How Many Fans Should a PC Have for Optimal Cooling?

Gaming computer systems often involve a combination of high-performance hardware. Such is necessary for the smooth running of heavy games, which eventually leads to heat generation. Accordingly, fans, unlike liquid cooling, are an affordable option for regulating all that hot air generated by gaming pcs. So here’s the dilemma: How many fans should a PC have?

In helping you avoid hot and unhappy gaming hardware, here is a guide to achieving the best fan cooling system. The primary goal of keeping a gaming system cool is to avoid damaging hardware within a CPU, such as motherboards and video cards. Alongside fans and liquid cooling, modern gaming CPUs and hardware come with temperature thermometers to double the protection against over-heating.

Regarding CPU fan cooling, the basic principle is that hot air should be replaced with cool and fresh air. This process involves several concepts that revolve around the number of fans required for optimal cooling. As such, we will begin with the core principle of airflow to understand the working mechanism of fans.

How Airflow Works in a Gaming PC

By now, we already know why we need to keep a gaming system cool. Correspondingly, airflow mainly involves the dynamics that allow the replacement of hot air with cooler air. Subsequently, this will reduce heat in the different working hardware.

Intake and Exhaust Fans

Airflow enabled by fans mainly applies the principle of pulling and pushing air in and out of a CPU. At the very basic level, a gaming PC, even the cheapest, should have at least one intake fan and one exhaust fan. Such a setup will sustain the simple airflow concept of keeping heat out by running cool air over your components. Under this premise, we are already tackling the question ‘how many fans should a PC have?’

Nonetheless, having a single exhaust fan or intake fan might not be enough to push or pull air in some systems. So, the question at hand on the required number of fans cannot be answered in a one-size-fits-all coverage. For instance, you cannot undertake expensive setups like the small factor systems.

Still, on airflow, there is the aspect of air pressure that plays a significant role in cooling. Ideally, a smooth-running PC should have high pressure, which can be achieved by having more intake than exhaust cooling fans. More intakes imply a higher supply of cool air to neutralize the heat in hardware. However, if you end up with more exhaust fans, the inner part of your PC will end up dusty over time.

Minimum Number of Fans

A simple approach to the question at hand is understanding the minimum number of fans you can work with. Accordingly, an averagely smooth-running gaming computer should have a minimum of three fans: two intake fans and one exhaust fan. This minimum requirement often applies to the stock cooling system of a gaming PC. However, this cooling system doesn’t include fans for the CPU, power supply and GPU.

Even so, the minimum number is a thin, delicate line to walk on. Therefore, most gaming pcs come with an allowance to add more fans as a way of ensuring your components stay safe as they optimize gaming. Nevertheless, there is no need to exert more air to achieve a cool system, especially if your PC is well-ventilated. Additional fans are only necessary in cases of vigorous overclocking that leads to increased ambient temperatures.

While understanding the minimal fan requirement for a gaming computer, you can also have additional fans. Specifically, you can add fans that target specific hardware that is commonly known to over-heat. Notably, each target hardware should be cooled with a single fan. This premise brings us to the concept of the type of fans used in a gaming computer.

1. CPU Fan

The CPU is the hub of every hardware behind the running of gaming software. So, you can have one fan for an extra supply of cool ambiance to the CPU. This cooling addition will further protect PC components since they are all centralized within the CPU. As a result, this extra CPU fan will air out the heat as new air steps in from the front side.

2. GPU Fan

It is common to find a graphics or video card with a built-in fan. Also, the power of a graphics card determines the type of GPU cooling to use. In light of fans, having an extra GPU card will help optimize the graphics performance while reducing the risk of damage caused by overheating. For this type of cooling, you can have a top-mounted fan or have it next to the graphics card as long as the intake faces out.

Moreover, you should not run GPU fans at full speed constantly. Inadvertently, spinning graphics card fans at full speed might cause damage to graphics cards. In other cases, some GPU fans come with thermal sensors that automatically regulate the fan speed. Such an automated mechanism ensures that full graphics card fan speed only occurs at peak performances.

3. PSU Fan

PSU refers to the Power Supply Unit, which serves the purpose of handling power. In particular, a PSU is the computer hardware that converts AC (alternating voltage-current) into DC (direct current). A PSU also regulates the direct current within tolerable levels for running computing hardware.

Therefore, while adding extra fans to your computer, you will need one fan for the PSU. Especially in the context of gaming, the PSU is one of the components that will be highly indulged. In addition, some of the best PSUs will come with built-in fans that are auto-regulated depending on the activity. Overall, a PSU fan should be installed at the bottom or back of a PC while complementing case fans for balanced airflow.

4. Case Fans

As opposed to the other fans mentioned above, it is paramount that a gaming computer has a minimum of two case fans. A case fan is placed on the CPU’s cover to provide general cooling. Ideally, case fans like RGB case fans are the default version of PC cooling. The general rule of two fans mostly implies having one intake and one exhaust on a CPU’s case, even in the presence of liquid cooling.

With a default system, you can have a single intake case fan at the front for intake and a single exhaust fan at the back. In most computers, the stock case fans are adequate to pull cool air into the CPU. Even more, adding that extra case fan might add to the peace of mind of keeping your gaming PC running for long. However, you need to be careful about too many case fans.

Are More Fans Better for a Gaming Computer?

This is another critical question while answering-how many fans should a PC have? As an experienced PC gamer would tell you, there is a threshold for the number of fans to have in a single gaming unit. Beyond that, you might end up dealing with too many fans that don’t translate to more cooling. Under this consideration, you have to differentiate between negative and positive pressure.

Notably, positive pressure produces fewer thermals than negative energy. As a result, positive airflow prevents the formation of hot air pockets while negative pressure allows them to form. In order to achieve positive airflow, you will need to have more intake fans than exhaust fans. However, stacking too many case fans might lead to a negative airflow.

Also, positive airflow can lead to so much dust inside a CPU, leading to even more serious problems. Moreover, using pure positive airflow might risk case choking while trapping heat within a case, especially with exclusive top intakes. Therefore, it is best to adjust both pressures, with a slightly positive being favorable for fine thermals.

Despite having a more positive pressure being the standard airflow, it also risks choking the system with more dust. Nonetheless, you can use dust filters to mitigate the dirt intake or do frequent cleaning to remove the accumulated dust. Therefore, the best performing gaming PCs require a balance in the number of fans: two intake fans at the front and one exhaust fan at the back.

Is Setting All the PC Fans at Max Speed Ideal?

Another dilemma while targeting more airflow is whether to set all the fans at max speed. One might argue that you can do this since they are built for cooling purposes. However, remember that perfection doesn’t always call for overdoing.

Subsequently, running all the fans at top speeds might cause negative pressure as they counteract their airflow effects. Furthermore, running at top speeds may shorten the lifespan of the fans due to wearing out of the bearings. Also, fans spinning at top speed might make a lot of noise which might be undesirable. Consequently, the speed of your fans should increase as the heat generated increases.

Where Should You Place the Fans in Gaming PC?

The question, ‘How many fans should a PC have?’, might not be sufficient on its own if you know the ideal fan placement. For instance, there have been cases of gaming PC crashing despite having numerous fans. Probably, such cases were caused by most fans getting in cool air, leaving insufficient fans removing the heated air.

As a remedy to such situations, the ideal way of doing fan configurations is by working with natural airflow phenomenal. Generally speaking, working with the natural case of cool air being closer to the ground and hot air rising might ease the cooling process of a gaming PC without the need for extra fan installations.

Nonetheless, you should be particular about the cooling system. As such, intake and exhaust fan placement is crucial in maintaining the integrity and performance of your gaming unit. Specifically, intake cooling fans be placed at the front base, while exhaust fans should be placed at the top back for easy elimination. In the case of a GPU fan, it should be placed where the heatsink is to push air towards the rear exhaust.

In the end, an air cooler might cause temperature increases, but a fan will help reduce the heat by propagating adequate airflow. Another placement trick of knowing ‘how many fans should a PC have?’ is not allowing fans to battle each other. Battling might occur whenever you have two fans suck and blow air into each other or have a fan short-circuiting the incoming air. Therefore, knowing the right fan placement will help avoid further overheating problems.

Frequently Asked Question on Cooling a Gaming PC

1. Are two fans adequate for a gaming PC?

Most stock PCs come with two case fans: a single intake fan at the front and another at the back for exhaust. Nonetheless, immersive gaming might require additional intake fans with ratios of either 2:1 or 3:1 being sufficient. Also, it is illogical to have excess case fans even for heavy-duty gaming.

2. What RPM is enough for a gaming PC?

Most case, CPU and GPU fans run between 1200-3000 rotations per minute. Therefore, it is best to configure the RPM within this range to avoid noise and quick fan wearing out. In the end, the rotations per minute should vary depending on the performance of your gaming PC. For instance, an air cooler should spin faster when gaming, unlike when browsing.

Image Credit: atulhost.com