Cool System Adivce

[MayronWoW]

Hi, I'm concerned whether I need a better cooling system or not. A lot of my friends have water cooling but I don't know whether my PC will need that or not. I don't know what type mine is except I know its a standard fan I got with my alienware Aurora.

I've just updated my computer with a new graphics card and RAM and I know that my PC can often be loud while playing games and when I turn my PC on its always done that incredibly loud fan noise but I think thats normal. Lately though its been noisy and I have no idea how to check if I need a new cooling system or not and what I should be looking for. I'm very bad with computer hardware but I'm a little concerned... I don't want my computer exploding lol joke.

My PC stats are:
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: Aurora
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 6GB RAM
Graphic Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti

Has anyone got any advice on how to reduce the noise, or is that normal? And if you think I need a better cooling system then what should I pick? Also I don't know how to check the exact model of the one I have now but I now that I've never touched or modified it before. Thanks.

[Sephiracle]

Depends on how comfortable you are with working in the computer. If it's loud, I would download speed fan, maybe that could tell you what fan is running pretty high as well as temps. It could also be a fan going bad, but without doing some more investigating into the noise and where it's coming from you'll have to do some digging yourself. If it's pretty dusty or dirty in there, fans have to work harder to keep things cool, which creates more noise. So again, you'll have to figure out what's hot, what isn't, what fans are running high, and if any are clogged or making odd noises.

[noteworthynerd]

Your CPU is only running at 2.7GHz, you definitely do not need liquid cooling. The first "gaming" PC I ever owned was an Alienware that I bought when I was 17, I saved up money for an entire year and spent it all on that POS. It came liquid-cooled, but now I know that that was complete overkill. /sigh - If only I had known then what I know now, I would have never bought it in the first place.

The first thing you should do (which Sephiracle also mentioned) is open up your case and see how dirty the inside is. I've found that excessive fan noise is almost always due to either a) the fans being choked by dust or b) the entire system being choked by dust, therefore making the fans run harder to keep everything cool. Get a can of compressed air and clean out your system.

If that doesn't help, download HW Monitor from CPUID and run it, then take a screen shot and upload it here so we can check your fan speeds and temperatures.

[MayronWoW]

Thanks for telling me that. I was 17 when I brought my Alienware as well. Now I'm 19, I know alot more about PC's now but nothing on cooling systems. Cleaning the dust off the fans seems to of made it much better. Thanks again

[noteworthynerd]

Yeah, that usually fixes the issue, I had a Dell Server here at work that my coworkers had nicknamed "The Jet Engine", I opened it up and a plume of dust came out, took two cans of compressed air and a vacuum cleaner to get everything taken care of.

It is important that you clean out your system at least once a month, especially if 1) it is on or near the floor, 2) you have pets, and/or 3) you have smokers in your house... Personally, I clean the filters on my case once a week, and the inside of my case once every two weeks.