[ The PC Guide | System Care Guide | System Care:
Protecting Your PC | General System Care Factors | Cooling and Ventilation Care Factors ]
Component Cooling
There are several key components inside the PC that require specific attention when it
comes to cooling:
- The Power Supply: The fan in the back of the power supply provides air flow for
the entire system case, but it also serves to ventilate and cool the power supply itself,
which contains many components that get quite hot.
- The Processor: Newer CPUs generate much more heat than older ones did, and
as a result a whole new class of cooling devices--heat sinks and CPU fans--has come into
existence. These are discussed in detail here.
Improving your processor's cooling method can improve its reliability greatly and reduce
many cooling-induced problems such as program crashes and system lockups.
- Hard Disk Drives: Some of the high-end hard disks that run at high RPM speeds can
generate a great deal of heat. It is not generally practical to cool these directly, so
the use of proper air flow through the case is key especially when using multiple devices.
It is also essential to space them so that they are not near each other.
- The Motherboard: The components on the motherboard do not usually require any
active cooling devices such as fans, although some of them, such as voltage regulators use a heat sink for
cooling. These should be kept away from other heat-generating components. Also, the inside
of the box should be cleaned regularly, since dust accumulation will act as an insulator
and prevent proper cooling.
 Next: External Ventilation
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