Keeping Your PC Cool

Computers, by their very nature, generate heat. Whether you’re looking at the processor, the Northbridge/Southbridge, the graphics card or the hard-drive, you’re seeing heat sources.  In this article we briefly cover some popular methods for keeping your computer cool.

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Fans

You may have noticed that your computer has a fan in it – this promotes air flow through the case to take the warm air that accumulates inside and replace it with air that’s at room-temperature.  If your fan has worn bearings, clogged filters/guards, has lost a blade, or just isn’t working then you will severely impair the ability of the fan to perform its’ primary function – to move air in to and out of the case.  If you hear a strange mechanical noise coming from your computer, then you could be a victim of fan failure.

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Dust

Dirt and dust build up inside your PC creating an insulating layer over components and heat-sinks. Dust can also restrict airflow from passing through heat-sinks and other such cooling devices thus lowering the ability of these devices to cool the components inside your PC.  Keeping your workstation off the ground can help to reduce the level of dust inside the machine, and regularly using “air-dusters” to clean out ventilation grills will help.  Having a technician clean out the case every 6 months will help to reduce the risk of a dust induced component failure.

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Room temperature

If everything inside your PC is working efficiently, that may not be the end of the story. Bear in mind that the idea is to remove the hot air from inside the PC and replace it with cooler air from the room. If the room is hot then you are replacing hot air with… hot air. If the room your computer in isn’t adequately cooled then the internal temperature of your computer will rise very quickly and can lead to the components inside it overheating and failing.  Good airflow around your workstations and servers is important to ensure that you aren’t left with hot-spots and air-feedback loops. If you would like to know how we can help to ensure that your workstations and servers are in good cooling order, please contact us at info@infotech.us or call us on (337) 896 3861