Yesterday someone asked me, the day before yesterday I pushed the article “Worried about the lifespan of solid-state drives? Don’t joke!” mentioned the issue of overheating, wanting to enhance the cooling for the computer themselves, planning to order some fans tomorrow to tinker with it, asking me what to buy. This leads to today’s push, specifically to answer the cooling questions for the friends (Yesterday, the day before yesterday, tomorrow, today… Do you accept it? I am already dizzy @@).
Why do some fans last longer than others?
Fans look similar, just different sizes, but why do some fans last a long time while others break in just a few days? This is due to the structural differences of the fans themselves.
Oil Bearing Fans
Oil bearing uses sliding friction sleeve bearings, using lubricating oil as a lubricant and friction reducer. It is cheap and the process is simple, of course, the price is the lowest, and the noise level is decent. However, the drawbacks are significant: short lifespan, after a period of use, with the evaporation of oil and the intrusion of dust, noise increases and speed decreases, and more seriously, the axis can be damaged and offset, causing vibration, ultimately rendering it unusable. Some computer fan stopping issues are due to using this type of fan.
Maglev Fans
Maglev bearing fans are actually an improvement over oil bearing fans. They utilize magnetic principles, where the magnetic induction lines are perpendicular to the magnetic levitation lines, and the shaft core is parallel to the magnetic levitation lines, allowing the rotor’s weight to be fixed on the operating track, almost without load as the shaft core pushes against the reverse magnetic levitation lines, forming a suspended operation of the entire rotor on the track. Advantages include quiet operation and relatively longer lifespan, but the price is higher and not widely used.
Single Ball Fans
Single ball fans use a mix of sliding and rolling friction, essentially combining a ball bearing and an oil bearing. These fans are not expensive and overcome the short lifespan of oil bearings, leading to a longer lifespan. However, the downside is that single ball fans are noisier.
Double Ball Fans
Double ball fans are priced just below maglev fans. With a double ball structure, there are no oil leakage issues, and the bearing’s sealing is the best, making it less prone to aging and wear, leading to the longest lifespan. Many high-performance fans use double ball bearings, but the downside is also quite significant: they are very noisy.
Airflow and Air Pressure: A Love-Hate Relationship
No matter what type of fan technology, it essentially involves current passing through a control circuit, generating a rotating magnetic field at the stator coil and the electromagnet, pushing the magnets on the rotor to rotate in a specific direction, thus driving the entire fan blades to rotate at high speed, quickly pushing air through the blades to achieve a specific airflow and air pressure. What are these two?
Air pressure is the pressure of the wind; the greater the air pressure, the greater the wind force, making it easier to blow through components such as chassis perforations and dust filters. Airflow can be understood as the volume of air passing through the fan at the same time. Within the same time frame, more airflow can enhance the cooling effect. However, the relationship between air pressure and airflow is relative; at the same speed, the greater the fan’s air pressure, the smaller its airflow, and vice versa.
Additionally, the angle of the fan blades and the curvature of the blades significantly affect the fan’s air pressure value. The greater the angle and curvature of the blades, the greater the air pressure at the same speed. As long as the speed is controlled properly, this type of fan is very suitable for use on the front panel of the chassis (generally, it is recommended to choose a silent fan with 800 RPM).
Fans with large airflow are more suitable for placement at the rear of the chassis for exhaust. Therefore, if you’re adding cooling fans to a desktop computer, don’t think you can just buy two identical ones; it’s better to distinguish between them.
Different Voltage, Significant Fan Differences
Fans differ not only in appearance sizes, such as 80mm, 92mm, 120mm, 140mm, and even 200mm specifications, but also in voltage. Currently, cooling fans are mainly divided into two voltage specifications: 5V and 12V. The CPU and graphics card fans we usually see are 12V, as are chassis fans. However, laptop coolers generally use 5V fans, as they need to be powered by USB. Therefore, when purchasing fans for your computer, be sure to consider where you will use them.
Lastly, I would like to mention that when configuring cooling fans for a computer, I recommend buying silent fans, generally oil bearing fans below 1200 RPM are sufficient. Pay attention to the blades; the smaller the angle of inclination, the lower the noise. Unless there are special needs, I really do not recommend high-performance fans (double ball + 4000 RPM), as the noise is like running a tractor…
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