to try with the case fan disconnected but
just needed the go-ahead from someone as I didn't know it wouldn't
cook without that. And yes the case fan was the noisier culprit, it's
fine now. So I will enable Cool 'n' Quiet in the Bios and see if it
goes any further, but this is fine now. There are plenty of vents in
the case, more than in my old PC, and plenty of space, if that
constitutes airflow. I'll look into case fans that claim to be silent
later, and that is helpful what was said about larger slower ones
being better. Two inches down from where the case fan is mounted is a
larger vent grill area, 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" where I imagine I could screw
a bigger fan instead.

case fans create airflow inside the case and can make a difference of 10
degrees
- worthwhile if you have a gaming PC with a fast graphics card that
generates
a lot of heat. download some free software like cpu-z, gpu-z and everest to
check temps.
a cpu temp in the 40s is good, in the 50s is acceptable but if its getting
close to 60c
then you need more (or better quality) cooling.

Can you confirm that a 512 mb graphics card is perfectly fine for my
purposes as mentioned? I'm not a gaming man, but I imagine video-
editing is similar demand-wise, DVDs and online video, including BBC
iPlayer, being the other uses. I see there are inexpensive 1 gb cards
but the price makes me suspicious of other shortfalls I wouldn't at
present understand. I see some have fans on, and maybe I'd end up
there getting some noise back.

A graphics card will take some of the load off the CPU but with a 3ghz CPU
Im not sure you need to worry. Certainly 1GB of RAM is on the low side so I
would
increase that first and see how your system performs. Always have your RAM
in matching pairs
ie 2x1GB sticks or 2x2GB sticks so that it runs as dual-channel and gives
you the best performance from your RAM.

If that DVD is High-Definition then a plug-in card may well be a good idea
but try the RAM first.