Hardware noob with a new system need some tips.

[Fokuz]

(Irrelevant presentation information jump to underscored part, if you are uninterested in my tendency to over-formulate my self.)

Hi folks and pros, just bought my first Desktop computer which I self assembled a couple of months ago, it was a tricky project and a lot to read as I'm the type of person who always want to make optimized decisions, but at the same time I was limited by a pretty tight budget I dove into a totally unfamiliar ocean I never peered into before ("the former laptop dude that realize I don't move my computer around + I spend a lot of time with it")
*So worth noticing is that I have no more knowledge of what I learnt during the process of assembling the computer, but random software knowledge due to frequent usage starting 15 years ago.

Anyhow first I will explain my Hardware, later some issues that troubles me
and then some questions.

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HARDWARE
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• MB: Gigabyte UD3-990FXA
• CPU: AMD-FX 8150 (8-core, 3,6Ghz)
• GPU: Zotac Nvidia GTX 550 ti (1gb DDR5)
• RAM: Corsair XMS3 1866MHz 8GB Vengeance CL9
• PSU: Corsair 650W (With a freaking Octopus attached to it)
• HD: Some old regular WD crap.
• Case: And latest addition recently purchased CM Storm Stryker so current fans (that came along)=

2x120 at Front ->
1x140 at Rear -<
1x200 at Top -<
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Case was bought due to old case had no dustfilters needed to saw/drill and so forth. I was first going to ask here but I felt in a hurry as the Components started to collect dust. I have some questions regarding that as well but I will write them further down.

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MAIN PROBLEM / QUESTIONS:
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#1. GFX-fan makes weird noice, maybe solves if #2 is fixed.

Graphic card makes a strange noice (sounds like a old computer working, stops when I stop the fan.) started to happend from nowhere, 3 months old. Always tried to be careful when touching the components.

Q: Believe this question might be imbedded in the 2nd issue if it's not physicaly broken or that drivers mess it up due to hdmi > hdmi connection (monitor only accepts HDMI/VGA.)

#2. (To much Hardware controlling software, wan't as few as necassary)

When I installed the computer I first thought it would be a good idea to install the withcoming BIOS / Control-software (Easytune 6). But when High-temperature issues appeared, I asked for help and was told to install some other software, which seems to be able to control fans as well.
So now I feel I have too many, and hypothize they might disturb one and another. (ET 6, BIOS SMART FAN:ENABLED, AMD OVERDRIVE, NVIDIA, smartfan, + now the manual chassi buttons.) I haven't turned on any autoboost/OC or stuff like that, but tried to adjust fan controls when I had my old case.)

Q: What should I use? (Can I have one program to control, overview everything, should I stick with Gigabytes own? Any program to test best settings etc?)

#3. Airflow issues.

As I'm new to all of this, I wonder what I can do to improve my airflow with what I know have at my home. The 4 fans that came along as I explained, I also have laying around 200m Megaflow, some other decent fans in all sizes. As the little black parts below the the CPU get's pretty hot.
And help of how I connect them, as now they are only connected all with the front panel but none goes directly to the mainboard except the CPU one, I have a fan controller component, but I don't know how I should connect all the fans as some are led and should any wire go to the mainboard or is it fine only with them getting power, can I read accurate values from that? What frustrates me with the Stryker is that if I turn the front fan from the side to the front, I can't "hide" in my junk of all unusad cables from the PSU to that little HDD-cage nor place on the side, as the window doesn't allow me to do that which I find really weird designed.

Q: Rather clunky question that maybe can be easier to go trough when the other 2 are filtered.
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#X I can:

Take pictures of my case / software readings, stream with camera or anything if anyone wan't to help me. I also wan't to know what values I can feel safe with, because I wan't to be able to overclock and get water-cooling/upgrades so forth and so on in the future, but not until I know better what I'm doing and got control of the system I have right now.

Would be really thankful if anyone takes their time reading this and is willing me to help me, any tips / tricks - constructive ideas - criticism whatever is appreciated, anyone with the same system?

 

[woboy]

Do you mean GTX fan? On the video card?
Generally fan profiles start quiet and speed up. What is yours doing? And are you sure it is the fan?

Easytune 6 I think is a software program, you should be able to uninstall from "Control Panel."
I do not understand the presence of "AMD Overdrive on an Nvidia GPU," though this could be ignorance on my part. I would remove.
What are your readings in BIOS and "Smart Fan?"
IF your GPU fan is spinning up at or near 100% yes you have issues.

Chassis buttons should control case fans, not GPU or CPU. Usually I try to avoid the more is better approach and figure out what needs changing..
CM Storm Stryker should have good air flow, I know my 912 does.
A gtx 550Ti, especially if it is a reference design, could be easy to drive to 100%. What games at what settings are we talking here?
A 550 Ti is an entry level card.
An 8150 overclocked can run hot. Are you stressing it? 125 watt should not be a problem.

I am recent to building, so I am not expert.
First is CPU check readings in BIOS HDWR (however listed, I swear these manufacturers like confusing people).
Next, you should have Zotac software for the GTX550 Ti, it should offer fan profiles and temperature monitoring.
I see two possibilities, one, as you seem to feel the assortment of programs has "locked" the fan at 100%. Two, your programs are maxing out the 550Ti because you are trying for settings it cannot do.

Programs are tools, use them, remove them, start over. You may find difficulties but that is how it works.
The exception is BIOS settings. These you need to understand.

Cable management is a learned skill, if it interferes with fan placement does not seem proper.
Extra cables should hide, as much as possible behind the motherboard, on the bottom of case, or in 5.25 or 3.5 slots.

I do not see an aftermarket CPU cooler, so no more than a mild overclock should be attempted.

Some, maybe most, games are GPU dependent, and will drive the card to 100% very easily. You may need to reduce settings.




NEXT..

 

[Fokuz]

(*Tendancy to write to much letters again jump down to the bold text if you don't have the time to read)

Thank you for the response!

Well first considering the software:

AMD Overdrive was something that I installed for the Processor at some point, but I just removed it, I also removed all Gigabyte software that can adjust fan speed and so forth.
Along with a re-installation of the Nvidia Drivers for the Graphic card, I made a clean Un-install and a new Install from most updated file. And yes I'm talking about that fan on the Graphic Card (Zotac GTX 550 ti

What I left was CPUID-HWmanager, which always stated my Fan speed on the GPU is 41%, so as you say, my logic tells me this is just false numbers and that it might be at 100%. As it makes the same noise while Idle too. The fan is connected to the card it self and then directly into the PCI-e slot.

I'm pretty confident the cable management is as fine as I could do it from the knowledge I had as I spend a entire day on it 3 hours before booting the computer just to double-check externaly if I had done it right before tieng the wires together (which I had), and what wires I should leave for future purposes (as I have a clunky cablage which I never going to use and can't remove as it's non-modular.) There is not a single cable inside the MB-frontside part of the chassi, they are hidden in the back (except the one's that is needed to be connected.),

What I don't feel good about is that I don't exactly know what I'm doing, I kinda connect the stuff with my intuition, but when I'm unsure I rather ask for help. (I mean if I have 2 that can only fit together in one way it's kinda simple to figure out the solution.)
The problem is when multiple variants comes into account for example the fans, as they are possible to connect on the board as well for an ex. Second problem is even if I know that the wire fits together, I don't understand what happen inside the wires, one is + and one is -, and they transfer electricity. There you have my underneath the surface understanding.
I started experimenting with computers when I was 6 years old I deleted config.sys when I cleaned the computer "because I never used that stupid thing anyway". But that was software and I was younger, I don't wanna make same mistakes in the hardware department. But sometimes I might be a bit too curious and hasty, that's why I ask for help instead.

Anyhow what I believe might be wrong is what you say now, that he fan is spinning at maximum speed. Considering the bios I'm a little scared to touch it it's Gigabyte and I need to flash it somehow to upgrade it to use the "3D-bios-Software thing". Shouldn't be necessary though. But as there is fan cable connected to the motherboard, have I done anything wrong? Can I somehow connect all the fans into one control-panel where I can adjust everything manually part by part.?

I can upload my reading from this HW-manager thing, or any other program if you have any recommendation that I can download.

I have no problems playing any games, the computer is somewhat the same temp Idle as on Load, depending how much Software I'm running, if I have like 50 youtube tabs and 3 different game's running at the same time it can get a little bit hotter as I don't trust the temperature shown on the display I usually just try to feel on the "Black Thing" or near the GFX card how hot it is, that usually tells me along with the sound of the fans speeding up that it's hot.

*To formulate my self a little bit more concrete:

Tip of software to install to measure temperature / fan speed and so forth.
Software to make tests to guide me for easy correct adjustment of fan regulations.
Yes the CPU fan is the original one that came along with processor, ( a weak one in relation I heard.)
As the only area where it really get's hot where I can feel it in the air physically is near the CPU, can I place more fans in the case as a temporary solution to get a cooler airflow?
Should I connect all fans together from the front panel to one and another and no one directly to the Motherboard? How can I know the accurate reading then.? And how does my computer know what temperature it is? Where is the thermometer?
I Will reply and try to attach some pictures from inside the case, if there is any other upload wanted I fix that
AND THANKS A LOT AGAIN!

 

[Fokuz]

Click on the this link to see gallery of the motherboard connections / fans etc, if it's noticeable that anything seems wrong hardware wise.

 

[woboy]

Fans can have 2 or 3 or four wires, and use DC power. One wire is plus, one is negative, one is for rpm(if present), one is for PWM speed control. PWM uses "power on/power off/ power on switching to control fan speed.
Usually only motherboards, GPU boards, and some fan controllers use PWM.

Some systems offer voltage control. The individual fan characteristics govern the result of voltage changes. A fan might start at 3 volt 5 volt 7 volt or 9 volt, whatever. Response to increasing voltage might be linear, or might not.

For your purposes you want to see what is enabled in the Zotac card BIOS. Like the motherboard BIOS there should be a simple enable/disable choice of quiet/enthusiast/ performance/ manual modes. If somthing throttled the fan until the chip threatened to overheat it may have defaulted whichever is the max rpm setting.
Which means enter carefully and make no changes until certain you think you have it figured out, and you can restore to previous setting (manually or by profile).

If you have loaded conflicting VIDEO SOFTWARE you may need to use a "sweeper" program to be certain of removal. This is usually only necessary if switching from one brand to the other (AMD/Nvidia).

Physical damage can also result in full fan speed. If the heat sink contact is disturbed this can raise temperature.

For information only:
Power supplies output +3.3 volt, +5 volt, +12 volt, +5 Vsb, -12 volt. Molex 4 pin connectors: yellow +12 v, black ground, black ground, and red +5 volt. Obviously this means a fan connects to the yellow and black for 12volt. adapters can change pin out to 5 volt, and electric magic can give you 12-5 volt=7 with the proper pin out.

 

[woboy]

TMPIN0, TMPIN1, TMPIN2 are probably motherboard, northbridge (hub), and VRM??

FANIN0 is screaming high, so it is either a misread or a problem.

FANWM0, FANWM1, NO READING.
FANWM2 99% again this is a misread or a problem. Probably extra sensor.

Which makes it look like the PWM fan on the motherboard, which I suspect is the CPU cooler fan, is making the noise.
I seem to remember reading about some stock coolers doing this 100% (or the 99% listed) but I do not remember why.
It may be a hardware problem, or software.

Definitely go into motherboard BIOS and check fan settings.
I think, emphasis on think, "enable smart fan" might solve it, or not.

Core temps are more than reasonable, as is HDD temp.

Nvidia GTX 550 Ti voltage, TMPIN0 is fine, do not understand 2 fan readings, one zero, one 41% .

Open fan headers on the motherboard would account for 0% readings, best guess.

 

[trents]

It looks like you are using the stock fan that came boxed with the CPU. That's your biggest problem right there. Guaranteed to give you borderline hot temps before you start to overclock.

If I were you I would not install fan dust filters as they are guaranteed to cut way down on air flow. Invest in an air compressor and blow the dust out of the system every few months instead.

I am attaching a pic that shows how air flow ought to happen in a computer case.