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Air cooling

pc

A heat dissipation method utilizing airflow to lower the temperature of electronic components.

expanded

Air cooling involves transferring heat from electronic components to the surrounding air using fans and heat sinks. This is a widely utilized thermal management approach in PC systems due to its cost-effectiveness and ease of installation. Air cooling is crucial for maintaining optimal operating temperatures of the CPU, GPU, and other components, thus preventing thermal throttling and ensuring system stability.

examples

A 120 mm fan-based air cooling solution effectively lowers CPU temperatures by maintaining a consistent airflow of 60 CFM (cubic feet per minute).

Frequently used in mid-range desktop computers for cooling Intel Core i7-13700K CPUs during high-performance tasks.

A discrete GPU air cooling configuration utilizing dual axial fans to dissipate heat from the graphics chip, maintaining the GPU temperature below 75°C (167°F) under 100% load.

Commonly implemented in gaming PCs featuring NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards.

related terms

Liquid cooling
A system that uses liquid to remove heat from computer components.
Fan
A fan is a hardware device used for active cooling by moving air.
Radiator
A component in a PC cooling system that transfers thermal energy from the coolant to the air.
Airflow
The volume of air moved over a specified period of time by a system, typically measured in cubic meters per hour (m³/h) or cubic feet per minute (CFM).
Heatsink
A thermal management device that dissipates heat away from electronic components.