1. Temperature reduction
An important indicator for measuring the heat dissipation efficiency of a computer cooling fan is how much it can reduce the temperature of the hardware being cooled. For example, for CPU cooling, when the fan is not working, use a temperature sensor to measure the initial temperature of the CPU under high load operation, then turn on the cooling fan and continuously monitor the CPU temperature until it stabilizes. The greater the temperature reduction, the higher the cooling efficiency of the cooling fan. This indicator directly reflects the cooling capacity of the fan in actual work. Assuming that when there is no cooling fan, the temperature of the CPU can reach 90°C under full load operation, and after turning on a certain cooling fan, the temperature stabilizes at 60°C, then the temperature reduction of 30°C indicates the cooling effect of the fan in this specific scenario. Different computer hardware (such as CPU, graphics card, etc.) has different tolerance ranges and working requirements for temperature, so the temperature reduction that the cooling fan can achieve within the normal working range of the hardware is the key to measuring its cooling efficiency.
2. Heat transfer rate
The heat transfer rate is also an important aspect of measuring heat dissipation efficiency. The cooling fan mainly removes heat by accelerating air flow. The heat transfer rate can be considered from the perspective of heat conduction and convection. From the perspective of conduction, the ability of the fan to quickly transfer heat from the hardware surface to the heat dissipation components such as the heat sink fins is the key. An efficient cooling fan can quickly conduct heat away from the high-temperature hardware surface. In terms of convection, the speed at which the air blown by the fan removes heat reflects the rate of heat transfer. It can be evaluated by measuring the amount of heat removed by the air passing through the heat sink fins per unit time. For example, a heat flux meter is used to measure the heat flow rate from the heat sink fins to the air when the fan is running. The larger the flow rate, the higher the heat transfer rate, which in turn indicates that the heat dissipation efficiency of the cooling fan is higher.
3. Comprehensive consideration of air volume and air pressure
Air volume and air pressure are two important performance parameters of cooling fans, and their combined effect is closely related to the heat dissipation efficiency. Air volume refers to the volume of air passing through the fan per unit time, and air pressure indicates the ability of the fan to push air to overcome resistance. In a closed computer chassis environment, there are various factors that hinder air flow, such as memory sticks, hard drives, wires, etc. If the fan has a large air volume but insufficient air pressure, the air may not be able to effectively reach the hardware parts that need to be cooled; conversely, if the air pressure is sufficient but the air volume is small, the total amount of heat that can be taken away is also limited. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the air volume and air pressure comprehensively. For example, a cooling fan can provide sufficient air volume in a specific chassis environment to ensure that a large amount of air is heat exchanged with the cooling fins, and can accurately deliver air to the hardware that needs to be cooled by appropriate air pressure, so as to achieve efficient heat dissipation, indicating that its heat dissipation efficiency is high.
4. Compatibility with hardware power consumption
The heat dissipation efficiency of the computer cooling fan is also compatible with the power consumption of the hardware. Different computer hardware will generate different heat when running, depending on its power consumption. For example, the power consumption of a high-end gaming graphics card may reach more than 300 watts, while the power consumption of an ordinary office computer integrated graphics card may be only a few watts to tens of watts. The cooling fan needs to be able to effectively dissipate the generated heat according to the power consumption of the hardware. If a cooling fan can stably control the temperature within a reasonable range within the range of heat generated by the hardware, it means that it has a high heat dissipation efficiency in terms of compatibility with the hardware. For high-power hardware, if the cooling fan cannot dissipate heat in time, causing the hardware temperature to be too high, even if the fan's air volume, air pressure and other parameters look good, its cooling efficiency cannot be considered high because it does not meet the cooling requirements that match the hardware power consumption.
