Purpose of a Computer Fan
A computer fan helps stop the different computer parts from overheating. Without a computer fan parts of your computer can crash, become damaged or malfunction.
Computer fans are found inside the computer case and is an example of “active cooling”. Different computer fans vary in how fast they rotate (speed of rotation is measured in revolutions per minute) and the amount of airflow (measured in cubic feet per minute).
Typically a higher speed means more noise.
Cooling Fan Applications
Case Mount
This fan is used to aerate the case of the computer. The components inside the case cannot circulate heat efficiently if the surrounding air is too hot. Case fans move air through the case, usually drawing cooler outside air in through the front (where it may also be drawn over the internal hard drive racks) and expelling it through the rear.
There may be a third fan in the side or top of the case to draw outside air into the vicinity of the CPU, which is usually the largest single heat source. Standard case fans are 80 mm, 92 mm or 120 mm along each side. Air filters are often used over intake fans, to prevent dust from entering the case.
Power Supply (PSU) Fan
This fan does two things. It keeps the PSU itself from overheating and removes warm air from inside the case. PSUs with two fans are also available, which typically have a fan on the inside to supply case air into the PSU and a second fan on the back to expel the heated air.
CPU Fan
This fan is used to cool the central processing unit heatsink.
Graphics Card Fan
This fan is used to cool the memory on graphics cards. These fans were not necessary on older cards because of their low power dissipation. Most modern graphics cards (especially those designed for 3D graphics and gaming) need their own dedicated cooling fans. Effective cooling is especially important as some of the higher powered cards can produce more heat than the CPU.
Chipset Fan
This fan is used to cool the northbridge of a motherboard’s chipset, which may be necessary for system bus overclocking.
PCI Slot Fan
This is a fan mounted in one of the PCI slots, usually to supply additional cooling to the PCI and/or graphics cards.
Hard disk fan: A fan mounted next to or on a hard disk drive. This may be desirable on faster-spinning (e.g. 10,000 RPM) hard disks with greater heat production.
CD Burner Fan
Some internal CD and (or) DVD burners have cooling fans included.
Manufacturers of Cooling Fans
AVC, Akasa, Antec, Arctic Cooling, Cooler Master, Delta, Ebm-papst, Nexus, Noctua, NorthQ, Scythe, Thermaltake and Zalman.
