The case filters are the reason why - it has nothing to do with "fan design". Case filters have been a requirement in all my cases for many years just so I don't have to lug my systems outside as often. They work great. When my temps start hitting 60°C, that is typically a sign I need to wash my filters. But even with filters, dust will still get in as it comes through cracks around your front drive bays, USB ports, and anywhere else there is a vent. But for sure, having a case with removable, washable, filters greatly reduces the frequency you have to tear down the system to lug outside for blasting. And of course, YMMV depending on how many hours per day your computer is running, your environment (if you live in a desert vs a forest), nearby foot traffic (tossing dust into the air that gets drawn in), other factors. Any blower device (like a hair dryer) can stir up dust - just as you can blow out a candle with your own breath. The problem is dust with other content (like smoke particles or oily dander) which causes the dust to stick to whatever it touches. But still, removing the top layers of dust with a hair dryer will greatly improve the cooling efficiency of any heatsink.
No. Must modern CPUs can tolerate considerably higher temps than that and still remain stable and without throttling down in speed to cool off. 60°C is just my tolerance level or threshold. I don't like my CPU temps to sit above 60°C longer than a couple seconds. If they do, then I know I need to do something about my case cooling (since it is the case's responsibility to provide an adequate supply of cool air flowing through the case). And that typically just means, for me, it is time to clean my filters. If your case does not have filters, that would signal it is time to clean your case interior, including the heat sink fan assemblies, vents, etc. If they are all clean, then it would be time to look to adding another case fan. 2000W dryer! Wow! In places where 115VAC is the standard mains voltage, we are limited to around 1500W. But that has little to do with blowing power of the fan. That is mainly about the heat.
I just use my air compressor. I know what others have said on here about "over spinning" the fan, but it has never affected my card in the least over the years.
That you know of. FTR, I did not say over spinning a fan will ruin the fan. I said, "over-spinning the fans can increase aging and in some cases, break down the lubricant, making it less effective, increasing aging even more. So even if you don't see any immediate damage, it is never good to over spin any motor - no matter how fun that may be!" So while you may not have noticed any problems immediately, you did put abnormal forces on the fan bearings causing unnecessary wear that may (and IMO, likely did) shorten the lifespan of the fan bearings. It really just makes sense not to push anything beyond the designed limits. But besides, in cases I see where cleaning has been neglected, I get a more thorough clean of the heatsinks if I hold the blades stationary. With the blades spinning, the blades form a spinning wall that prevents full force of the air from getting in between the heatsink fins.
Yes, but as I've said, it hasn't had any ill affects, over heating or become noisy. May not be for everyone, but it works for me.
Bill, with all my comps, they are on 24/7. But even those without filters are relatively dustless. Of course, it's not a perfect spotless scenario, but the quantity is really low compared to what you'd imagine would accummulate over the years. We're talking less than 1mm dust film on the psu, ZERO dust on the motherboard, DIMM and the CPU/fan, a tiny amount on the GPU, and just a little of filth in the corners. Mrk
And like I said, "that you know of". Of course, blasting a fan with compressed air will clean the dust. Not the point. It takes almost no effort to hold any fan stationary while blasting. Whether you choose to do that or not is up to you. But to ensure you don't damage or cause extra wear to the motor bearings, it is still best to hold the blades still while blasting. Sure! But that's you and your environment. That suggests you don't live in a dusty location. You don't have lots of people or pets in your house going in and out of doors and opening windows, bringing in and stirring up dust. So it makes sense you don't have a dust buildup problem. And that is great. But not operating environments are the same. Older homes tend to have lots more dust than newer homes. Lots of people don't have the best filters on their HVAC systems. Many live in areas where windows are open most of the time. Others live where windows and door are hardly ever opened. Many have lots of kids and pets shedding dead skin (a major component of "house dust"), and kicking up dust as they run around the house. Even the type and age of carpet, and the foot traffic around the computers makes a big different too. There are countless variables that affects the amount of dust any computer may be exposed to. Some computers are exposed to cigarette smoke, some not. Even the amount and type of cooking in the home can affect the amount of oily/sticky particles are floating about. So every home and workplace is different. If you don't have much of a dust problem, that's great! But if you do have a dust problem, you have to stay on top of it.
What sort of filters are we talking about? Something like cheese cloth over the fan intake perhaps? One of my boxes has a mesh screen over the fan intake area in the front, the holes are small and dust collect on the screen. Other boxes don't have this, plus there is side fan and power supply intakes to consider. Also do these filters have and adverse effect on air flow?
I buy cases with filters - the mesh type you mentioned. I would not use cheese cloth but I suppose it would work. Not all cases support side fans. And power supply intakes are only an issue with bottom mounted PSUs and most cases have top mounted PSUs, though more and more are going with the bottom. But even so, my cases have filters on the bottom for the bottom mounted PSU anyway. And yes, the filters do impact air flow a little, but not enough to matter - at least not until they get real dirty.
Don't quite agree with this. Really depends on your environment. In my case all of my boxes have PSUs located at the top and they do collect dust. I have to blowout the cases about every three months. I was thinking of taping over the inlet with some sort of filter medium the help reduce the dust intake. Same for the boxes with fans, One box has the fan in the back of the case with series of holes for the intake.
Yes, the fan intake meshes. They do have some small impact, but if the case is cooled efficiently, probably not so much. I have them at the lowest speed, and the HD temperatures are usually 30-40 degrees Celsius. The hot disk is in the top bay which is above the upper front fan, so it only gets partially cooled. Mrk
Not really. Perhaps I did not explain myself very well. Only bottom mounted PSUs draw their air directly from the outside through a vent directly under the PSU intake (at least with those cases that allow for the PSU to be mounted with the PSU's intake down). So if there is no case filter for the bottom mounted PSU, then dust build up in the bottom mounted PSU can become a big issue and this is especially true if the computer case sits directly on the floor. With top mounted PSUs, the PSU intakes its air from inside the case - not directly from the outside. So if you are filtering your case's air intake, the top mounted PSU will be intaking filtered air. Now of course, even with filtered cases, some dust will still sneak in through other cracks/seams in the case, and around front drive bay covers, USB and audio ports, and unfiltered air vents. But this can be minimized by ensuring the filtered intakes create more pressure than the exhaust vents. And for sure, as I stated several times above, the environment does indeed play a major role in how often ANY computer (or power supply) needs cleaning. But your comment was specifically about my reference to bottom mounted PSUs - PSUs that draw their air directly from the outside. And so I stand by what I said, and the "intakes" for PSUs are really only an issue for bottom mounted PSUs because they intake air directly from outside the case. If your top mounted PSU is getting full of dust, that means your case interior is too - and a thick blanket of heat-trapping dust over the CPU cooler and other critical component is much more serious than inside your PSU. BTW, I have seen computers come in where the bottom mounted PSU was caked with dust because it sat over an unfiltered vent - yet the rest of the interior was nearly dust free because the front panel fan sat behind filters. This was fairly common a few years ago when filtered case only came with front filters. Now, better cases come with more than one filter. My new Fractal R4 case for example, has a HUGE front filter and a big bottom filter for the bottom mounted PSU . But my older Corsair Carbide 300r only has a front filter .
I have all my chassis openings covered w/ filter material. Makes a BIG difference. http://purapc.com/store/index.html
@Bill_Bright, <slapping forehead hard>, not sure were my mind was (blowing in the wind I suppose); you are correct of course. @Mrkvonic, thanks. @Bob D, like those, doubt we have any one who sell those things, I don't buy much on line, things tend to get lost in the post.
Hi Bill can you advise me some good desktop fans 12 and 14 that i can find easly in europe ? i know only Arctic , but they can plug on the motherboard , i want to plug in the psu ,old like these http://i.imgur.com/uhic9Ol.jpg thanks
There are many. And note cheap power connector adapters are easy to find and use too. Using an adapter will probably be best as it will open up many more fan options to you since those 4-pin molex connectors are becoming a thing of the past. As far as European retailers, I don't really know which is best. Without knowing what country, I can only suggest Newegg UK. I am currently using Fractal Design fans in my current build and I really like them - because they are so quiet. But I have also used and have no problems recommending Panaflo, Vantec, NZXT, Noctua, Antec, and others. Don't buy the cheapest fans you can find. They will work and will probably last for many years. But better quality fans tend to be much quieter. The blades on better fans are aerodynamically designed to move air more quietly (fan blades are basically little "wings"). Cheap fans use blades that just "chop" at the air. Plus better fans have better bearings that cause less vibration. And this is important for fans that are mounted directly to the case, as big metal boxes tend to reverberate noise. Better fans typically use precision ball, or fluid bearings. Cheaper fans often use sleeve bearings. That said, there are some high quality sleeve bearing fans too. The higher the CFM, the more air the fan moves. But typically, the higher CFM, the higher the noise level. So this is where a quality design (and thus higher prices) comes in. The lower the dBA, the less noise the fan makes. Cheap fans claiming to be quiet often achieve low dBA numbers by slowing down the fan. What good is a quiet fan if it does not blow enough air to keep your computer cool? So look for high CFM with low dBA numbers. Also, larger fans can move more air while spinning at the same speeds as smaller fans. This means larger fans tend to offer the same cooling potential more quietly. So if your case supports 140mm fans, definitely get them. Finally, fan orientation (which way it blows) is critical for proper cooling. Generally you want front to back (and/or bottom to top) air flow through the case. All fan have (or should have) two arrows somewhere on the case. One indicates the direction of air flow, and the other indicates fan rotation. The direction of air flow is the one to pay attention to when mounting the fan. Oh, I personally don't go for LED illuminated fans. I expect my cases to sit quietly and discreetly off to the side and NOT draw attention to themselves. Fan noise, fancy facades and flashy lights do nothing for performance. And besides, I prefer to pay attention to what's on my monitors!
thanks ARCTIC F12 PWM PST seems to be good fan , do you know if they have included the possibility to connect to the psu without power connector adapters? i have artic case , can't find fans here thanks
Just looking at that fan from here, it does not look like an adapter is included. That is not surprising. Note the F12 is a 120mm fan. Not a problem but you did say 14cm (140mm) above. The brand of the case should not matter. PC case fans come in standard sizes with 120mm and 140mm the most common these days. Did you inspect your motherboard for fan headers? Most motherboards support at least one case fan. Then you would not need to worry about a power cable adapter.
i have 3 artic fan connected to the motherboard the fan i mentioned is https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/arctic-f12-pwm-co.html under connection there is the 4pin socket should not need adapters or? thanks
If you have 3 fans already connected to the motherboard, do you really need more case fans? That seems excessive. Maybe you should just look at replacing your current fans with better fans. Also look at cable management to make sure they are properly tied back and stuffed out of the way to minimize impacting air flow through the case. Is the case interior clean of heat-trapping dust? What are your temps? That is one of the standard small 4-pin fan connectors, not the big "molex" power supply connectors. See this to get an idea of what I mean.
