Cooling – A computer fan is any fan inside, or attached to, a computer case used for active cooling. Fans are used to draw cooler air into the case from the outside, expel warm air from inside and move air across a heat sink to cool a particular component. Both axial and sometimes centrifugal (blower/squirrel-cage) fans are used in computers. Computer fans commonly come in standard sizes, such as 120mm (most common), 140mm, 240mm, and even 360mm. And are also all powered and controlled using 3-pin or 4-pin fan connectors.

Below is a listing of the different types of fans inside a computer, along with the computer hardware components that require fans to function properly.

Case fan – a fan on the side of a computer case, inside the case. It helps circulate air in the computer case and blow hotter air out of the case.

CPU fan – a fan on top of a computer processor. It helps pull and blow hot air off the processor, helping keep it cooler.

Power supply fan – a fan located inside a power supply. The power supply fan blows hotter air out of the power supply and out of the computer.

Video card fan – a fan on a video card. It helps keep more powerful video cards from overheating, especially when playing video games, editing videos, and other GPU or graphic-intensive tasks.

With computers and fans, there are no standard to how many fans may be in the computer. Most desktop computers often have at least four fans (one case fan, CPU heat sink fan, power supply fan, and video card fan). It is also not uncommon for computers to have an additional front case fan to help with the airflow. However, a desktop computer can also have no fans if it uses liquid cooling.

Cackle Telecommunications is proud to provide Cooling to NZ businesses. Choose from a selection of vendors, explore our products to find the right solution for you.