Computer Cases: Fundamentals of the Most Overlooked Component - Fan Placement and Airflow
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On the other hand, there are plenty of reasons why these two fans should not be the only fans in your computer. A lot of computers—especially those designed for a longer life or significantly higher heat production expectations—have a minimum of one more fan included, but they often have two more. One of these fans will be located on the back just above or in line with the CPU fan. This fan is designed to function as an exhaust fan, to draw warm air that is building inside the system to be expelled externally. The vast majority of computer components rely on passive heat release, and the addition of just a single exhaust fan can make a significant difference.
The installation of an additional further fan often takes place on the front of the system, towards the bottom. The intention of this fan is to draw cool air in from the front and, with proper placement and case selection, allowing the creation of a mild wind tunnel to run from front to back. This allows cooler outside air to travel across components and locations that might otherwise never receive any. Additionally, most front air intake fans are positioned to allow air to travel across the surface of your internal hard disk drives, cooling the component to such a degree that performance output from the device increases exponentially as well as lifespan.
In this way, the overall quality of the design of the computer case is critical. The vast majority of cases, including those provided by large original equipment manufacturers (OEM), do not incorporate superior airflow into their designs. Considering the increasing importance being placed on producing low-cost components, the simpler the design of the case the more attractive it becomes for production. On the other hand, there are a growing number of high-end case manufacturers for whom problems such as proper airflow is a serious matter. Manufacturers such as Aopen, Enermax, Antec, and Coolermaster have developed a number of cases based on these principles.
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