As for the products themselves, we evaluated them on performance, design, compatibility, and price.If you are looking into building a small-form-factor desktop PC, there are many challenges you would be facing. For those products we can’t test ourselves, we perform intensive research, reviewing content from expert sources like PC Gamer, Digital Trends, PCguide, and others, as well as thousands of consumer reviews from online storefronts on Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. We strive to rigorously test every product we recommend. How loud a fan is, measured in decibels, or dBA. CFM is generally a more valuable metric than revolutions per minute (RPM), as a fast-spinning fan does not equal a strong fan. How much air flow your fan generates, measured in cubic feet per minute, or CFM. Four-pin fans are sometimes called Pulse-Width Modulation (or PWM) fans. This speed is sometimes adjustable depending on your hardware.įour-pin fans can run at a wide variety of speeds as they are controllable via computer software. Three-pin fans generally run at a singular, default speed. PC fans come in either a three- or four-pin configuration, both of which plug into “Fan Header” slots on your PC’s motherboard.

The most popular, compatible size is 120mm. PC fans come in a variety of sizes, ranging from 80mm to 250mm. Here’s an overview of a few concepts and terms you should know before shopping. Like with most PC parts, the sheer volume of terminology makes it easy to get lost looking at even the most basic PC fan. Shopping for PC fans can get a little overwhelming. Having excellent fans will keep your more advanced, more expensive PC parts operating comfortably for years to come.

While certainly not as high-tech as a graphics card, high-quality PC fans are crucial to any PC build. But all of that stellar equipment generates heat, and overheating is the nightmare of all computer problems. When it comes to building your own PC, it’s easy to focus on the exciting stuff: a cutting edge graphics card, a speedy CPU, some awesome monitors, or colorful RGB RAM.

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