[spippage]
Typical low CPU load core temperatures of the Q9650 a
31C., 31C., 28C. and 32C.
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal grease works great! However, the MOBO
manual suggests that optional fans be installed to avoid overheating. The
manual can be found by Google'n 'Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L .PDF'

I have a Cougar MX330-X gaming case whose manual can be found he
https://cougargaming.com/fileadmin/d...usermanual.pdf

Note that 5 optional fans can be installed. CPU and Fan N are installed
and their 4-pin fan headers are occupied. According to the MOBO manual
there are 2 3-pin fan headers up for grabs.
[snip]
According to the BIOS, installed fans can be set to sound an alarm if fans
fail or CPU exceeds 80C. However, the beep speaker has been silent for a
long time. There is an little known beep code. The absence of a beep
confirmation at boot time indicates something is wrong. Maybe what is
wrong is the beep speaker?


I should also mention that on one side of the MX330-X case are cutouts for
switches labeled 'FAN1' and "FAN2'. The 2 3-pin fan headers on the MOBO seem
to report to the BIOS. Switched fan power would not so report. The question
is which fans should be connected to the 2 3-pin fan headers and which
should be power switched? And where to get the power?

Thanks.