Cpu Heat Sink And Fan Definition

The cpu fan attaches to the heat sink pulling air through the fins.

Cpu heat sink and fan definition. A cpu fan works in conjunction with a heat sink to prevent this. A heat sink and fan hsf is an active cooling solution used to cool down integrated circuits in computer systems commonly the central processing unit cpu. There are two distinct types of convection. As the name suggests it is composed of a passive cooling unit the heat sink and a fan.

A heat sink is a device that incorporates a fan or another mechanism to reduce the temperature of a hardware component e g processor there are two heat sink types. This can happen if the cpu is running at full capacity for an extended period of time or if the air surrounding the computer is simply too hot. A laptop computer s cpu and gpu heatsinks and copper heat pipes transferring heat to an exhaust fan expelling hot air the heat is expelled from a laptop by an exhaust centrifugal fan. Cpu gpu asic fet etc and the surrounding fluid is air.

The device transfers heat to the heatsink by conduction the primary mechanism of heat transfer from the heatsink is convection although radiation also has a minor influence. Basically what a computer fan do is pull the heat from the heatsink that is connectted to the cpu and escorts it out of the computer because if the cpu gets to hot then the computer just stop. A heat sink is a thermal conductive metal device designed to absorb and disperse heat away from a high temperature object such as a computer processor. In computers heat sinks are used to cool cpus gpus and some chipsets and ram modules.

In many applications the device is an electronic component e g. But sometimes the heat sink itself can become too hot. Usually heat sinks are outfitted with built in fans to help keep both the cpu and the heat sink at an appropriate temperature. A heat sink also commonly spelled heatsink is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium often air or a liquid coolant where it is dissipated away from the device thereby allowing regulation of the device s temperature.

Cpu fans and heatsinks help ensure that your pc works efficiently at all times. Laptops present a difficult mechanical airflow design power dissipation and cooling challenge. When you use heavy applications such as video games and video editing software the cpu can produce excess heat which may cause your computer to freeze. A heat sink is a metallic device that sits directly on the cpu drawing heat away from the chip into its cooler aluminum fin like structure.

Stands for heat sink and fan nearly all computers have heat sinks which help keep the cpu cool and prevent it from overheating.