Secondary points can be considered the appearance and design, the geometry and number of impeller blades, built-in lighting, product packaging and commitment to a particular brand, which affects the price of a case fan. As you can see from all of the above, choosing a cooler for a case is not as easy as it might seem at first glance.

The purpose of the case cooler

Unlike a CPU cooler, whose sole purpose is to cool down the raging heat of the CPU, the fans installed in the PC case serve to remove hot air and dust from the system unit. To achieve these goals, several coolers are installed in the case for blowing in and out, creating a circulation of the air flow coming out. Blowers that create excess pressure inside are usually paired with dust filters, which, due to the inevitable gaps in the interface of structures, only partially cope with their functions. An exhaust fan, whose power is higher than the blower fan, can also become a source of dust infiltration into the case. And some case models generally suffer from excessive "leakage", which also negatively affects their dust tightness. As a result, most of the accumulated dust particles settle on the impeller blades and are compressed there due to high fan speeds, causing background noise during computer operation.


Air circulation in the system unit provides for a certain movement of flows aimed at blowing in and blowing out. In modern cases with a bottom-mounted power supply, the intake fans are installed at the front and bottom, and the exhaust fans are at the back and top.


This organization of air movement allows additional use of natural circulation, which raises cold streams from below to the most heated volume in the upper part of the case.

Popular CPU coolers

Design and connection types of case fan

The design of a simple system unit cooling element comes down to three main parts: a housing, an impeller and an electric motor.


Advanced models are equipped with a bearing assembly, angular inserts for mounting and damping vibration, as well as a resistor speed controller. Many modern products are supplemented with LED lighting.


Fans can vary in connection type, and are most often equipped with a short wire with a 3-pin or 4-pin connector. Both options allow you to connect the cooler to power through the appropriate connector on the motherboard, but if in the first case the rotation speed is constant, then in the second it is possible to control it using a PWM signal from 4 pins. Therefore, to get full control over the speed of rotation of the cooler, it is best to choose models with a 4-pin connector. Both types of connection are mutually compatible and can be connected to the motherboard with the correct combination of the key. Occasionally, a fan is designed to be connected via a molex power supply connector. At the same time, it is able to work only at maximum speed.

Water Cooling for PC

Typical sizes of coolers for the case


In order for the fan to be placed in the allotted place on the case, it must be of the right size. Chassis manufacturers usually list the sizes of cooling devices that can be installed, but if this information is not available, then you should measure the free space yourself. Case cooler sizes can range from 40 to 200 mm, but most often you have to deal with the most common products with a diameter of 80, 92, 120 and 140 mm with a thickness of 15 to 40 mm.

Bearing arrangement options

To extend the service life, the fans are equipped with bearing units of various types, which determine the time between failures. The two main types of rolling and sliding bearings differ in their design features:

  • Rolling bearings. The traditional type of ball bearing with a resource of up to 90 thousand hours has high wear resistance and increased noise. Ceramic bearings have low noise and high temperature resistance. "Walk" up to 160 thousand hours.
  • Plain bearings. A simple sleeve bearing design is now rarely used due to poor operational capabilities. Its resource is only 35 thousand hours. Improved FDB bearing technology extends cooler life and significantly reduces noise levels. Self-lubricating LDP and SSO bearings have high wear resistance and a service life of up to 160,000 hours. Finally, the magnetically centered bearing assemblies stand out for their quietest operation, reliability and unsurpassed service life.

RGB Cooling Systems

RPM, airflow rate and noise level

The generally accepted spread in the speed of rotation of the case fan impeller is from 600 to 3000 rpm. At the same time, the less resourceful the model, the less noisy it is. Permissible noise for a cooler can be called a threshold value of 30 dB, and the quietest models are not beaten out for a value of 20 dB. The airflow rate, measured in Cubic Feet Per Minute (CFM), determines the cooling performance of the fan and requires the model to be selected according to the application. The most powerful coolers have a high airflow level of more than 75 CFM, which on the other hand is reflected in their noisy operation. Keep in mind that underestimating the airflow characteristics or miscalculating it can make the whole case of additional case cooling useless.

Silent computer cooler

Cooler backlight - bright computer life


Modern models of PC cooling systems today are not content with banal ventilation functions, but also work as a kind of decoration. Single-color or RGB backlighting of several coolers installed in a case with transparent walls looks very impressive in operation, setting you in a positive mood.

Cooling system unit with speed control


After installing the selected fans in the case, the question often arises of how to control them in operation. For this purpose, reobas is excellent for comprehensive control and regulation of the speed of all case fans. It is installed in a free 5.25-inch slot of the system unit and provides comfortable access to all built-in coolers with full visual information in real time.

Popular Case Fan Brands

In the list of popular brands of case coolers that regularly win prizes in ratings and reviews, you can find products from such well-known manufacturers as Thermalright, Titan, Vinga, Arctic, Deepcool, Xilence, Cooler Master, Corsair, Zalman, Enermax, Scythe, and more advanced and expensive ones include the Austrian brand Noctua and the German be quiet!. These are products that have been proven over the years of reliable operation and have their pros and cons, which, in spite of everything, grateful customers choose for their computers.

conclusions

The cooling system is an important element in the well-being of PC electronics, ensuring the reliability and speed of the operating system. This circumstance does not allow you to let things take their course, but to seriously start looking for suitable fans for the system unit. We hope that when choosing a case cooler for your home, office or gaming "machine" you will use the recommendations of this review.