The vast majority of computers use two types of dust filters – a fine nylon one and a coarser plastic one. The fact that the plastic filter lets more through and is less efficient in this respect is already apparent from the eye, as it has a coarser mesh. But do you know which one degrades the performance of the fan more and by how much? One even “wheezes”, which is nicely indicated by a detailed noise analysis at 240 sound frequencies. Read more “Test: Nylon vs. plastic dust filter. Which restricts fans less?”
Tag: cooling
Complete analysis of the final wind tunnel for fan testing
The introduction to this article has been rewritten several times. The original versions resorted to describing the adverse events that caused the long-announced fan testing to be so dramatically delayed. But the text was always dreadfully boring… the important thing is that everything managed to make it to the start. But before the starting gun, come take a thorough walk around the track where the measurements will take place. Read more “Complete analysis of the final wind tunnel for fan testing”
What’s the best position for your M.2 SSD?
Graphics card can significantly contribute to cooling of SSD that are installed next to it. However, there’s a very thin line between helping and limiting. Let’s see when your graphics card can be a saviour for your SSD and when it’s an oppressor. As a bonus, we compared the cooling performance with and without the criticised MSI M.2 shield. Read more “What’s the best position for your M.2 SSD?”
Ryzen iGPU and the return of thermal compounds
AMD has released the first Ryzen desktop processors with iGPU this week. APU Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G could be attractive for compact computers because it’s easier to cool a single heat source than to cool both CPU and GPU, and the integrated graphics cards of these processors should have performance equal to GeForce GT 1030. However, it also means that the old enemy has returned, thermal compounds. Read more “Ryzen iGPU and the return of thermal compounds”
Fans that are even smaller and faster: 16 500 rpm for M.2 SSD
Efficient and quiet cooling in combination with small fans is usually just a utopic wish. But it looks like that they don’t give up easy. We just discussed Evga board with two 30mm fans which are supposed to cool the power supply circuit, and here appears another similar case – M.2 SSD active cooling. Read more “Fans that are even smaller and faster: 16 500 rpm for M.2 SSD”
A high-end board from Evga has three fans
Several years ago, small coolers with 40mm fans were quite common for chipsets instead of heatsinks. Often so noisy that modding was practically necessary. After a couple of years, this trend was fortunately defeated, but recently, rotors with blades are back on high-end boards. Evga presented X299 Dark which even stands out: it has three fans. Read more “A high-end board from Evga has three fans”
Fans have conquered the land of users
Active cooling – commonly known as fans – is the eternal enemy of silence, but still a necessity if your computer is to perform properly. It looks like fans, and literally cooling, moved from hardware to a furniture area. Companies producing various game accessories have already started to sell gaming chairs (formerly called office chairs), and one of them now even has its “active cooling”. Read more “Fans have conquered the land of users”
New means to cool 1000 W of heat
PC coolers have made a big progress over past ten years. But chips that are meant to be cooled also “improved” – TDP grows and temperatures are worsened by compounds under heatspreaders. The good news is that cooling these “hungry“ chips is a problem for the entire industry, so research teams of universities are trying to find a solution. Read more “New means to cool 1000 W of heat”
With X299, temperatures and cooling will be really important
During the recent years, TDP of processors have been declining, 65 W chips have become mainstream, and the things we write about have become a little less important. But this week’s reveal of extreme Intel processors indicates that the competition is now pushing the manufacturers back to straining the hardware to the edge and making things probably much more hot than cold. Read more “With X299, temperatures and cooling will be really important”






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