Cooling the Computer

From TheBestCaseScenario

Obviously, you cool the computer to get more out of your equipment. But this is not the only reason for extra cooling. Better cooling allows for longer equipment life, the overclocking option, and making your computer look awesome.

Fans come in various shapes and sizes, ranging from the small 30 mm fans, to the enormous 250 mm over sized fans. Larger fans produce a higher level of airflow (Rated in Cubic Feet per Minute, or CFM), they consume slightly more power, but do not need to run as fast, reducing noise and vibrations. Smaller fans may sound a little noisy, but they are the main option for small PCs and CPU cooling (80-120 mm most common for CPUs). Some fans even have LED lights to add that splash of color in wherever it is needed.

There is a wide range of ways to cool a PCs components, Air Cooling, more adventurous Watercooling, more expensive but sub-zero Phase cooling and then people who go all out crazy and use LN2 for sub-sub-zero temps.

Air cooling is usually the cheapest way of cooling a processor, Heatsinks - The item that sits on the CPU to extract the heat, carries heat into the fins which disperse heat into the air blown/sucked by with a fan, the bigger the heatsink and fan the better the cooling. Many heatsinks are available, all retail processors come with a 'stock' heatsink, this is pretty much always rubbish, so if you plan on using your processor for intensive programs that heat up the processor or want to overclock you will need to upgrade, to ensure your chip stays cool.

Watercooling is more expensive, some kits are available these usually don't do that well unless they come from a well known brand (i.e Swiftech/Dangerden). Enthusiasts will usually custom build their own kits, as this allows getting the parts they want and to allow for enough cooling. Watercooling, still uses airflow and fans to remove heat, this is because water is pumped through tubes, into blocks placed on the components, heat is transfered through the metal into the water, this is carried off to a radiator, where the heat is taken away in the air, just like a heatsink. Watercooling can be much quieter as most radiators take 120mm fans which as said already are quieter, most of the pumps unless they are high performance do not make much nose either.

Phase cooling involves a compressor, just like a fridge, these use compressors to cool down coolant which is pumped to the cpu block, it then evaporates, and runs back to be re cooled. This allows for very low or sub-zero temperatures, although the compressors need cooling and this again requires at least one fan, so you still have noise.

These methods all do their job well, depending on how cool you want the components. The methods can be enhanced by the use of other electronics such as Peltiers (TECs), these consume quiet a bit of power and sometimes need their own PSU. they use electrons to transfer heat from the CPU to the heatsink/waterblock/phase changer, this is very effective and can help temps a lot. although if the cooling on the other end of a high powered peltier isn't enough you wont see the extra benefits.

As the contact between heatsinks and CPUs cannot be perfect, you need to apply Thermal paste (TIM) to the processor, this allows heat to be conducted through the microscopic gaps. Most TIMs come with application instructions, usually a pea sized blob is placed in the middle and the CPU secured on above, this pushes the paste across the cpu core. Intel Quad core (2x C2D models) need a line placing which runs above both dual core dies.

Cooling is essential for a desktop/laptop computer to run smoothly and efficiently.