How to keep your gaming PC cool

PC cooling is a crucial factor, especially when it comes to gaming PCs. An overheating computer can lead to data loss, unexpected shutdowns and worst of all hardware damage. When it comes to gaming PCs just as is the case with computers used for streaming, the graphics card is a crucial component that should be prevented from overheating. You can see online streaming services, guiding you on how to ensure that the graphics card doesn’t overheat. Generally, when a gaming PC overheats its productivity decreases. Thus, it is essential to ensure that you keep your gaming PC appropriately cooled, which helps boost the PC’s component longevity and performance. This article discusses the basics of PC cooling.

Sources of heat in a gaming PC
While all the electronics in the PC dissipate some heat, most of this heat is insignificant and does not need any special attention. However, specific components dispel substantial quantities of heat. These components include:

• GPU
• Processors
• Chipset
• voltage regulator modules
• High-performance RAM

These are the components that should be given special attention and the cooling tips discussed later in this article will aim at preventing overheating of these components.

Effects of heat on your gaming PC
With time high heat quickens wear and tear and also reduces components reliability. With lesser reliability, the stability of the system will be negatively affected. Heat also causes thermal stress to the components of the PC. Typically, when the components get heated up, they expand, later they cool and contract when you shut down the system. This repeated contraction expansion cycles due to heating and cooling exert mechanical stress on the components, and with time they will crack or break. When the temperature difference is wide, then thermal stress becomes a more significant issue.

Ways to keep your gaming PC cool

• Ensure you clean the fans
  Dirt and dust can prevent your PC’s Fan from operating to its full efficiency. Typically on opening your gaming PC’s case, you will most likely find several fans, one inside the power supply, another on top of the CPU and perhaps another on the back or front of the case. Ensure you clean these fans frequently. Switch off the computer and using a canned air duster eliminate the dirt from each of the fans. Avoid the use of vacuum cleaners to clean the fans of your computer as they produce statics that can damage the system.

• Avoid keeping your PC in an enclosed space
  Most desks are designs for aesthetic purposes more than functionality. Some may be built with a computer cabinet with an enclosed cabinet to keep the CPU out of sight. Such cabinets prevent air from circulating. Thus, the computer will keep reusing the same air, which heats the laptop bit by bit every time the heated air passes through the case. Eventually, temperature increases to the point that components will start to fail.

• Check the BIOS temperature settings
  Have a look at your BIOS temperature-related settings. Recent gaming PCs have BIOS settings that can be set to shut down the system when it reaches certain high temperatures. Some also have BIOS settings that permit the PC to alert the user when the fan fails. Ensure that you have set these settings appropriately configured to alert or shut off the PC when temperatures are excessively high. This will, ensure your system doesn’t break down and allows you to address the overheating problem.

• Use a solid-state hard drive
  Traditional hard drives usually produce a significant amount of heat. Replacing them with solid-state hard drives will help control heating. Solid-state drives don’t have any moving parts and thus operate at temperatures lower than regular hard drives.

• When not using the PC, hibernate it
  This is an easy way to control heating on your PC. Configure the PC such that it will get into hibernation mode when in long periods of inactivity. This will not only help cool down but will also save electricity.

• Install components specific Fans
  The biggest producer of heat in the computer is the CPU. However, as listed earlier, other components also produce heat. Gaming computers usually have memories that are superfast and high-performance graphic cards. These components are always prone to overheating. To prevent overheating install component-specific fans. For example, you can install a memory fan and if the graphic cards is the issue you can upgrade to a bigger graphics card fan.

In conclusion, if your gaming PC has an overheating problem, then the above tips will help tackle the issue. Ensure that any part you buy to upgrade your PC, you purchase it from a reputable platform. Review sites such as the UK collected reviews will help you find reliable platforms.