Looking for Good CPU Fan and RAM for This PC

J

John554

Bronze Level Poster
I'm planning on getting some upgrades to my PC for Christmas. Namely, I want my PC to run faster and cooler.

Right now, I'm thinking of getting a new CPU fan (since I've been having increasing temperature issues and I don't like opening my window to cool it down) to replace the one I already have. I also want an additional RAM stick to help speed things up, at least doubling my current RAM.

I'm looking for advice for a good CPU fan and RAM that will be compatible with my desktop (below). For the CPU fan, I just want something powerful, affordable (if possible), and long-lived. Liquid cooling seems like a bit of a hassle, so I think I'll have to discount that. Any recommendations?

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Regards
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Adding extra RAM won't do anything unless the app that you are actually using needs more than what you've got installed already, on the cooling side of things what temperatures are you reaching
 
J

John554

Bronze Level Poster
Martinr36 said:
Adding extra RAM won't do anything unless the app that you are actually using needs more than what you've got installed already, on the cooling side of things what temperatures are you reaching
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Up to 80 degrees, sometimes bordering on 90. Every team I clean the dust out, it goes to around 60 before steadily climbing quite fast from there.

Hmm. What upgrades would make things work faster?
 
J

John554

Bronze Level Poster
I could find a CPU fan for myself, but I don't want to risk getting something without knowing if it's actually what I want. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I believe that's quite a compact and enclosed case, made more for noise reduction than heat dissipation.

But a decent air tower cooler should suffice for that CPU...along with some decent thermal paste (and proper application).

One of the better value tower coolers would be the Deepcool Assassin IV or Zero Dark range or Noctua NH-12A Chromax.
 
J

John554

Bronze Level Poster
TonyCarter said:
I believe that's quite a compact and enclosed case, made more for noise reduction than heat dissipation.

But a decent air tower cooler should suffice for that CPU...along with some decent thermal paste (and proper application).

One of the better value tower coolers would be the Deepcool Assassin IV or Zero Dark range or Noctua NH-12A Chromax.
Click to expand...
I'm editing my current PC in the Upgrade page, but none of those coolers seem to be in the list of CPU coolers. Does that mean they're incompatible with my current build?

From what *is* in the list, would the PCS FrostFlow 150 CPU Cooler be a significant improvement? I'd prefer a regular fan since I hear liquid cooling requires more resources, and that sounds like a hassle?
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
John554 said:
I'm editing my current PC in the Upgrade page, but none of those coolers seem to be in the list of CPU coolers. Does that mean they're incompatible with my current build?

From what *is* in the list, would the PCS FrostFlow 150 CPU Cooler be a significant improvement? I'd prefer a regular fan since I hear liquid cooling requires more resources, and that sounds like a hassle?
Click to expand...
Ah sorry, thought you were asking in general.

Unfortunately the PCS selection is a bit poor at the moment, but yes, the FrostFlow 150 should be plenty to cool the Ryzen 3600 CPU - but the standard AMD Wraith cooler should be enough for that CPU, so there must be something else contributing to the higher temps...especially if it's been getting hotter than usual - of course it could simply be that the thermal paste is past its best and needs repasting, but you'll have to do that wether or not you get another cooler (and I don't know if PCS coolers come with paste pre-applied or not).
 
J

John554

Bronze Level Poster
TonyCarter said:
Ah sorry, thought you were asking in general.

Unfortunately the PCS selection is a bit poor at the moment, but yes, the FrostFlow 150 should be plenty to cool the Ryzen 3600 CPU - but the standard AMD Wraith cooler should be enough for that CPU, so there must be something else contributing to the higher temps...especially if it's been getting hotter than usual - of course it could simply be that the thermal paste is past its best and needs repasting, but you'll have to do that wether or not you get another cooler (and I don't know if PCS coolers come with paste pre-applied or not).
Click to expand...
In that case, I'll take a look about reapplying some thermal paste.

What about RAM? It would be nice to have a little more memory.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
What is it that you need the RAM for, as more RAM does not make the system faster...UNLESS you're using something that is running out of RAM and using the SSD to swap memory page files a lot.

You can use Task Manager to see how much memory you're using when you notice the slowdowns, and it will tell you which app is the culprit.

How full is the SSD? If it's more than 50% full then that will start slowing down the system too...and it gets worse the fuller it gets. The solution there is to get a 2nd m.2 SSD and move your files over to that one, so that the boot drive remains clean & fast.

b25c8736-eb09-4e54-9ee6-9ad5be221bab.jpeg
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
John554 said:
What about RAM? It would be nice to have a little more memory.
Click to expand...
Run the most memory intensive program you've got and check in task manager how much its using, if it isn't using everything you've got, then you don't need any more
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Darn @TonyCarter beat me to it
TonyCarter said:
What is it that you need the RAM for, as more RAM does not make the system faster...UNLESS you're using something that is running out of RAM and using the SSD to swap memory page files a lot.

You can use Task Manager to see how much memory you're using when you notice the slowdowns, and it will tell you which app is the culprit.

How full is the SSD? If it's more than 50% full then that will start slowing down the system too...and it gets worse the fuller it gets. The solution there is to get a 2nd m.2 SSD and move your files over to that one, so that the boot drive remains clean & fast.

View attachment 39352
Click to expand...
 
J

John554

Bronze Level Poster
TonyCarter said:
What is it that you need the RAM for, as more RAM does not make the system faster...UNLESS you're using something that is running out of RAM and using the SSD to swap memory page files a lot.

You can use Task Manager to see how much memory you're using when you notice the slowdowns, and it will tell you which app is the culprit.

How full is the SSD? If it's more than 50% full then that will start slowing down the system too...and it gets worse the fuller it gets. The solution there is to get a 2nd m.2 SSD and move your files over to that one, so that the boot drive remains clean & fast.

View attachment 39352
Click to expand...
I always assumed RAM played some kind of role because there's an image editor I use called Corel PaintShop Pro that used to run a lot faster on my previous PC which had some extra RAM. Now it's very slow.

What would you recommend for making things run faster?

The SSD is maybe about 30% full. That's also where I keep tool applications like the aforementioned image editor. I keep most stuff like games, documents, and images on my HDD.

The most intense program I run is my browser, Brave, which is using up to 3,400 MB right now. I tend to have a lot of tabs open. Oddly, even when I close the browser and start a game that uses less memory, I can hear my PC run louder. Hence why I always close my browser now when I start a game.
 
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