The world of PC building is divided into two major camps. On one side are the enthusiasts of expensive and often quite complicated custom water cooling systems. These can cool extremely effectively, allowing for maximum overclocking results of CPUs and graphics cards while being extremely quiet. On the other side is the vast majority of computer owners who cool their system components the conventional way: with air cooling. And this doesn't necessarily have to be particularly loud.
The market offers many different fan models and PC coolers that operate very quietly. Large CPU coolers for processors often have such good semi-passive cooling properties that high-speed fans are not necessary as long as there is a well-defined airflow within the PC case. This airflow usually works best from front bottom to rear top or from bottom to top within the case to draw in cooler air and expel warm air out of the case.
When outfitting a case with fans or choosing a graphics card or CPU cooler, there are several points to consider before purchasing. First, you should be aware of which fan slots are available in your case. The most common formats are 120 and 140 mm.
However, many cases today also have much larger slots. Generally, larger fans can move more air at the same speed, but the static pressure decreases beyond a certain point, and the highest quality fans are often found in the mentioned range.
Additionally important: do you want to be able to control the fan speed later on? If so, a fan controller is recommended. If you have enough PWM connectors on the motherboard, you can also rely on automatic speed regulation via pulse width modulation, which requires dedicated PWM fans with a 4-pin connection. These are particularly useful on CPU coolers to ensure that the processor, the heart of the computer, is always sufficiently cooled.
Before buying a tall tower cooler, it is essential to measure whether it will fit in the case. If your case has the space and you have a powerful CPU, you should opt for larger models that naturally have higher cooling potential. For smaller cases, top-blow coolers are often used to cool the CPU.
Popular models among coolers include those from Akasa, Noctua, Deepcool, Scythe, or Kolink, as well as the Pure Rock series from be quiet!. Besides 3-pin fans and 4-pin PWM fans, fans with LED or even RGB lighting are among the most popular. RGB fans can change color, while pure LED fans shine statically in one color. With digitally addressable RGB fans, individual RGB LEDs can even be controlled, enabling spectacular effects. Nowadays, there are even fans with LCDs in the hub, displaying the speed, temperature, or other system information.
