Airflow and Heat: A cooling guide.

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edited January 2004 in Science & Tech
"Low temperatures are what we want. PC cases become like Swiss cheese riddled with fan holes in the quest for cooling. Is there an optimum configuration? Is one cooling fan enough or is it the combination of fans? One PC case was set aside and filled with fans to find out just what combination works best for airflow's effect on heat."


The results surprised me...read for yourself.

Comments

  • seversphereseversphere
    edited October 2003
    Some more details about how the air comes out of a fan might help understanding. Fans don't push air straight out. It's at an angle to each side. This is why too many fans don't work so well. The side panel fans push some air towards the front keeping the front intake fans' cooler air towards the front/bottom area. Delta came out with some "focused-flow" models that helped push the air straight out and thus worked better on heatsinks. Even a little extension of the square body of the fan would help to keep air from going sideways. I notice that some older cases where the plastic fan retainer/holder that snaps into the front were different from most. The majority of them fit around the fan to hold it and have a grill on the inside side which impedes the airflow. Some fit around them but had teh square bodies extended about two fan depths inwards and that allowed the air to come out farther into the case rather than just spreading out right below the hdd. So the best thing to do is not just good placement of a few fans but also "ducts" to direct air a little better.

    I also posted this comment under the article as the most probably reason why the results turned out the way they did.

    "reason for why TOP & Rear was best with load temperatures is that once the cpu starts to generate heat - this placement of fans is best to remove the hot air coming off the heatsink quicker / more directly than the other arrangements. The reason why it is one of the slowest to get back to idle is because it's just exhausting and no direct intake of cooler air so it has to cycle the entire volume of air in the case a few times before reaching equilibrium."
  • DogSoldierDogSoldier The heart of radical Amish country..
    edited October 2003
    Fantastic article. It really helped me nail down a new case config. Severesphere's comments are why I'm putting a fan in the front.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Link takes me to the Short-Media front page. At the bottom left of that page is the article link. Clicking on the article link takes me each time to front page.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited October 2003
    Hmm I might have to add a top fan. Looks good MM.

    Leo: It works for me.
  • DogSoldierDogSoldier The heart of radical Amish country..
    edited October 2003
    The article is on the front page.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    OK, works now. Good article, useful information.
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited January 2004
    Really something to think about. Great article.
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