PC build thread

[Ziggy]

So I posted a few pages back that I was upgrading my CPU, and since I would have to take the cooler off I might as well change the fan.

I was gonna get the Noctua NF-F12 fan, which is specifically designed to be used with a heatsink or radiator, but at the last second I decided to get the "industrial PPC" version instead. They're both the same fan, more or less, but the regular tan version is 1500 RPM and the industrial version is 2000 RPM.

Problem is, my mobo will only spin the fan down to 1800 RPM, even at the lowest idle temps. This fan is pretty quiet at 1800 RPM, but as loud as my old fan was at medium speed, which seems loud to me (if that makes sense).

I'm wondering if I made a mistake and should have put the 1500 RPM version in there. I don't even care about the money, it's just that to replace the fan I would have to almost certainly remove the mobo again. It's either that or I try and get use to the slightly louder fan noise being the most quiet setting.

[emwearz]

If you can't control the speed how you want to in the bios for whatever reason, download Speedfan, it will allow you have either manual control of your PWM fans or you can create a custom curves so they increase in RPM as the temperature of your cpu drives up.

I use Speedfan for the two PWM fans I have on my GPU.

[marurun]

Some motherboard software packages will let you have greater control of fan speeds. My Asus board has accompanying software I can use to build noise profiles.

[emwearz]

The downside to a lot of the software bundled with motherboards are they chew up resources, looking at Task Manager right now, speedfan is running in the background, using 2.1MB of ram.

Doubt many motherboard packages keep the footprint that low.

[marurun]

Yeah, my ASUS suite uses about 10 MB, but negligible CPU (<1%). I have enough RAM I'm not worried about 10 MB.

[Ziggy]

Ah, I should have mentioned...

This is a PWM controlled fan, and I'm using software bundled with the mobo. Which, for the record, is 0% CPU and 3.2MB RAM. Even 10MB is nothing when you consider having 4+ GB of RAM in systems these days (I have 18GB myself).

The software is already auto controlling the fan speed. The problem is, it looks like it'll only adjust it -10% for the lowest speed. I can take manual control of it and set it lower, but then it wont auto rev up when I'm gaming or the room gets hot or whatever.

SpeedFan is great though. I use to use it, and another program like it, in the pre-PWM days.

My new fan isn't too loud, it's just that at the -10% it's louder than my old fan was at idle temps (which was a much lower RPM). I'm already kinda getting use to it. Half because swapping out the fan will be a major pain in the ass. I'm thinking if I stay lazy long enough, I might just get use to it.

[Xeogred]

Do you guys have any recommendations on a good 144hz 24" monitor? I know they're a little more expensive and I don't really want to get too crazy here (I mostly game via dual monitoring with my TV), but I definitely want to upgrade from this cheaper ACER monitor I've had, colors aren't very good.

Was glancing at this one:

[noiseredux]

what GPU do you have?

[Xeogred]

I got the new GeForce GTX 1060.

I should have mentioned that. I guess some monitors utilize the GPU thesedays?

[noiseredux]

I got the new GeForce GTX 1060.

ah right right. I was gonna suggest something with FreeSync in your price range. But if you have a GTX then G-Sync is expensive!