Liquid or Air Refrigeration, is what we will talk about throughout this excellent post where we will explain each one of them in detail, so that you can choose which is the best option you have to improve your work or gaming PC. So I invite you to keep reading to learn more about this topic.
Liquid or Air Cooling
It is important to get to know what options we have to control the temperature of our PC, so that it can have the best performance of each of its internal components. For this we have two cooling methods that we will each develop throughout the post, which are liquid cooling or air cooling.
This is why we must try to maintain that the cooling system that our computer has is adequate for the use that we are giving it. That is why to maintain control over the temperatures of the equipment, a cooling system is essential to provide us with a better performance of our equipment.
It is important that we emphasize that either of the two cooling methods is excellent, it will only depend on the use we give our equipment and the working conditions in which we are using it. Refrigeration systems like everything else over time have evolved so much that it can be said that both refrigerations are completely on par, causing there to be no differences between them.
Importance of Liquid or Air Refrigeration
The liquid or air cooling of our computers is of great importance, taking into account that very few people take this into account because they consider that this only has to be taken into account by gamers. But not because having an excellent cooling our PC will have a better performance.
Since having a good storage capacity we can take advantage of the working hours of our computer, and additionally we will also help to extend the useful life of the internal components that our equipment has. Because working with high temperatures can cause serious damage to our equipment or breakage of any of its components.
It is important to note that a work computer or one that you only use it to play where it can be used between 8 hours a day can be emitting a heat of 250/350 watts of heat. This heat can never stay inside our computer, so we need to generate an air flow to cool the components of our PC.
And where the parts that suffer the most in our computers are the processor and the graphics card, these being the components that are easier to break due to heat from very high temperatures. To get rid of these types of problems, the team must have fans that are consciously placed to create the air flow we need.
And if you are a fanatic user of games where you place your computer at high temperatures, you may want to install a liquid cooling system inside your computer so that your processor does not suffer from these high temperatures. Or you could also install air sinks with large and small fans depending on the need you have in the equipment.
Air cooling
It is that system that uses the heat conductivity of some metals such as copper or aluminum so that they end up with the heat that is generated inside a computer, such as the graphics card or the Ram memory modules. In order for the temperature inside our computer to decrease, a fan is used to accelerate this exchange of temperature.
Below we will give you some characteristics and requirements that air cooling systems have in their operation:
- In order for us to obtain excellent results with this system, it is necessary to maintain a fixed flow of fresh air inside our box, for this we can use a series of fans that carry a stream of fresh air from the bottom of the box.
- After the aforementioned, this causes the cold air to push the hot air upwards, thus reducing the heat within the components of the PC, in this way that air that is already used is expelled from the inside of the box by the part of above, aided by the fan that he gives the final impulse to extract it as if it were a chimney.
- The vast majority of computers have an aluminum heatsink, both low-end and high-end computers.
- It is advisable in any of the cases to acquire a heatsink so that we have a more effective air cooling within our computer, since only in this way will you be able to have an exact control of the temperature of your equipment.
- We also came to observe that other components such as graphics cards also need aluminum heatsinks that are larger and additionally two or three exclusive fans for it, to force the exchange of temperature and remove heat more efficiently.
Air cooling can be classified into two:
- In active it is composed of a heatsink and a fan, where the fan that is located on the heatsink will remove the heat transmitted by the heatsink and throw it away.
- And the passive one is only made up of a heatsink, where the advantage it has over the previous one is that it is very silent.
Passive cooling techniques consist of increasing the contact surface with the air in order to increase the heat that it is capable of removing, while active cooling is to take a passive system and place a fan that helps us accelerate the air flow by means of some fins. And that unlike the active fan if they generate noise and having parts that are moving it is possible that it breaks down.
Liquid refrigeration
Liquid cooling inside a computer has the same cooling principle as a vehicle. Through this system, it must have a system of conduits that are connected to the PC that need to be cooled.
Inside these conduits, a liquid with cooling properties will circulate, which is driven by a pump that presses to push the liquid through the entire circuit. When this liquid passes through the components of the computer, it removes the heat generated by them, taking it to a coil that is in the radiator with aluminum sheets where the fans will circulate the air between the sheets so that the unit cools down again. liquid, before the refrigeration cycle begins again.
It is important to point out that these conduits must be placed one by one so that we can ensure that there is a perfect sealing of its components, so it is necessary that these things be done by specialized people in the field. This is why over time liquid cooling systems were developed without any maintenance that are used exclusively to cool the processor.
This type of system is formed by the radiator, the pump, the coolant in a closed circuit that is installed in the computer in one of the air outlets of the box. This is why one of the differences that this traditional liquid cooling system has to all-in-one kits is that the first one can be customized and you can cool various components inside your computer, while the all-in-one only lets the processor cool. .
It is important to note that the cooling capacity of this type of system will depend on the size of the radiator, since that is where the cooling of the coolant takes place. This is why the more cooling surface the more the cooling capacity will be.
Elements of Liquid Refrigeration
Among the elements that liquid cooling has is that they have certain elements that we will mention below:
- Liquid cooling water block next to the radiator is one of the most important elements, since it is made up of a copper or aluminum base that increases the heat exchange surface.
- Radiator is the element that is inside the circuit where the exchange between the heat carried by the coolant and the air that surrounds it takes place.
- The water pump is the one that ensures that the coolant moves through the circuit.
- Liquid deposit is that which helps with filling the circuit the first time it is used, in addition to favoring the purging of air inside the water blocks and the radiator, checks the amount of liquid, eliminates pressure rises and helps so that the pump is always full of coolant.
- Fans these are the ones that remove the heat within the circuit by fading into the air.
- Tubing are all those plastic pipes that are responsible for carrying the cooling liquid to all the components of the cooling circuit.
- Fittings is a piece that is placed at the inputs and outputs of the circuit components, these are used to secure the tubes of the components.
- There are different types of coolant of these on the market and you can get them at any store.
Advantages and minor disadvantages of these types of refrigeration
Here we will give you some advantages and small disadvantages that can be seen in these types of refrigeration, which are:
- Price is always a reason that influences the choice of which cooling system to buy, remember that if you compare the price of a maintenance-free liquid refrigerant to a liquid cooling model that is more discreet, it offers you superior performance. so you will see that difference reflected in the price.
- Any traditional liquid cooling system cannot be compared to them because its price can be 15 times higher than any other kit.
- It is important that we know that the efficiency of either of the two liquid or air cooling systems will depend on the temperature of the environment in which the computer is located.
- As it is also important to know that the installation of any of the systems is correct because otherwise its performance would be affected.
- Another important factor is that a liquid cooling system for PC needs a large box, so that you can install all the components that you need to keep your computer in good condition.
- On the other hand, the CPU heatsinks by air are of great performance, since they need more installation space that can mainly affect the width of the PC case.
- It is also important to highlight the efficiency of the installation of the two systems, it will depend on whether either of the two systems does not have deafening noises, since this noise depends on the fans when they are rotating.
- The maintenance of either of the two systems is of vital importance, since both will require even minimal maintenance of their components, so we can say that air cooling is the easiest thing to do and that it should be done once a day. anus.
- And in the case of liquid cooling, it is a manual maintenance process that is a bit more complex since they must do several things to be able to do it excellently.
- We also have to be aware that there may be risks of constant leaks when we have a liquid cooling system, which is why users come to prefer air cooling systems.
- Another aspect to note is that the appearance that liquid cooling gives the PC is unmatched, since the manufacturers of these components try to meet two requirements to meet the performance parameters and excellent aesthetics.
Overclocking and temperature control
One of the things that you have to have priority in your computer is to have a constant temperature control in your computer. That is why overclocking will allow us to increase the frequency and performance of your PC, in a simple way and by increasing the processing speed.
According to everything explained above, we can say that it is of great importance to have a cooling system, either liquid or air, that allows us to have your computer working at 100%. Since we are taking care of the temperature that we have inside our box so that the equipment has the best possible performance and does not suffer from major problems due to excess temperature inside the drawer.
Taking into account that the excess of temperature can cause to the equipment no matter how you use it, great damage because it can cause a serious breakdown within it or the breakdown of some of its internal components. Which would result in you running out of the equipment for a long time, until you can find the solution to the problem, either by buying a new internal component or a completely new equipment.
And buying a new equipment is not something simple due to its costs and for you to get the equipment that is suitable for what you work, it is not an easy task because surely the equipment you were working with had all the necessary components so that it will work well. . So it is always advisable to have an excellent cooling system, either liquid or air, so that we avoid these types of inconveniences, which are not pleasant at all.
This is why it is of great importance that we know in detail these two liquid or air cooling systems where each one has its specific characteristics and operations. As well as, they have elements that will be part of the system so that it carries out the cooling of the equipment; as in the same way, we were able to detail some advantages and possible disadvantages that can happen to us in the two refrigeration systems.
After all the aforementioned, surely, you will already have in mind what would be the cooling system that you should install inside your computer so that it has greater efficiency and that its internal components do not suffer from the high temperatures that occur internally. And that without an adequate cooling system at some point it could cause us serious problems in the equipment or even the total loss of it, so I invite you to continue investigating the cooling system of your choice.
So that when you decide to buy it you have full assurance that it is the right one for your work or play equipment.
If you want to continue acquiring knowledge about basic computing, I will leave you the following link where you will learn about Backup meaning.