A little glimpse into the future
We are at the end, or, the beginning. It depends on how we look at it, whether from the perspective of last year or the new year (2025). In any case, at this moment it is important to express our gratitude for the support of all those who care not only about our magazine, but above all about making computer hardware knowledge move up the priority list. In this article, we will briefly look back at the past and also take a little look into the future.
As we wrap up the year, here’s a recap of some of the things that happened from January to December (2024). What we feel is important to communicate to you, our readers. We are able to function because you visit HWCooling and are “Hungry for Knowledge“. So first of all, thanks for the support, we really appreciate it and we believe that the best proof of this statement are the hundreds of detailed articles that we have been able to publish. And now to what we have managed, what we are working on, but also to where we couldn’t catch up (but we will :)).
A number of things have happened that will change and do change HWCooling. But we believe it will be for the better. The expansion of the editorial team by Adam Vagner will mainly mean an influx of graphics card tests and related topics. We did cover graphics cards in detail on HWCooling before Adam’s arrival, but due to limited capacity we can probably talk about it as something sporadic rather than regular. From now on, there will definitely be more tests of graphics cards and more tests from the “cooling” areas as well. That means more fan tests, more cooler tests, more case tests and so on. This is due to rearrangement of the workload, where Ľubo (Samák) drops the workload on graphics card tests (these were taken over by Adam V.), which also creates space for new topics – CPU coolers and computer cases.
The above topics were discussed in our tests by Pavel Sekerka (CPU Coolers) and Martin Bednár (PC cases), but both of those authors have finished working with us in 2024. More or less for family reasons and other priorities, and both departures came about after long term responsible planning. So no, we didn’t fire anyone, and both former colleagues have our editorial doors open in the future should they wish to return. But the plan at the moment is as we describe above. You won’t lose the CPU cooler or PC case tests, they will just be under a different author.
An important milestone in 2024 were the live events (HWCooling Techtour) that we have started to organise in technical secondary schools. We see a great meaning in them, because we can bring something to a new generation of young people that will help all of us in the future, the whole society. The aim is to raise the level of computer hardware education, to inspire enthusiasm in students – a passion for professional development – and thus to provide schools with something that they are so lacking. The world premiere of Intel Arrow Lake processors in the cinema hall of SPŠT was truly electrifying at times. And we experienced similar moments together with students and representatives of companies at secondary technical schools in Žilina and in Liptovský Hrádok. We then developed teaching aids for these schools, which will greatly contribute to the effectiveness of the learning processor. All this is, of course, extremely time-consuming, but we believe that with the support of the official bodies shaping the level of education in our country, we will manage everything and the bar will be raised in this direction as well.
In the magazine activities in 2025, you will therefore be able to look forward to more tests of all kinds interspersed with the traditional news reports of Jan Olšan. So hold on to your hats! And yes, thanks to the initiative of a loyal reader nicknamed “the patient”, we’ll soon have new interactive charts with responsive breadth. 🙂
Finally, on to what didn’t quite go right – ATX 3.0 PSU tests. We did the measurements, except that the year 2024 went by too fast and we couldn’t get around to processing the material. We’ll fix that as soon as we can, though. Anyway, I consider this to be a major personal failing which has well highlighted the gaps in planning that we have, but we need to address them for the future.
The editors of HWCooling wish all knowledge fans a very succesful year in 2025.
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
- Contents
- A little glimpse into the future
Hmm, and yes: If you have a special request – something that would be of a HUGE interest to you from hardware topics – then any tip is welcome. Due to capacity reasons we can’t fulfill all New Year wishes, but… 🙂
I would like an extra test for fans added: the maximum noise from 0 to, let’s say, 500 RPM, alternatively to RPM equal your lowest dB measurement. It would catch all the cases of poor design for starting fans: mechanical noise, loud motor, and overshooting target speed. This is important for silent builds.
Yes, that would certainly make sense. I will do my best to include such measurements in fan tests sooner or later. I don’t want to promise when that will be, because the current model of standard fan tests is at the upper limit of the time we can spare at the moment. 🙂
I wonder if you can use a script to automatically record the fans’s noise level across the whole PWM range.
Surely something could be worked out if the PWM control level could be linearly increased (via Arduino, for example?) at regular intervals. The noise level recorded in time is possible. Then it would be enough just to interpret these two recorded things into a curve graph.
Glad I discovered your website, when looking for SSD coolers..still in the process of discovering its contents…very impressed so far.
As long-time reader of silentpcreview, I would welcome more “noise tests” (pc cases, fans, hdds etc).
Wrote it in another post, but I hope you get the chance to review the Savio AK-60 ssd cooler…it’s price (locally) is at the Axagon CLR M2L10 range (5-8 euros) and features a backplate.
…closer to the BQ MC1 ssd-cooler, with a bit more distance between the -longitudinal- fins.
Thank you for your constructive comment. 🙂
— „I would welcome more “noise tests” (pc cases, fans, hdds etc).“
As far as cases are concerned, we have only recently started a new methodology and, of course, we will continue with it. The noise analyses in this respect will be massive, similar to fans.
Can you please tell us what more we could do in terms of fan noise tests? There, I think we are almost hitting the ceiling – tests in 7 noise levels + frequency analysis.
— „I hope you get the chance to review the Savio AK-60 ssd cooler…“
Yeah, that cooler looks really good. We’ll write to the manufacturer about a test sample and see.
Thank you for your reply.
Yes, your fan tests and components’ whine tests are quite extensive.
I personally have a very low tolerance for noise when reading/studying so my choice of PC case, PSU, CPU & CPU cooler, VGA, fans, HDDs etc was always centered around noise levels & noise character….whether that means purchase the expensive hardware/peripheral or forced to keep older/lower performance components.
I know it can be from time-consuming to impractical to go all-out, but being so sensitive to noise, I have found that sometimes testing methodologies are inadequate.
e.g. when testing different cases for noise (major concern for me, with 11 drives in my case – 2 ssds, 9 hdds), testers would not populate every single position with the relevant hardware components, i.e. if the case could hold 7 hdds, it would still only be tested with 1 or 2 drives….but would still test with a loud VGA…as if all users are gamers.
Having gone through many Cases, often triggered by case reviews, looking for “the one”, I have found that the number of drives in the system changes its character by a lot and if there are “deficiencies” in metal thickness & construction, in the mounting system for hdds etc, it would show up approximately > 3 drives.
Even a thinly constructed case can pull-off sounding “silent” with <3 drives…but if you go over that number, cumulative vibration can make a "quiet" case rumble and whine intolerably
So my wish would be (apart from testing more components for noise) for you to test components with no bias regarding use and while doing a standard-consistent test – e.g. two case fans, 2 hdds, a set vga – across PC-Cases, at the same time test each specific case as it is specced to be used…
…if a case has 3 hdd trays, test with 3 hdds…if it has 7 hdd trays, test with all 7 populated…if a case has top-mounted fan grills, test with fans there too, if it takes up to five, sure test with the standard e.g. 2 fans, but also test will fans attached.
…overall don't standardize the test to the degree that it becomes unhelpful by positing a universal usage-scenario…
I would never purchase a mini-atx case cause I wouldn't fit all my hdds there…so when testing mid/full-tower Nanoxia, do test with all positions populated….I would also not buy a full atx to keep 1 boot drive and 2 storage drives.
Thank you for your extensive comment.
— „…overall don’t standardize the test to the degree that it becomes unhelpful by positing a universal usage-scenario…“
You are probably right in that it is advisable to test cases (also) at the limit of maximum possibilities, as far as the fitted components are concerned. It would be interesting to know how many people use cases like that. For example, from the perspective of PCIe expansion cards, there will be very few users who will use more than half of the available PCIe positions. Most owners of midi-towers, or cases for ATX motherboards, will end up with the number of positions that the graphics card will take up. Sure, with HDDs it’s a little different, but…. Anyway, yes, tests with all 2,5/3,5″ positions filled would be useful. Although who knows how big the target group would be for that. At a time when inch storage drives are in decline, such tests might not interest so many people…
A test I would like to see is the correlation between temperature, airflow and fan model. Not adding to the standard fan tests of course, but in a (series of) separate test(s) that explore this topic.
I’d suggest something like testing several fan models on the standard test radiators (120/140 mm, thinner/smaller, in a custom loop) at the standard noise levels. The loop should be connected to a constant heat source e.g. CPU with power limits. The coolant temp should be recorded, as well as thermal imaging of the radiators. This will allow the quantification of temperature improvement you can expect from using improved fans, as well as any potential effect of airflow pattern of fans on cooling performance. Something similar could also be done on air cooling heatsinks, I’d imagine.
This is a very good idea for a test. Noted. I don’t know when we will get to that test, but I believe it will come one day. 🙂
In standard fan tests, I’d like to see a new graph on the “Cooling performance per watt, airflow” page.
I think you know well the three fan laws of RPM∝Airflow, RPM^2∝Static Pressure and RPM^3∝Power. Thus, if you plot a curve of Power vs Airflow, you can fit a curve of Power = C x Airflow^3, where C is a constant specific to each fan (I’m pretty sure it has a proper name, but I couldn’t find it). From a pure energy efficiency perspective (ignoring noise), what we’re really interested in is C when comparing between fans.
I think this calculation can be quite easily done by feeding a script with existing airflow and power data for each fan.
Thank you for the tip on expanding the tests. I have to sit down, prepare it and add a chart like this. 🙂