PC Case AIRFLOW; A Visual Guide for Optimal Cooling. - Bilingual Subtitles
Airflow can be a little bit like thermal paste application.
thinks they know the best way of doing it, when, in reality, there are multiple different ways to achieve great results.
Over the last couple of years I've ran airflow visualisations on almost 200 different PC builds, some with similar and others with vastly different configurations.
whilst this video doesn't aim to provide any scientifically accurate information,
I do feel like this could be a great opportunity to talk about and showcase some of my own personal findings
and visually explain how airflow works in general.
Cooling might seem simple and for the most part, it is.
But, there are There some factors which come into play to truly optimise it.
The first and foremost factor contributing to your overall airflow comes from the case fans themselves.
PCK fans come in all sorts of styles, shapes, sizes and speeds.
The common size is being 120mm and 140mm and whilst fewer chassis support them, it's not uncommon to see sizes from 180mm to 200mm.
millimetre, which bring their own advantages to.
120 millimetre fans are truly the most flexible for the average PC build, and most cases can house at least four of them.
It's a size which has been refined over the years to deliver great performance with almost every aesthetic in mind.
From black fans to white, those shrouded with RGB, to those without RGB.
Reversed fan blades, fans with thicker frames, and then the fans with a host of different materials.
The at 120mm are truly endless.
140mm fans typically rotate more slowly than 120mm,
but they move an equal amount of air if not sometimes more, thanks to their large diameter and often wider fan blades.
140mm fills a sweet spot for those seeking quiet operation whilst keeping their hardware cool.
Moving on to some of the larger sizes,
such as a 180mm and 200mm, they move huge masses of air whilst keeping sound to an absolute minimum.
These can be essential for creators and those building a system for productivity, where sound sensitivity is a priority over anything else.
PC many different styles, sizes and aesthetics.
popular form factor being the time-proven mid-tour chassis.
There are a number of different factors to consider when choosing a case size,
but ultimately your hardware and relative cooling requirements will no doubt contribute a large part of this decision.
The two main categories across all PTK sizes are airflow focus or aesthetic.
An easy way to identify each would be that airflow focus cases typically have an unobstructed front air intake whereas
aesthetic cases may prioritize glass or a solid front panel.
An open front will typically run the system at a good few degrees cooler.
due to the nature of the design, allowing colder air, a direct entrance into the case.
The cons of this setup would typically be more internal dust, more noise and less viewing angles.
On the flip side, a solid front panel may run a few degrees warmer in favour of lower noise and less dust.
make the observation that they have terrible airflow but this isn't always true.
With optimised intake fans the static pressure can be plenty enough to efficiently pull air into the chassis.
An easy way to visualise how static pressure works can be seen right here in the studio.
Following an airflow visual for a build video I need to exhaust all of the smoke out of my studio.
I do this by placing a large fan next to an open window.
Next, I'll open another window further along the room.
As the fan exhausts all of the smoke out of the window, the opposing window is drawing cleaner, fresh air in at the same rate.
So let's assume you've chosen a Cakes VR PC build,
a frustrating step in the next stage of the process can be working out the best way to optimise it for airflow.
A general idea here is simple.
Pull air in as efficiently and with as little turbulence or obstructions as possible whilst removing the warm air in the same manner.
Think of the heat inside the PCB in a little bit like the steam on a coffee.
Heat rises So the idea
set up is to drive cool air inside the case in such a way that it moves heat upwards and away from the source.
If you are building a PC solely for gaming, installing a radiator at the top of the chassis is the most common method.
When gaming, on average the GPU tends to be the hottest part of the system.
the radiator at the top,
the cool air from the intake fans is able to flow freely over the graphics card, keeping it at lower overall temperatures.
This is called a GPU priority cooling setup.
Alternatively, if you tend to carry out more CPU intensive tasks, such as productivity and editing, it's not uncommon
to mount the radiator at the front of the case as an intake.
This the processor immediate cooler airflow, helping to manage the overall CPU temperatures to own productivity tasks.
This is called a CPU priority cooling setup.
Choose in graphics card or processor as your main cooling priority will ultimately come down to your individual needs.
Again, there isn't a right or wrong way, just make sure the highest point of your radiator is always higher than
your pump, that way you can ensure no air gets stuck inside the pump itself.
A more simplified cooling setup will come in the form of a tower cooler.
A tower cooler is one of the easiest and most hassle-free cooling solutions for a PC.
They are cost-effective, easy to replace if something fails, but most of all, can run quieter than their liquid counterparts under normal operating conditions.
The key to an efficient air-cooled setup is to get direct cold air straight through the tower,
then straight out the case again, in one fluid motion.
Installing a single fan behind and directly above the tower cooler can help with expelling the warm air, whilst also providing extra VRM cooling.
I often see people mounting exhaust fans in front of the tower cooler.
For the most part, this isn't an ideal setup.
up, as those exhaust fans could deprive the CPU cooler of the error requires.
The two perks of air cooling should always be simplicity and cost.
Don't overspend on fans that serve no benefits.
So, how does air interact with various cooling setups?
A dual chamber panoramic chassis is perhaps one of the least airflow efficient.
This is primary light.
due to the limited intake from the bottom fans, or as typically configured, the side fans blow air directly at the adjacent glass.
This causes turbulence before being pulled out of the exhaust fans.
That's not to say the cooling is poor, it isn't.
It's just least efficient.
Dual chamber cases typically make up for their airflow drawbacks by counteracting this with more fans.
A typical dual chamber chassis would usually permit 3 bottom fans, 3 side fans, 3 top fans and a single rear.
This combination works to side step the turbulence by simply creating pressure to move the internal air which results in cool overall temperatures.
Mid-tower and micro ATX cases with an open front panel tend to be the most
efficient for both liquid and air cooling thanks to the larger volumes and cooling support.
Mid-tower cases are often considered to have large voids of wasted space but that space can actually be crucial for airflow direction,
additional PCI-E hardware and of course to support much larger hardware.
If you're using an air cooler,
an open front panel would usually be a must as this will allow airflow to be direct and most performant.
The liquid cooled systems and open front panel is still greatly beneficial to keep temperatures lower,
but it's not as crucial as radiators dissipate heat over a larger surface area.
Small form factor cases typically rely more heavily on convection cooling.
This allows the chassis itself to harness and radiate internal heat.
They usually have fewer fans which can result in more noise as those fans are working much harder to cool the hardware installed.
I personally feel that small form factor build should be modest in terms of performance.
Sticking an i9 inside along with an RTX 4090 is a great idea to flex, but just because you can doesn't always mean you should.
Understanding form factor limitations is the key to it.
a successful build.
And anybody in the small form factor community will tell you, it's the trial and error that makes this size good fun.
Full tower cases are becoming increasingly more niche, but they lend themselves to high performance custom cooling, where raw power.
is an absolute must.
When pushing heavy over clocks,
a full custom loop system can be an ideal solution due to their unrivaled cooling power over such a broad surface area.
Full tower cases also have the capacity to house more storage drives and give the builder more opportunities to get creative with almost limitless space.
These really are the airflow kingist,
but the cost is high and you have to ask yourself, how much desk real estate do you have to spare?
Building a game in PC doesn't have to be complicated.
Understanding your own needs before building it will help and, of course, trial and error will occur.
That's the fundamental part of any hobby and let's face it, PCDIY is a hobby.
I don't always get it right and neither will you.
That's totally fine.
But hopefully this video will help you understand the core basics of calling, hardware and the general rules associated with that.
My advice would be worry less, gain more and remember you don't need a hundred fans.
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