Testing and Building Computers for PC Gaming: Understanding Air Flow and Cooling

I'm Norm from Tested and Building Computers for PC Gaming, one of my favorite things to do is build high-end gaming PCs. When building a PC, there's one aspect that stresses me out more than any other - having enough LED lights and never having enough light. I want it to be really flashy! However, the thing that trips me up when I'm building a PC is the air flow and cooling system.

The Cooling of a Computer: A Confusing Aspect

When it comes to overclocking, having a high-performance video card in your PC means you need to keep everything properly cooled. This can get confusing, especially when it comes to creating a pressure difference between the intake and exhaust fans. Positive pressure is created by pushing air into the case, while negative pressure is created by pulling air out of the case. Both scenarios have their effects, even if the fans are oriented in the same direction.

Visualizing Air Flow: A Hands-On Approach

Today, we want to visualize and test the effects of positive air pressure versus negative air pressure inside a gaming computer. We'll be using high-speed video to get an idea of how air flows through the system. For our first test, we're going to try negative air pressure again - more air being exhausted than taken in. This is what we see: lots of fog up front from the intake fans, and then the airflow flowing up to the top of the fan as it's getting sucked in quickly.

Testing Negative Air Pressure at Half Speed

For our next test, we're going to try running negative air pressure at half speed. Maybe you want your fans to be a little quieter? We can see that even at half speed, there's still some airflow happening from the front of the case to the back. However, it's not as much as before - fewer logs are being moved through the case.

Losing Power to Fans: A Crucial Test

Our next test is what happens when you lose power to your fans' intake or exhaust. We're going to disable all the exhaust fans and just leave the intakes running. It takes a while, but eventually, we can see all the fog just kind of milling about up there at the top - no hot air being expelled from the system. The same thing happens when you lose power to your intake but keep the exhaust running - there's no circulation happening in the system.

Air Pressure vs. Negative Air Pressure

So, what did our visualization tests show us? Negative air pressure was more effective than positive air pressure at moving air through a piece of equipment. That's why most cases have more fans on top and back, rather than just front and bottom. It seems that negative air pressure is the way to go for efficient cooling.

Experimenting with Fan Configurations

One thing we want to show you today is the effects of using different-sized fans or configuring fan arrays. We're going to start with four fans stacked up vertically - what can be seen here? The airflow from each fan is minimal, and when turned on together, they don't do much of anything at all. However, if we get a bigger fan - like this 200 millimeter fan or this even bigger one - then the airflow increases significantly.

The Quiet Advantage

While it may seem counterintuitive, these big fans are not moving very much air. In fact, according to cubic feet per minute (CFM) measurements, they're still moving lots of air. The key is that they're doing so at a slower RPM, making them quieter and more efficient. It's all about finding the right balance between airflow and noise level.

Old-School Case Fans

Finally, we're going to check out some old-school case fans - these 3,300 rpm fans might seem small compared to modern fans, but they still pack a punch. They do produce some noise, but it's worth it for the increased airflow they provide. So, there you have it - negative air pressure and array configurations are more effective than positive air pressure alone.

Next Time...

That's all for today's experiment in testing air flow and cooling systems. We'll be back next time to continue exploring new techniques and technologies to improve our PCs' performance.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI'm norm from tested and building computers for PC gaming is one of my favorite things we've teamed up with Origen have some fun with PC building and PC gaming join us in series as we take on build projects explore find and test cool stuff to feed our curiosity together 14 PC hey Sean so when building a high-end gaming PC can you guess what's the one aspect that stresses me out having enough LED lights and never have enough light of course I want it really flashy actually the thing that tripped me up when I'm building a PC is the air flow the cooling of the computer yeah that can be really confusing if you want to overclock you have a high performance video card in there you need to keep everything properly cooled so you can get into you know do you want positive pressure in your case you want negative pressure in your case one kind of like pushes air in one has a bit of a vacuum effect so which you do and those two scenarios are in effect even if you have the fans oriented the same way I'm pushing in through the front and out the top so what we want to do today is visualize and test the effects of positive air pressure versus negative air pressure inside a gaming computer and to do that we'll get to the test and some high-speed video all right for our first test we're going to try negative air pressure again that's more air being exhausted than being taken in so here you can see we're getting a lot of the fog right up front words being intake through the intake and then you can see it flowing up to the top of the fan and it's giving it's getting sucked at the top pretty quickly so the next setup we're going to try is we're going to try the exact same thing negative pressure but running it at half speed maybe you want your fans to be a little quieter hmm and here you can see still a continuous movement from the front of the case to the back of the case but not as much of it you can actually really clearly see that less logs being moved through the case our next test is what happens if you just lose power to your fans your intake or your exhaust so yeah so we just have the intakes only going all of the exhaust fans have been disabled so it takes a while but you can see all the fog just kind of milling about up there up top you're not getting any exhaust of that hot air and the same thing actually happens when you lose your intake but still have the exhaust running you're actually not getting circulation at all you need both intake and exhaust be working and finally here goes positive air pressure more air being taken in than being exhausted and the result so you can see where it's pulling in the fog like crazy but it's kind of not it's kind of stagnating up here at the top you're not getting as much exhaust because of running them slower so maybe not as efficient so as you guys can see from our visualization negative air pressure was much more effective than positive air pressure at moving air through a piece and that's the typical setup I think most we're using for air cooling it's why cases have more fans and the top and back then there are in the front the bottom but one more thing we want to show you is the effects of using different size bands or giving configurations of fans first of all never do this now no silly silliness so we have here four fans stacked five fans stacked up vertically and what you can actually see is it's just them nothing but you actually get more air out of one all by itself and when you turn them all on may interfere with each other just doesn't do anything so what happens you get a much bigger fan the monster so this is about a 200 millimeter fan 230 230 millimeter fan and while it's very quiet it's actually not moving a lot of air which is puzzling so it's actually if you go by cubic feet per minute it moves a lot of air but it's moving at a slower rpm so it's nice and quiet so that would be the advantage of using the big fan and finally a matrix of fans two by two a lot of air movement well we went a little old-school here these are these are not your typical case fans these are 3,300 rpm and a little you can hear them but we're moving they fall out there so there you have it negative air pressure a little more effective than positive air pressure and also an array of fans more effective than one big fan or definitely tobacco-free dad no sex we'll see I next time that was longI'm norm from tested and building computers for PC gaming is one of my favorite things we've teamed up with Origen have some fun with PC building and PC gaming join us in series as we take on build projects explore find and test cool stuff to feed our curiosity together 14 PC hey Sean so when building a high-end gaming PC can you guess what's the one aspect that stresses me out having enough LED lights and never have enough light of course I want it really flashy actually the thing that tripped me up when I'm building a PC is the air flow the cooling of the computer yeah that can be really confusing if you want to overclock you have a high performance video card in there you need to keep everything properly cooled so you can get into you know do you want positive pressure in your case you want negative pressure in your case one kind of like pushes air in one has a bit of a vacuum effect so which you do and those two scenarios are in effect even if you have the fans oriented the same way I'm pushing in through the front and out the top so what we want to do today is visualize and test the effects of positive air pressure versus negative air pressure inside a gaming computer and to do that we'll get to the test and some high-speed video all right for our first test we're going to try negative air pressure again that's more air being exhausted than being taken in so here you can see we're getting a lot of the fog right up front words being intake through the intake and then you can see it flowing up to the top of the fan and it's giving it's getting sucked at the top pretty quickly so the next setup we're going to try is we're going to try the exact same thing negative pressure but running it at half speed maybe you want your fans to be a little quieter hmm and here you can see still a continuous movement from the front of the case to the back of the case but not as much of it you can actually really clearly see that less logs being moved through the case our next test is what happens if you just lose power to your fans your intake or your exhaust so yeah so we just have the intakes only going all of the exhaust fans have been disabled so it takes a while but you can see all the fog just kind of milling about up there up top you're not getting any exhaust of that hot air and the same thing actually happens when you lose your intake but still have the exhaust running you're actually not getting circulation at all you need both intake and exhaust be working and finally here goes positive air pressure more air being taken in than being exhausted and the result so you can see where it's pulling in the fog like crazy but it's kind of not it's kind of stagnating up here at the top you're not getting as much exhaust because of running them slower so maybe not as efficient so as you guys can see from our visualization negative air pressure was much more effective than positive air pressure at moving air through a piece and that's the typical setup I think most we're using for air cooling it's why cases have more fans and the top and back then there are in the front the bottom but one more thing we want to show you is the effects of using different size bands or giving configurations of fans first of all never do this now no silly silliness so we have here four fans stacked five fans stacked up vertically and what you can actually see is it's just them nothing but you actually get more air out of one all by itself and when you turn them all on may interfere with each other just doesn't do anything so what happens you get a much bigger fan the monster so this is about a 200 millimeter fan 230 230 millimeter fan and while it's very quiet it's actually not moving a lot of air which is puzzling so it's actually if you go by cubic feet per minute it moves a lot of air but it's moving at a slower rpm so it's nice and quiet so that would be the advantage of using the big fan and finally a matrix of fans two by two a lot of air movement well we went a little old-school here these are these are not your typical case fans these are 3,300 rpm and a little you can hear them but we're moving they fall out there so there you have it negative air pressure a little more effective than positive air pressure and also an array of fans more effective than one big fan or definitely tobacco-free dad no sex we'll see I next time that was long\n"