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I'm building a computer mainly for gaming and developing games. It's going to be a three screen system with two GeForce GTX 460's and a quad-core i7. The newegg wattage calculator says I need around 900W. The case I intend to get is this one. Full specs if you need 'em are at the end of this post. I have no intentions to overclock the system at the moment, but this may change in the future.

I've done a lot of research on the subject, and the answers I've found indicate that it takes a heck of a lot of power to require liquid cooling, and most non-overclocked systems don't need it. But I haven't seen a question about a system with two GPU's, so I ask you the following two questions:

Assuming that the system is used for gaming for very extended periods of time (say 4-6 hours at a time, nonstop) with all three screens running at full 1080p, would the fans installed in the system suffice? Or would I need more fans and/or liquid cooling?

If the system is used under the same circumstances as above, and is overclocked to a reasonable level, would the fans installed in the system suffice? Or would I need more fans and/or liquid cooling?


  • Intel Core i7
  • 16GB DDR3
  • Two nVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
  • 3TB HDD
  • Two DVD-RW writers
  • Thermaltake 1050W power supply
  • Case is linked above
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1 Answer 1

up vote 5 down vote accepted

It should not be necessary to maintain your system. As a general rule, any component that needs a fan to stay within operational temperatures includes one that will get the job done as long as you're not messing with factory settings (aka, overclocking) and are keeping the system as a whole in a relatively controlled environment (Don't try and run this system in the middle of the Sahara, for example.)

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That's what I figured, thanks! –  Mrrvomun Jun 22 '11 at 4:04

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