Does Airflow Actually Matter in a Gaming PC?
Does airflow actually matter in a gaming pc? Here I have a smaller gaming pc which is super portable but its getting pretty hot. There isn’t much airflow in this case and I don’t have much money to spend on this pc at the moment. I’ve got a DIY solution here to try and help this PC out but will it actually make any difference in such a small case? Lets find out! 😀
Here is the video DIY Fans Airflow PC Case:
Initial benchmarks:
AIDA64
WARFRAME
As you can see here the PC is getting a bit warm when it is left to run for a while with AIDA64. I suspect with Warframe on longer runs in game the PC may increase more in temperature.
Its quite evident that there is a lack of airflow from this case and there will need to be more fans added to try and mitigate extreme heat build up. If heat can be dissipated faster in this smaller case then there is a higher chance hopefully of temperatures being lower so lets find out.
After Stock Intel case fans installed Benchmark:
AIDA64
WARFRAME
There are decent improvements from the system on the AIDA64 test with the side panel off. With the sidepanel on there was a slight decrease in performance for the GPU.
Warframes improvement in temperatures was only slight, so not too much an improvement overall.
Its clear that when the system is pushed to its max that there will be more improvement in terms of temps for the CPU, where as the GPU its only a minor improvement or slightly worse off. What needs to be done here is that the fan configuration in terms of PWM fan curve might need to be changed as well as the direction of airflow in the case. The GPU may need more fresh air coming into the case. The CPU has three fans two intake from the front and one fan right next to it which might have helped its temps. Also considering that the power supplies exhaust fan is right on top of the CPU the CPU was basically given the best shot to try and dissipate heat.
I might try two addition intake fans in the future for the GPU to try see if it helps at all.
So yes Airflow is really important in a case and even more important when the case is small and air is limited. It was a fun project to cut up and glue down intel stock coolers and I’m pretty happy with the results as a whole. 🙂
YSTech: https://ystech.org
YSTech Article: https://ystech.org/does-airflow-matter-in-a-pc
YouTube: https://youtu.be/Zr2XdnG5A54
-YS