Quote Originally Posted by JenBell View Post
zpaf...some questions:

1. Is the fan noisy? Really dont want to spoil the PC by adding a noisy fan
2. Clean TIM...not an option. Simply dont have the time to do it...plus if I did do it I dont think I could help but get the EK mobo WB instead and build a dedicated WCing loop for it while I am at it. I dont want upgrade anything in the PC at the moment, just built it recently and need to spend time using rather than improving it right now.
3. Case is TJ07. Air flow is not great. I have a HDD enclosure pushing air through the front to back. Also have rear 92mm's and roof 120mm fans all pushing air. No direct air flow over the mobo though. Any advice on how to go about improving air flow?

I am thinking that if I can add the optional fan on without undoing the whole mobo then I'll give that a go and see how it sounds. If it reduces the temps then great. If the fan is noisy then I am thinking that an ugly but effective solution could be antec spot cool fans. If the optional fan is good but not good enough then adding the ugly spot fans will further reduce the temps while avoiding a complete re-build (something that only a mobo/cpu failure will make me do...touch wood...crosses fingers...prays to the hw gods for mercy...er...).

Any advice would greatly appreciated
have not used the optional fan myself but have read its rather loud. so if noise is an issue and you would like to bring temps down a bit i would instead undervolt a 120mm fan and point it directly in the direction of the ioh/ich heatsink.

but my advice is: if you dont have any problems, and i doubt you will have any, just leave it as it is! your temps are higher as normal but still within operating specs of intel, so what.