Keeping Your PC Cool

Blue screens, sudden system shutdowns, computer freezing up. The many frustrations and anger-inducing quirks people usually face even with modern computers. Sometimes it’s too much dust on the components, other times it’s just one-time thing due to an error in the system. However most of the time these problems stem from your computer overheating. Your computer overheats, obviously, when your processor (PCU) gets too hot to function normally and shuts down. There are a few ways to stop these cumbersome side-effects by using a few different methods; Heatsink, fan-based, water- cooling, and then the extremes.

Heatsinks are arguably the cheapest way to cool your PCU down using simple thermodynamics with a price tag of around $30-$50. When your computer gets hot the metal surface heats up on the CPU, by placing another metal on top of the CPU the heat will move from the CPU to this new metal. This is the basis of heatsinks, using metal to cool down other metals. This may not always be the most efficient way to cool down your computer but if your on a budget and don’t use a lot of demanding applications than this method’s for you.

A bit better and more expensive than heatsinks, fans are a great way to keep your CPU extra cool as well as a little more clean on the inside. Usually used with heatsinks, fans pull cold air from around the case inside of it, cooling down the heatsink while simultaneously pushing hot air, along with dust, out of the case. This is a much better way to cool down your PCU compared to having just the heatsink and can handle higher temperatures in case you decide to use your computer for something more demanding like gaming. The price for this method is usually around $50-$70 depending on the quality and quantity of your fans.

Water cooling is much more expensive compared to fans and heatsinks but almost always guarantee you that your computer will never overheat. Water-cooling is similar in theory to heatsinks where the heat from the metal is transferred to another metal, but with an extra step. It cools down this extra metal by exposing it to water so that it can cool down much faster and handle much higher temperatures than the heatsink can. This process begins at a water reservoir to hold the extra water as well as give it time to cool down. Afterwards this water is pushed through a rubber tube to various components, not just the CPU, where it comes into contact with a piece of metal. This piece of metal is separated from the component by thermal paste, a special gel that is great at transferring heat (This gel is also used for fans and heatsink methods). The water cools down the hot component and then is brought back to the reservoir for cooling. This method is usually very expensive depending on if you want custom water- cooling, which can cost well over $200, or a pre-built system that will cost anywhere from $80 to $150.

Finally we have the extremes. These are the off the walls crazy ideas that people do simply because it is either funny to look at or they are at a competition. This category can’t really be described, for instance one extreme way of cooling your PCU is by putting your computer in mineral oil...The entire thing. This doesn’t ruin your computer because it is non-conductive, unlike water which is very conductive. This method cools down your entire computer and guarantees it to never overheat at the cost of your parts being covered in mineral oil. Other extremes are putting your computer in a refrigerator or using liquid nitrogen to super-cool your PCU. The ideas and set-ups are simply crazy and absolutely cool, however unless your willing to possibly break your desktop I really can’t recommend this method.

Cooling your PCU down is imperative to keeping it healthy and running at it’s fullest potential, without any type of cooling your computer would never work and will eventually break due to the constant crashing and blue screens. The extra cash it costs is definitely less than buying a new computer, so make sure that you keep an eye on your temperature by using system monitoring apps like Corsair or RealTemp to make sure your in the clear.

Bibliography

Zerin. "How to Clean a CPU Heatsink." Zerins Tech Space. N.p., 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 11 May 2016.

Rizwan, Amaan. "Homemade DIY Desktop Cooling for PC : No Money Spent!" TechAnger

Hagedoorn, Hilbert. "Corsair COOL Watercooling." Guru3D.com. N.p., 29 Sept. 2005

"Howto: Build a High-End Mineral Oil Submerged PC." Mineraloilpcde. N.p., 11 Apr. 2015. Web. 11 May 2016.