A Sequel to Adequate Cooling Methods (Page 1 of 5 )
A well-cooled computer delivers better performance. If you want to make sure all of the components of your system are being cooled properly, keep reading. This article will walk you through each component and discuss its needs.
As I promised at the end of "An Introduction to Adequate Cooling Methods," here's the second part of the series. The first article's purpose was to familiarize you with the cooling methods that are available, their main advantages and disadvantages, and to enable you to decide which methods would work best for you. Therefore, I advise you to review the earlier article before reading this one.
This second article will go more in-depth and offer you practical solutions. Throughout this article we will analyze the required cooling for various system components, like CPUs, video cards, hard drives, power supply units, memory sticks, chipsets, and so forth. In contrast to the first part, we will emphasize each specific system component's cooling needs rather than describe the cooling methods. Furthermore, you are going to become a successful cooling expert.
Aftermarket Cooling
Stock cooling delivers an acceptable cooling performance. Stock cooling satisfies most people because it is just enough. People do not want overkill; they just want things to function properly. On the other hand, hardware enthusiasts, cooling freaks and overclockers are always aiming toward the best cooling solution that exists. For them, stock isn't enough by any means.
All in all, I just can't stress it enough that even for the average Joe aftermarket cooling isn't a waste. Standard cooling can be quite satisfactory, but purchasing better aftermarket cooling shouldn't be considered a waste of money. At the very least it will provide improved stability and longer operational life. This makes good aftermarket cooling a wise upgrade.
It is crucial to keep in mind that stock cooling depends a lot on the airflow because it is always air-cooling. Therefore, an acceptable stock cooling solution would give a sup par performance in a case with poor airflow or in a warmer environment. It might even hurt system performance or system components eventually due to throttling or overheating.
Dust is your enemy! Those tiny particles will downgrade your cooling performance. As I suggested in the first article, it is an excellent practice to remember to clean your system at least every three to six months. You will be amazed by the amount of dust that lowers or even completely blocks your airflow and tires your fans. So do yourself a favor and remember to clean your system on a frequent basis.
Aftermarket cooling is advised because even if your case gets dustier it can still offer great performance. It will be struggling, though, so this isn't a quick fix for being too lazy to clean a computer. Aftermarket air coolers are available at almost every computer hardware store. Their installation is quite easy. If you want to replace your stock cooling with water cooling or perhaps phase change then please refer to my first article.
Next: Case Ventilation >>
More PC Cooling Articles
More By Barzan "Tony" Antal
| Recommended by Dev Hardware |
|---|
|
/ 12 
