A quiet, silent or fanless PC is a personal computer that makes very little or no noise. Common uses for quiet PCs include video editing, sound mixing and home theater PCs, but noise reduction techniques can also be used to greatly reduce the noise from servers. There is currently no standard definition for a "quiet PC", and the term is generally not used in a business context, but by individuals and the businesses catering to them.
Case modification, commonly referred to as case modding, is the modification of a computer case or a video game console chassis. Modifying a computer case in any non-standard way is considered a case mod. Modding is done, particularly by hardware enthusiasts, to show off a computer's apparent power by showing off the internal hardware, and also to make it look aesthetically pleasing to the owner.
Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non-toxic; however, it can contain impurities and cause corrosion.
Zalman Tech Co. is a South Korean software engineering company that develops and provides aftermarket desktop computer products with primary focus on cooling enhancement.
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, hard disk drives, and solid state drives.
A computer case, also known as a computer chassis, is the enclosure that contains most of the hardware of a personal computer. The components housed inside the case are referred as the internal hardware, while hardware outside the case are known as peripherals.
Small form factor is a term used for desktop computers and for some of its components, chassis and motherboard, to indicate that they are designed in accordance with one of several standardized computer form factors intended to minimize the volume and footprint of a desktop computer compared to the standard ATX form factor.
Corsair Gaming, Inc. is an American computer peripherals and hardware company based in Milpitas, California. Previously Corsair Components and Corsair Memory, it was incorporated in California in January 1994 as Corsair Microsystems and reincorporated in Delaware in 2007. It designs and sells a range of computer products, including high-speed DRAM modules, power supplies (PSUs), USB flash drives (UFDs), CPU/GPU and case cooling, gaming peripherals, computer cases, solid-state drives (SSDs), and speakers.
A computer fan is any fan inside, or attached to, a computer case used for active cooling. Fans are used to draw cooler air into the case from the outside, expel warm air from inside and move air across a heat sink to cool a particular component. Both axial and sometimes centrifugal (blower/squirrel-cage) fans are used in computers. Computer fans commonly come in standard sizes, such as 92 mm, 120 mm, 140 mm, and even 200–220 mm. Computer fans are powered and controlled using 3-pin or 4-pin fan connectors.
A power supply unit (PSU) converts mains AC to low-voltage regulated DC power for the internal components of a computer. Modern personal computers universally use switched-mode power supplies. Some power supplies have a manual switch for selecting input voltage, while others automatically adapt to the main voltage.
PC Power and Cooling, a subsidiary of FirePower Technology, is an American manufacturer of computer power supplies based in Carlsbad, California. The company was established by Doug Dodson in 1985. In 2007, the company was acquired by OCZ Technology. In 2014, FirePower Technology acquired OCZ Technology Group's power supply division, which included PC Power and Cooling.
H2Ceramic cooling (also called H2C or Hot-to-Cold) is a computer cooling product offered as an option in Dell's XPS gaming systems, advertised specifically as facilitating CPU overclocking. H2C is a two-stage Liquid/Thermoelectric (TEC) hybrid cooling system that combines a liquid-to-air heat exchanger (much like a liquid radiator), a thermoelectric fluid chiller, and control circuitry to optimize CPU cooling with minimal power.
Cooler Master Technology Inc. is a computer hardware manufacturer based in Taiwan. Founded in 1992, the company produces computer cases, power supplies, air and liquid CPU coolers, laptop cooling pads, and computer peripherals. Alongside its retail business, Cooler Master also is an original equipment manufacturer of cooling devices for other manufacturers, including NVIDIA, AMD, and EVGA. The company has sponsored major eSports events. Some of Cooler Master's products have won awards including the iF product design award.
DeepCool is a computer hardware manufacturer headquartered in Beijing, China. Founded in 1996, the company produces a range of products including air and water CPU coolers, computer cases, power supplies, computer peripherals, and accessories. DeepCool has a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, and branch offices in the United States, Europe, and other Asian countries. The company name was inspired by the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue.
Arctic GmbH, formerly known as Arctic Cooling, is a German, Swiss-founded manufacturer of computer cooling components, mainly CPU and graphics card coolers, case fans and thermal compound. Since 2010, Arctic expanded its business by starting a range of products to cater other consumer demands beyond that of computer cooling hardware. Nowadays, Arctic also offers various consumer products—spanning audio, home entertainment and computer peripherals. In 2012, Arctic was nominated as one of the finalists in the annual PCR Awards.
NZXT, Inc. is an American computer hardware manufacturer based in Los Angeles, California. The company manufactures computer cases, components, and accessories for the PC gaming market.
be quiet! is a German computer hardware brand owned by Listan GmbH, which manufactures power supply units, CPU coolers, computer cases and case fans. The main target groups for products in the be quiet! range are PC enthusiasts and gamers as well as system integrators. The company's headquarters is in Glinde, close to Hamburg. At present, the firm also has branches in Poland, Taiwan and China. The products of be quiet! are directly sold from Glinde to distributors and resellers worldwide. However, the major market of the be quiet! brand is Europe.
EKWB, better known as EK Water Blocks, is a Slovenian company founded in 2003 that manufactures high-end computer water cooling, extreme cooling, and some air cooling components for CPUs, GPU, RAM and SSDs. Their target audience consists of custom PC building enthusiasts and professionals, and the company offers a complete range of water cooling products from radiators to tubing to water blocks. EKWB sells its products through a number of authorized distributors worldwide, but also maintains its own web store focused on direct to consumer sales. Its primary brand strategy makes use of influencer marketing to advertise products through sponsorships or review samples.
Phanteks is a Dutch company which mainly produces PC cases, fans and other case accessories. The company has a base in the United States.
In Win Development, Inc., formerly rendered as In-Win Development and commonly shortened to In Win or InWin, is a Taiwanese computer case and computer power supply manufacturer. In Win was founded in 1985 and has since opened multiple factories and headquarters internationally.
