As you use your computer to read this article, run your hand near the top or back of the computer. You'll probably notice that these areas are warmer than the ambient temperature. If you're using a typical desktop PC to read this article, you may also hear the computer's internal fan humming away as it works to blow hot air away and cool air in over the PC's internal components.
What you're feeling and hearing is the constant effort to keep your PC's processors from overheating and damaging themselves. One of the most critical considerations in any computer's design is cooling, and there are several answers to that question. Which solution the designers embrace depends on what the PC will be used for and its intended operating environment.
Why Do PCs Generate Heat?
But why do computers get hot in the first place? And why don't computer designers try to solve that issue?
The answer lies in electrical conductivity. All materials have a certain amount of resistance, which is how easily electrons can move through that material. A material's resistance causes some electrical energy to be wasted as heat, which is why superconductors (materials that can conduct electricity with zero loss) are so desirable.
Until we achieve such a feat, however, we're stuck cooling our PCs. The largest sources of heat in a computer are:
- CPUs and GPUs: Central processing units (CPUs) and graphical processing units (GPUs) are some of the hottest-running components of a computer, as they perform millions of calculations every minute and are relatively small, meaning heat is much more concentrated. For this reason, CPUs and GPUs often have their own dedicated cooling units mounted directly on them.
- Batteries: Laptops and computer tablets rely on batteries to keep them powered. These batteries are another heat source because they store and distribute large amounts of electricity.
- Mechanical hard drives: While solid-state drives are becoming increasingly popular for both consumer and business purposes, mechanical hard drives are still widely used. These generate heat due to their spinning platter and mechanical reader.
Consequences of Overheating
So, what happens when a PC starts to overheat? At best, you'll probably be looking at an expensive repair or replacement bill for the computer. At worst, you'll have to repair or replace whatever else broke due to the computer failing, which could be anything from a medical device to a POS system to an assembly line.
When a PC overheats, several things can happen. Most notably, if the CPU hits boiling temperatures at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius, it will automatically throttle its performance and slow down to prevent severe damage.
If that doesn't work and heat continues to build, serious repercussions can follow. At high temperatures, the solder holding circuits together can melt, silicon can crack apart, and wires can become brittle and lose their insulation.
Types of PC Cooling
So now that we understand the problem, what's the solution? Almost every type of computer integrates some form of cooling solution. For PCs, the most common types of cooling are:
Fans
The most popular type of cooling is fans blowing hot air away from a PC's components and replacing it with cooler air from outside the case. While fans are extremely popular for consumer-grade PCs, they have several disadvantages: they're noisy, a reliability concern due to their reliance on moving parts, and they can spread dust and microbes throughout their operating environment. That last point is a severe issue in any workspace that values cleanliness, such as hospital wards or clean rooms.
Liquid Cooling
Liquid cooling works similarly to air cooling, but with liquid as the medium instead. A liquid cooling system mounts a cooler onto the heat source (such as the CPU) and uses a heatsink to transfer heat from the processor to the liquid. The liquid is then pumped away from the heatsink, cooled, and pumped back to the heatsink in a continuous cycle.
While highly effective, liquid cooling is also expensive, requires specialized equipment inside the PC, and takes up lots of space inside the PC, which can be an issue for applications needing a smaller form factor. For these reasons, liquid cooling is usually only seen in specialized roles, such as for dedicated servers or high-end gaming PCs.
Fanless Cooling
Last but certainly not least is fanless cooling. Also called radiative cooling, fanless cooling relies on heat sinks or radiation fins to disperse air from the processors into the air. A heatsink is attached to the heat source, draws heat from it, and radiates it into the surrounding air. These heatsinks are designed with as much surface area as possible and can, therefore, radiate large amounts of heat despite being comparatively small.
The major advantages of fanless cooling are that it doesn't require moving parts, doesn't consume electricity to do its job, and doesn't create any noise while radiating. For these reasons, fanless cooling is the most popular choice for dedicated healthcare computers and industrial-grade panel PCs.
Fanless Cooling with Cybernet Manufacturing's Computers
Cooling a computer is one of the most critical considerations for a customer when purchasing one. A fanless computer is often the best choice for work environments where reliability, silence, and cleanliness are top priorities.
If you're looking for industrial or medical-grade computers that use fanless cooling, contact the team at Cybernet Manufacturing. We implement fanless cooling along with other measures to ensure our computers are both efficient and reliable.
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