What is your budget for fans and possibly cooling pads? The price and quality, and inherently estimated longevity, of fans is very varied.

So, I guess technically I have ~130$ on hand, but the thing to keep in mind is if the fans and such turn out to not be the solution, and lets just say theoretically I need to replace the Mobo or PSU, that's the same 130$ I'll need to use for that stuff if that makes sense.

That said I'd prefer to get something decent, there's no point in replacing crap stock fans with crap aftermarket fans afterall haha.


Side note, I just ran Speccy on the affected PC. Unfortunately I couldn't get my room to 70f (its sitting around 80f with 2 windows and an outside door all wide open.)
Mobo was sitting at 42c
CPU at 18c
GPU at 30c
HDDs at 28c


A solid 20 minutes later and the temps have stayed the same, aside from HDDs and GPU going up to 32c each.

This is totally idled with nothing running, I'll hook up my duo monitors and play some games on it for a bit and see how that changes.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAB7G58J6911&cm_re=case_fan-_-9SIAB7G58J6911-_-Product

Those will work for being cheap and decent.
PSU will run you like 50$ and mobo idk tbh its old tech maybe 50-100.
Meaning if your smart you could theoretically buy all the parts.

Buying local though for the psu and mobo would be ideal though cause
you can just return if for a refund if the fans don't work out.
This way you can avoid spending it all/waiting.


This post was edited by King Atrhur on Sep 11 2017 07:35am

Awesome

I tried to edit my above post but couldn't, but I forgot to mention that those temps were with a single monitor and not the two I usually run. Major difference seemed to be GPU went up like 10f with 2 monitors. Also I just did all the driver updates and am gonna do the BIOS update right now.

I should also mention that while my case has a little mesh thing in the front for air, I can't tell how to open that, nor do I see screw holes for a fan there so I'm going to assume it just doesn't support a front side intake. The HDD's rest right behind that mesh. On the side of the case however there is an open spot meant for a fan.

Out of curiosity, how well do Ghetto fan setups work? haha. I was just given a room fan due to the heatwave last week, I could open my cases side door and just aim the sucker directly at the Mobo for now, but I guess I'm not sure if I should.

That would work also.

So I'm having trouble with the BIOS update now.

According to this:
https://www.msi.com/files/pdf/How_to_flash_the_BIOS.pdf

I checked my Model # and Version # and it's:
MS-7693 Version 2.0

When I look up the list here:
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/970A-G46

There is no Version 2.0

Does that mean I have no BIOS update to begin with or have I misunderstood something?

Here are all the BIOS's for your motherboard. Get w/e the latest version is.... 2.7 I believe.


https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/970A-G46

So I have a question in regards to the North/Southbridge thermal pad replacements.

According to the various "How To" youtube videos I've watched, it seems to be a point of debate whether Thermal Pads or Thermal Paste is better.
I'm just curious how you guys feel about that, should I go with Pads for the N/S bridges and Paste for the CPU Heatsink, or should I do Paste for everything, etc?

Also, in regards to the BIOS update, even though I put the latest updates .exe on an empty USB stick and follow the instructions, at BIOS my computer isn't recognizing the file as being said update for whatever reason.
It says something along the lines of, "That usb stick doesn't have an update file in it." Any idea whats going wrong there?

Finally, it turns out my case did have a front side Intake... My bad for missing that somehow... It was really hard to spot with the naked eye where it was and I still don't even know how to access it from my case.
Regardless, the reason one of my HDD's is consistently cooler than the other is because one is directly behind that fan, while the other one just isn't.
My question is, how important is it to keep HDD's cool, and should I move that HDD out of the way of the fan to increase airflow to the back of the case where the Mobo is?

I'll still be getting 2 more fans as the case has room for them, but yeah.

This post was edited by Shinigami on Sep 13 2017 12:35am

Some BIOSs require that you rename the BIOS update file, first. I dunno how MSI does it.

As for the thermal pads..unless you have a very expensive motherboard (which you don't), I would consider just getting a new motherboard.

Something like this maybe... https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mC648d/gigabyte-motherboard-ga990fxgaming


The other option ofc, is to just upgrade your comp.

haha...

All right well, I was of a similar mindset to be honest but I can't afford a new comp to say the least. I'll get those fans and paste for the CPU at least and see if that helps I guess, and if it doesn't maybe I will just get a new Mobo... Jeez.