can somebody help me on choosing a good fan for my case...one that will keep it cool...i got a raidmax ninja case with a 80mm fan on the side and a 120mm fan on the back....i was thinking of going for a Ultra Blue 120mm Titainum fan for the back and a aero cool silverblade II 80mm fan for the side...let me know if you a better choices

Are you looking for something more powerful? less noisy?

i'm lookin for more powerful ...i don't mind if it's noisy but not too noisy

This is a TT 120MM fan. 78CFM and 34dba for $7.99. Might be able to find it cheaper somewhere else.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1104425&sku=T925-1154

Hi, I'd avoid TT (ThermalTake) at all costs. They make decent cases, that's about it . In the computer fan market, TT is notorious for exaggerating their fan output (CFM) and noise level (decibel), however the latter is moreso. I don't want to bash the ThermalTake fans, because ThermalTake certain have their high points, but this link has become the poster child for fals... erm, omitting-the-truth advertisement:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811999139

78CFM at 21dBA lol, maybe if the fan size was 160cm .

I'd look into Akasha, Yate-Loon, Panasonic, and Nexus fans. Try websites like jab-tech.com, frozencpu.com, bestbyteinc.com. There are of course many more sites, but these should get you started.

Edit: Oh, TT's SilentCat series comes a close second:

http://www.buyextras.com/thsi92dc12vb.html

To be honest, I think their engineers just really like the number 21 and stuck that to every one of their fan specs :angel:

I thought flase advertising is illegal.... The 21dba might be true, a rocket blasting off is 21dba some 200 miles away.....

Anwyay, I saw these Arctic Silencer fans, not sure if they're any good, but the specs are not too bad.

http://www.pccasegear.com/category115_1.htm

The site is australian, but I'm sure you can find them in the US.

i got a raidmax case come with a 120mm fan in the back for outtake of air and a 80mm fan on the side for intake of air...should i switch it around put the back fan for intake and the side fan for outtake...need sum advice

leave it as it is. The bigger one for exhale is better. Side fans are generally for inhale fans, never really seen an exhale side fan before. Its about how the air flows: how air rises, so the higher up fans should be exhaust. There's also the thing about how close the heat source is to your exhale fan, which is why the back fan is best left at exhale.

Also, you'd want cool air blowing onto your components, which is why side fans are always inhales.

oh ok...thanks for the advice cmh

I did some tinkering with my fans, and found that having the top fan blowing in made the comp cooler by 1C instead of out.

It could be an error, the 1 hour difference may have made ambient temp change. It is Melbourne's volatile weather after all....

p.s. its the top fan I'm talking about, not the back one.

I have another question cmh...i'm looking to get a heat spreader for my ddr2 ram but i cant' find any that's compatible with ddr2 only ddr.I've check compusa, tigerdirect, and newegg.And i got 1gb in my comp now is that enough or should i get more?

P.S. i'm gonna be running sli video card 7600gt.Is 1gb good enough to run it? Sorry to bother u bout this u might think this is stupid but i'm not good in computer stuff.

I'm still living in the land of the Northwood, and therefore use DDR1. However, as far as I'm concerned, any heatspreader is good for use in DDR2. They're just 2 pieces of aluminium, with the RAM wedged in between the 2 pieces, with a clip holding them together. No screwing, no catches. Worst case scenario is that its too small for it, but having the heatspreader will still be a plus till DDR2 sizes come out.

After taking a look at a couple of pics, the size seems the same as DDR1, so I wouldn't be worried about that.

About your second question, I don't remember anything said about running SLI utilizing more RAM. I won't be concerned about it.

For current applications, 1gb seems like a good place to be in, although some people might be more comfortable with 2gb of RAM. These people usually include those that do CPU intensive stuff such as video editing, CAD, etc. Most people don't, and the performance difference is quite minimal to bother with if you don't use those applications much.

I currently have 1GB in mine, although I have the option of running 2GB (I've got the RAM in my spare comps). I'll run a test this weekend to see if 2gb would actually make any difference. I doubt it though.

In any case, this is my recommendation: You can always increase the amount of RAM in your computer when you feel the need for it. Leave it as it is, and if you feel your computer being too slow in the future, add more in. By that time, the RAM in the market should be faster and cheaper.