Improving Your Computer’s Cooling

Improving a computer’s cooling can provide better performance and prolong the life of your system’s components. While most new computers provide adequate cooling, a few upgrades can also provide more headroom for overclocking components such as the processor and graphics card. Enthusiastic gamers tend to be particularly interested in getting the best cooling for their computers since it allows them to get a very noticeable performance increase. Improved cooling can also make your computer much quieter since stock heat sinks and fans are often noisy. Trie following provides some tips on how to improve your computer’s cooling in a number of ways.

1 – Additional Case Fans

Some of the more expensive cases already come with a built-in case fan, though more basic computers often have no case fan at all. Cases which do not come with any fans normally still provide one or more areas where fans can be installed, such as over a grill at the back of the computer. A case fan will assist in air circulation by sucking hot air out of the computer. Case fans are often very cheap and easy to install. You will need to consult the specifications for your specific computer case to get the right size. More expensive case fans tend to be nearly silent and some even provide an RPM control.

2 – CPU Coolers

Stock CPU coolers, while adequate for keeping your processor running at safe temperatures, rarely provide much headroom for overclocking. They also tend to be noisy. There is a huge variety of CPU coolers available for both AM D and Intel processors. These can be purchased for anything upwards of $20. The most effective CPU cooling solutions consist of large heat sinks with longer copper heat pipes and space to install a second fan. Water cooling solutions also exist, but these are often very expensive and are normally only used by enthusiasts Installing a regular CPU heat sink and fan can typically be done in a matter of minutes. To make sure that it is effective, you should always use an appropriate amount of thermal paste between the surfaces of the CPU and the heat sink. Stock cooling solutions always provide this, though many third-party coolers do not.

3 – Graphics Card Coolers

Stock graphics card coolers are far better than they used to be, especially with high-end cards. However, they can still be very noisy when the computer is running on full load. Upgrading a graphics card cooler is considerably more complicated than upgrading a CPU cooler. This is mostly due to the fact that there are so many different graphics card designs. Fortunately, there are still coolers available for most popular models and some of these can make a very considerable difference to both noise and operating temperatures.

4 – Other Methods

To Improve the overall cooling of your computer, you should keep the inside of it as clear of dust as possible. Dust builds up very quickly inside a computer and this greatly influences the operating temperature. An excessive amount of dust also makes your fans noisier and can even lead to a short circuit. To assist air circulation, you should also have any add-in cards placed as far apart as possible. Hard disks should also be placed with an empty bay between them, if possible. You should also try to keep the internal cables organized.

Coolers are available for many system components other than just the case, CPU and graphics card. You can also buy RAM heat sinks and hard disk coolers, though these seldom provide a worthwhile benefit.

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