All the graphics cards They have a heat sink, necessary to dissipate the heat generated by the GPU, VRM, VRAM and other components to avoid having temperature problems. This heatsink is generally classic, with between one and three fans, or what we call blower type, with a turbine type fan (ok, there are also graphics cards with a passive heatsink, but there are very few models like that) . Normally, we say that graphs with fan type heat sink They are worse, and in this article we explain why and whether this is true or not.
Dissipating the heat generated by the graphics card requires the installation of a heat sink, but logically there are different types from which one can choose. Although most graphics cards use traditional heatsinks (one or more blocks of aluminum foil cooled by one or more fans), graphics cards are still sold today with blower-style heatsinks, so let’s start with see what this heat sink is made of.
What is a blower type heat sink?
The cooling of the graphics card is not very different from that of a processor: we install a base which comes into contact with the GPU and from which heat pipes emerge which distribute the heat through blocks of aluminum foil cooled by fans; The biggest difference from a CPU air cooler is simply that instead of being a tower of aluminum sheets, it has an elongated shape to fit the shape of the graphics PCB.
A blower-type heatsink is significantly different because of its fan. Instead of having the fans spread across the entire surface for even cooling, they are at one end and, because they are shaped like a turbine, they take in cool air from outside and bring it under pressure throughout the interior, making Let the hot air come out the other end.
You can easily see it in the following image.
Technically this isn’t a bad thing, it’s just another way to cool the graphics card. However, it is now obsolete and few manufacturers still sell graphics cards with these blower heatsinks for the simple fact that they are aware that They are more inefficient and noisy than conventional heat sinks.
Because? Well, for starters, the turbine used is smaller in diameter but larger in height to be able to absorb more air and push it with a large static pressure inside. These turbines spin quite quickly, and because they have a smaller diameter, they are much noisier than traditional fans used in graphics cards. Also, since they are located at one end, their efficiency in cooling the GPU is not the best, since the graphics card will be cooler in the area close to the fan but much hotter in the area further away.
Of course, there are also advantages: the first is that all the hot air exits the PC, through the back of the graphics card, thus avoiding pockets of hot air and depending a lot on the internal air flow of the PC. Likewise, this type of design was great for multi-GPU setups because they are compact heatsinks and don’t need to “breathe” much to be effective… but precisely because multi-GPU setups are not no longer used today, manufacturers hardly sell any. them more. .
In other words, graphics with blower type heatsinks no longer have any reason to justify their existence, and today almost no manufacturer continues to offer this possibility and they are limited in 99% of cases to traditional heatsinks, which are much more efficient. to improve the temperature. of the GPU and much quieter, although it is true that as we mentioned previously, they do not have the advantage of expelling the air directly to the outside and are therefore more dependent on the flow of internal air of the PC case.
In short, graphics cards equipped with blower-style heatsinks are generally worse than those equipped with traditional heatsinks, they are less effective at dissipating heat from the graphics card and much noisier, which is why we recommend that you avoid them as much as possible.
