Looming PC build

[--Pete]

Hi,

I used to have a machine with lots of fans. I almost couldn't stand to be in the room with it, it was so noisy. My current box has two 120mm low-speed fans, a passive CPU heatsink, and one quiet fan in the power supply. If there's nothing else in the room making noise and you have a moment to stop and listen, you can identify that it's on. It's very nice.

Yeah, you're right. You actually don't need a lot of fans, you need good airflow. I've looked at many boxes, and few of them are set up right. I've seen boxes where almost all the fans are intake and only one (often little) fan is an exhaust. Good for building case pressure, bad for cooling. I've seen cases where the fans do nothing -- a straight shot from intake to exhaust with no real airflow over the components that actually need it. Part of the problem of course, is that cases aren't designed worth a damn. Some now actually have baffles or guides to channel the air where it is needed. But even those that aren't can be cooled very well if some thought is given to airflow and the interior is kept clear. One doesn't need to live with a tornado

--Pete