Hiya, I've started building my first PC thanks to picking up CPC mag. I'm building the Budget PC (from June edition) and need some advice. 1. I've got the Silverstone Case but I want to get to good budget 120mm case fan, one for front and one for top/rear. I've looked at arctic cooling, but can't tell which is for front and which is for rear, or if they are the same. And how would you connect all of the fans? 2. I also wanted to get a thermal paste, but not sure which is good budget one, or whether it's worth it with the arctic cooling freezer 7 3. Is it worth changing the fan on the gigabyte 5770HD? If so what's a good budget fan? 4. I'm gonna get the Logitech cordless wave keyboard and mouse, is there any better around this price? 5. The Benq 2220HD doesn't come with display port or HDMI, is there any difference? Thanks guys
If this is your first PC and you're asking questions like this I STRONGLY advise you to look at some guides at pc building before you start. But to answer your questions: 1. All fans are the same, all can be mounted at the front/back/top/bottom/middle etc, try searching for gentle typhoons. 2. If memory serves correctly the freezer 7 comes with paste already applied, just leave it like that. 3.No you cannot change a fan on a graphics card with ease. Just leave it on the stock cooler should be good enough no matter how long the heat wave goes on. 4.I use the wave keyboard and mx1100 on my media pc, it has good range, but expect its terrible for gaming as it's ergonomic and shaped for typing. On my gaming pc is use a razer Lycosa and deathadder, 5.If it doesnt come with either why are you asking? HDMI is the common standard for HD tvs and as such is becoming widely used in the pc industry. Display port is sort of the PC industries version of HDMI.
1. 120mm fans are plentyful. You don't need specific fans for front/rear/side etc as they are universal. However you will need to make sure that the fan is fitted the right way round depending on whether you want the fan to blow air from outside to inside the case (intake) or from inside the case to outside (exhaust). Most people have intakes at the front and an exhaust at the rear and/or roof. If your motherboard has enough fan connectors, you can connect your fans directly to the motherboard. Otherwise most fans will usually have a molex connector and can be connected directly to the PSU. Another option is to get a fan controller. 2. The Freezer 7 comes with paste already applied. I have been using MX-2 paste for a long time and its great, although there is MX-3 available now. 3. I doubt you would need a different cooler for your 5770. If anything leave the original cooler on first, and only if you feel that its too loud should think about changing it. Like with CPU coolers, you would have to apply thermal paste, and also ease of fitting varies from one cooler to another. 4. I've had several higher end logitech keyboard and mice and I can't really fault them. I don't see why you wouldn't get along with the wave. 5. As monitors don't have speakers, there is no real need for them to have HDMI inputs or DisplyPorts for that matter. A DVI connection is video only, whereas HDMI and DisplayPort are audio/video connections. However DVI can display video at the same quality as HDMI or DisplayPort. HDMI and DisplayPort are just two different standards, with HDMI being more popular on TVs and DisplayPort on graphics cards and monitors.
