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Computer cooling is required to remove the waste heat produced by computer components, to keep components within permissible operating temperature limits. Components that are susceptible to temporary malfunction or permanent failure if overheated include integrated circuits such as central processing units (CPUs), chipsets , graphics cards ...
Underclocking can also be performed on graphics card processor's GPUs, usually with the aim of reducing heat output. For instance, it is possible to set a GPU to run at lower clock rates when performing everyday tasks (e.g. internet browsing and word processing), thus allowing the card to operate at lower temperature and thus lower, quieter fan speeds.
A fan-cooled heat sink on the processor of a personal computer. To the right is a smaller heat sink cooling another integrated circuit of the motherboard. Typical heatsink-fan combination found on a consumer laptop.
These sensors, after being calibrated at the factory, are able to provide digital data concerning processor temperature information. The PECI bus , allowing access to this data from chipset components, is a proprietary single-wire interface with a variable data transfer speed (from 2 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s).
Different software is used by different motherboards. There are also third-party programs that work on a variety of motherboards and allow wide customization of fan behavior depending on temperature readings from the motherboard, CPU, and GPU sensors, as well as allowing manual control. Two such programs are SpeedFan [11] and Argus Monitor. [12]
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This heatsink is designed with the cooling capacity matching the CPU’s TDP. Thermal Design Power (TDP), also known as thermal design point, is the maximum amount of heat that a computer component (like a CPU, GPU or system on a chip) can generate and that its cooling system is designed to dissipate during normal operation.
Every program or task that runs on a computer system occupies a certain amount of processing time on the CPU. If the CPU has completed all tasks it is idle. Modern processors use idle time to save power. Common methods are reducing the clock speed along with the CPU voltage and sending parts of the processor into a sleep state.