New rendering technologies such as ray-tracing, which produce real-time reflections, lights, and shadows that are considerably more real than just what we’re conditioned to accept in games, have helped in these giant strides by tech companies such as NVIDIA.

You may not realize that NVIDIA’s features include another one called Deep Learning Super Sampling, or NVIDIA DLSS, which is even more game-changing.

Everything you need to know about NVIDIA DLSS, including how it works and what it can do for your PC games, is right here. Let’s get started!

What is NVIDIA DLSS?

DLSS is a video rendering technology featured by NVIDIA that aims to increase framerates and video quality by drawing frames at a lower resolution than projected.

It utilizes element deep learning (a sort of artificial intelligence) to elevate the frames to seem as crisp as anticipated at the native resolution. For instance, with DLSS, a game’s frames might be produced at 1080p resolution, allowing for greater framerates, then upscaled and delivered at 4K resolution, resulting in crisper visual quality than 1080p.

Image Source: NVIDIA

NVIDIA DLSS is an alternative to other rendering approaches that need an RTX graphics card and game support, such as temporal anti-aliasing (TAA), a post-processing algorithm. DLSS is mainly beneficial to games that operate at lower frame rates or at higher resolutions.

AI rendering on dedicated Tensor Cores provides exceptional performance, allowing you to increase frame rates and maximum graphical settings and resolutions up to 8K.

Here you can see the graph showing the gaming performance with RTX 3080 at 3840 x 2160, Max Graphics settings, DLSS Performance Mode, and Ray Tracing enabled.

Image Source: NVIDIA

DLSS is available in a variety of tastes. However, depending on how DLSS is implemented, this will vary between games. To achieve the greatest outcome, it’s always worth experimenting with different combinations of DLSS and other graphics parameters.

How does the NVIDIA DLSS Work?

NVIDIA’s DLSS instructs a specialized section of your RTX graphics card (20-series and higher) to process a picture and scale it up to your desired resolution. For example, a video game is rendered at a lower resolution (usually 1440p) and then employs its AI algorithm to guess what it would look like if it were rendered at a higher resolution (typically 4K).

This is accomplished through the use of anti-aliasing effects and automatic sharpening. Visual artifacts that would not be seen at higher resolutions are also removed, and the features that should be there in a picture are inferred.

In this way, DLSS relieves your graphic card and CPU of the burden of producing a high-resolution visual with features like ray-tracing enabled. By utilizing DLSS, you may potentially increase all of your graphics settings to their utmost without sacrificing performance.

Many gamers like using super-resolution tools and taking in artifacts. It does, however, allow for the development of a whole image while simultaneously acknowledging that there are several flaws and improvements in the form and aesthetic of that image.

The aforementioned system does not represent a significant advancement. NVIDIA promises that DLSS will improve in the months and years ahead. Still, in the right situations, it may provide a significant performance boost without making the game unplayable.

How to Enable NVIDIA DLSS?

It’s simple to enable NVIDIA DLSS in a game that supports it. Simply launch your game of choice, go to the options menu, and select the graphics settings, assuming your NVIDIA drivers are up to date in GeForce Experience. It’s sometimes referred to as video settings.

After this, you may choose between DLSS and RTX. In this case, select DLSS if the game supports it and your GPU is a GeForce RTX 20 or GeForce RTX 30 or higher from NVIDIA.

The DLSS setting may be found in the Graphics tab of the in-game settings in a game like Escape from Tarkov.

Image Source: Devon Ledohowski

Jumping into NVIDIA GeForce Experience is the other way to test if your machine and game can run DLSS. Once you are in, go to the top-left corner of the app, and select the Home tab. Then look for Escape from Tarkov (or any other game) in the Games & Apps section. There’s a selection of several graphics options when you click on the game.

Image Source: Devon Ledohowski

You may pick between Optimize and a small settings tool symbol from the top right corner. You may move a scale between performance and quality if you pick the tool. Experimenting around with these parameters, as well as DLSS, will have an effect on what your graphic card settings do.

NVIDIA DLSS Available in Over 150 Games

NVIDIA DLSS is not supported by all games! Only 150 games as of Feb 2022 support it. However, its inclusion in many of these games improves performance and graphic quality significantly, especially when DLSS 2.0 or newer is used.

Enabling ray-tracing in compatible games even helps alleviate some of the speed loss. The best DLSS implementations we’ve seen so far are found in the following games (among others):

• Martha Is Dead
• Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis
• Death Stranding
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Control
• SCP: Pandemic
• Shadow Warrior 3
• Sifu

Valve Corporation is slowly but steadily enhancing the quality of Linux gaming, years after its disastrous Steam Machines by bringing NVIDIA DLSS to Linux.

The planned Steam Deck portable is based on Linux, and its ProtonDB compatibility layer allows it — and other PCs — to play Windows games.

Valve has now officially integrated support for NVIDIA’s DLSS machine learning temporal upscaling algorithm to ProtonDB, which might result in significant FPS gains and less flicker in videogames that support it.

DLSS Gets Better Over Time

NVIDIA DLSS has the potential to facilitate players who are unable to achieve acceptable frame rates at resolutions higher than 1080p to do so using inference.

DLSS might become the most important feature of NVIDIA’s RTX GPUs in the future. They aren’t quite as strong as we had anticipated, and the ray-tracing effects are nice but have a significant performance impact, but DLSS provides us the best of all worlds: better-looking video games that also perform much better than before.

When things move slowly, people often feel helpless to do anything about it. The majority of this is due to their lack of understanding of how their computer works.

It is fitting that you spend a lot of money to buy the best CPU available in the market right now. However, the CPU may work only 10% better than the cheaper alternatives in lower tiers in certain use cases.

In this article, we will help you to understand the CPU performance and what influences it.

Factors Affecting CPU Performance

CPU performance is influenced by a variety of variables. Understanding some of these aspects can aid you in making the best decisions possible while building your own computer.

Here are some major factors that influence CPU performance.

Clock Speed

Each CPU has an internal clock that supplies it with a functional rhythm. The Clock Speed, often known as the Clock Rate, demonstrates the speed with which the CPU can operate.

Depending on the CPU, this will be measured in gigahertz or megahertz. The measurement indicates how many instructions cycles the CPU processes per second.

For example, A 2 GHz CPU can execute two billion computations per second. The greater the clock speed, the quicker the CPU and the more heat created. If the clock rate slows down, it will affect the CPU, and the CPU will give a low performance.

Maximum clock speeds are preloaded in CPUs by default. You may, however, modify them by changing the computer’s BIOS.

Overclocking is the process of manipulating your clock speed to make it speedier than what has been advertised. And you can improve your CPU performance.

Learning more about overclocking, how to overclock a CPU and the requirements that can help get a better CPU remains essential for users looking to boost their computer’s performance.

Number of Cores

A CPU core is a processor that is present within the CPU. That’s where the CPU processes and executes the user’s set of instructions.

Since all current CPUs have several cores, each of these cores does multiple tasks simultaneously. The time it takes to connect with cache and RAM limits the CPU’s performance in a single-core processor. Waiting for storage accessing results consumes around 75% of CPU time.

Manufacturers have started introducing more multi-core devices to boost the performance of their CPUs. A CPU with several cores may perform noticeably better than a single-core CPU with the same clock speed.

Numerous cores enable PCs to execute multiple tasks at the same time more quickly, increasing efficiency when multitasking or under the requirements of high-end apps and software.

Cache

A cache is a tiny quantity of high-speed random-access memory (RAM) integrated directly into the CPU. It is being used to temporarily store information and instructions that are likely to be reused by the processor. The larger a processor’s cache, the less time it takes to wait for instructions to be retrieved.

Cache memory size differs substantially between older and modern systems. Cache capacities are generally measured in MBs, which is much less than RAM capacities which are commonly defined in GBs.

However, capabilities vary depending on the sort of architecture employed in a computer system. That’s because cache memory is more costly than RAM.

Cache memory, unlike RAM, cannot be readily increased or changed.

Types of Cache

Most current computers system has three layers of cache, with some adding a fourth. Cache memory serves as a means of transferring data and instructions from the slowest cache (L3/L4) to the sharpest cache (L1).

• Level 1 cache: The smallest and sharpest cache, the L1 cache, is part of each core’s circuitry. Four L1 caches would be present in a quad-core CPU.
• Level 2 cache: It is frequently shared between cores. It is slower than the L1 cache and has a bigger capacity. L2 cache, like L1 cache, is frequently an element of the core of modern systems.
• Level 3 cache: It is weaker than the L2 cache, although it is bigger. It is located on or near the CPU on the motherboard.
• Level 4 cache: it is seen in newer systems. This, like Level 3, is put on or beside the processor.

Malware

One of the most effective methods to improve PC performance is to remove malware. Malware, viruses, and spyware may watch your actions, take control of your system, and cause a lot of new problems that slow it down.

Anything undesirable and harmful will have a negative impact on performance, therefore invest in a strong antivirus to protect your computer from such threats.

It will significantly benefit you in the long term. Make sure you check your system a minimum of once a week to keep your antivirus up to date and eliminate any unwanted garbage that is harming your computer’s performance.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth, also known as memory bandwidth, refers to the processor’s capacity to read and comprehend data from storage. It gauges the CPU’s pace in terms of how quickly it can collect and store data. This is commonly stated in gigabytes per second (GB/s).

Most CPUs nowadays can handle up to 40GB/s of bandwidth, which indicates that the higher the bandwidth, the quicker the CPU can read and store data.

Heat

As we continue to assign more tasks to our CPU, it will produce more heat, and it is one of the big problems of the CPU. The CPU cooler which comes with your computer is actually referred to as the stock CPU cooler. Most individuals can use it since their PC does not have a high load.

Suppose you use your computer for animation, gaming, design, or a large coding project. In that case, you may require a better cooling system. These often include a large heatsink that can keep your CPU cooler. It can also improve the performance of your CPU.

If you don’t set up the best CPU cooling system, it can cause some problems. For example, when CPUs get too hot, they might start acting strangely, such as throwing errors, locking up, or even burning up. Installing an insufficient cooling system can lead to a significant and very costly failure of your computer.

In short, if you use your PC for a big project and you also want a better CPU performance, then you will need a powerful CPU cooler so that your CPU will not be damaged.

For sure, a fully-equipped desktop computer will provide you with the best options when it comes to customizing your experience, but you can now upgrade your laptop to have the capability of a full-tower system.

If you are using your laptop for gaming or work, you may find that you want a boost in performance that integrated graphics simply cannot deliver. That’s where an eGPU comes in handy.

What is an eGPU? Is eGPU worth it? Is it too early to invest in one now? Let’s take a look.

What is an eGPU?

An eGPU, which stands for external graphics processing unit, is an external graphics card that attaches to your device through a single wire. The power will then be transferred from your laptop’s internal GPU to the external graphics card.

A graphics processing unit (GPU) is the component of your device that creates the visuals on your screen. You may now have your graphics card reside outside of the casing and connect to the motherboard with a single wire, thanks to recent enhancements to device connectivity, such as the USB-C connection.

eGPUs works the best on systems that can’t take a traditional graphics card. Many low-cost PCs and laptops are sold without a graphics card.

How Do eGPUs Work?

In most circumstances, an external GPU will be connected via a dock. An external GPU port connects to your computer through a PCIe slot for the graphics card and commonly a Thunderbolt or USB-C cable.

Installing the card, drivers, restarting, and installing any custom software is all it takes to use a dock.

After you’ve set it up, your computer will send graphics requests to the external GPU rather than the one that came with your machine. Because laptops, on the whole, don’t have much graphical processing power, this technique should theoretically result in superior graphics performance.

Keep in mind that while you may utilize an external GPU on your desktop, laptops are far more prevalent. You gain more extraordinary graphics performance by using a larger, more powerful card. Perhaps even enough to play a few visually demanding games.

How eGPUs Look Today?

If you look at GPUs right now, you’ll see that they’re usually sold as enclosures. These are boxes that have a connection cable and dedicated power but don’t have a graphics card.

The product will display a list of compatible cards, allowing you to change them and select the one you wish to use. Some will even have several GPU compartments for even greater processing capacity.

As a result, selling an eGPU nowadays is more about selling a box for a graphics card than selling a graphics card in a box.

Is it Worth Buying an eGPU?

eGPUs are excellent at filling their niche. The issue is that the niche is far smaller than you may expect. If your laptop is having trouble playing the newest games, an eGPU might be able to help. A new PC, on the other hand, will do the same job as well.

As a result, anyone adopting an eGPU must weigh the benefits of doing so against the cost of purchasing new hardware.

There are, however, a few niches that meet the criteria. For example, suppose a buddy offers you their old GPU. In that case, you may use an eGPU case to connect it to a laptop without having to acquire all of the other components.

An eGPU is ideal if you want to utilize your laptop for graphically intense games. Instead of dragging around a heavy laptop designed exclusively for gaming, you may operate your machine as a portable device during the day. The eGPU will provide higher frame rates and smoother gameplay.

If you deal with special effects, editing, rendering, color grading, or animation, an eGPU is also a good choice. It can aid in the improvement of operations while also showing visuals of more excellent quality.

An eGPU can reduce the burden of updating technology by providing a significant power boost to laptops.

However, as previously stated, these are sporadic instances. It’s not about whether an eGPU performs a good job; it’s about if it’s the best match for the job. It’s worth investing in an eGPU if it’s the only option to reach your objectives. However, there is frequently a better and less expensive option that you may utilize instead.

External GPUs Are Only Going to Get Better

The Thunderbolt/USB-C bandwidth problem isn’t going away on its own. External GPU hardware and software will continue to develop, and external GPUs will almost certainly improve as well.

External GPUs have piqued the curiosity of many individuals. Hardware companies also want to get their GPUs into the hands of as many people as possible. As a result, they have a solid motivation to upgrade the technology continuously.

If you’re looking for an eGPU, the current lineup lets you mix and match graphics cards to customize your system. However, before you purchase one, think about if buying a new system would be a better option. After all, eGPUs are quite expensive.

If your computer already has a graphics card, and you want to figure out what’s slowing down its performance, you can do it by running a GPU stress test.

Conclusion

eGPU setups are a terrific option to enhance your outdated or lower-powered laptop with a GPU capable of rendering, gaming, and any other GPU-intensive activities you have in mind.

They are, nonetheless, exceptionally situational.

When you consider the entire expenditures of an eGPU system, it’s sometimes wiser to just save up and acquire a whole new laptop or desktop.

However, if you have the funds and a process that would benefit from it, an eGPU can boost your productivity significantly.

PC components wear out. Because replacement parts can be costly, it makes perfect sense to get the most out of each one you have.

The essential thing you can do is keep your PC components in good working order. Good maintenance practices are the foundation and culmination of a long-lasting PC, especially when you construct it yourself.

This post will discuss one of PC’s most essential components: a power supply unit (PSU). What is a PSU? How long does a PSU last? Read on to find out!

What is a PSU?

The power supply unit (PSU) of the computer converts the alternating current (AC) mains supply voltage, 220-240 volts, into various regulated, low voltage direct current (DC) outputs required by the computer’s components.

In some circumstances, a voltage selection switch may be included, allowing the user to pick a voltage based on their geographic region (the United States, for example, 120 volts).

A bunch of cables emanates from the front of the PSU within the box. The cables are frequently color-coded and grouped according to the type of device to which they will be attached.

Although the power supply unit has been used in a variety of forms in the past, some of which were rather large and massive, most desktop computers currently utilize power supplies that correspond to the standard ATX configuration. A typical power supply is depicted in the image below.

How Long Does a PSU Last?

We need to break things down into individual components to answer how long power supply units last properly. It will allow us to provide a comprehensive explanation.

Most people use power supplies until they fail. However, it is better to take action sooner rather than later to boost the odds of your PC running properly for longer. You can check what PSU do you have.

Every five years, a computer’s power supply should be replaced. A power source will most certainly become less efficient over this period, perhaps causing a device to become problematic.

The principal culprits are aged capacitors and other components, heat, power surges, and other mechanical pressures.

Like any other electronic equipment, power supply units are composed of a circuit board having components arranged and affixed on it.

A cooling fan keeps components cold inside the power supply’s metal housing, which is unusual for a power supply. Let’s discuss each component one by one.

Capacitor

Like semiconductors, this is arguably one of the most prevalent components that causes electronic problems. The capacitance value of these components changes as they age, affecting the efficiency of your power supply in comparison to its initial design.

Aluminum electrolytic capacitors are the most often used capacitor in power supply. These capacitors are comprised of pure aluminum foil with a dielectric of aluminum oxide.

An electrolytic capacitor’s projected lifespan is a difficult topic to answer. The capacitor, however, can no longer give the appropriate capacitance value once the electrolytes have evaporated past a certain threshold.

Computer power supplies are tested, especially for gamers or other industries that require the computer to work hard for long periods of time. It means that the temperature at which capacitors function will most likely be more significant than in standard applications.

As a result, it is believed that the lifetime will be less than the average of 10 to 20 years.

Depending on the circuit design, when capacitor values start to deviate, other components such as semiconductors and resistors may run hotter. As a result, their life expectancy is reduced.

Resistors

Another component whose value might change as it ages is the typical carbon resistor. Resistors can gradually rise in value when heat transfers from electrical to thermal.

Although this increase may not have the same detrimental effect as a capacitor, it can still produce anomalies, such as computer parts with a depleted supply, to name one example.

This deteriorating effect can be increased when a resistor’s power rating becomes too insufficient for the job at hand.

It can happen when circuits are constructed incorrectly and a value is chosen incorrectly, causing the component to have a reduced lifespan.

Integrated Circuits

The lifetime of integrated circuits varies. It’s due to a variety of factors. The length of time you can anticipate a component to endure is mainly determined by how hot it becomes over time.

A component like this might sometimes only survive a short time due to poor manufacturing standards. Reputable IC makers aid the cause, but they aren’t the primary factor in determining its longevity.

The longevity of an integrated circuit is affected by factors such as the circuit’s design. It determines how well a supply line is rounded, how steady a voltage supply line remains under varied situations, and how much load the IC must handle.

Integrated circuits have a very long life span under the right conditions.

Inductors, Transformers and Coil

Coils, inductors, and transformers are the most dependable components in a power supply unit.

Enamel-coated copper wires are wrapped around a plastic, ferrite, or magnetic core in coils, inductors, and transformers. Without a core, certain inductors wound with bigger gauge wire may be made and connected onto a PCB.

Unless they have been physically damaged, they are not the most probable components to cause a computer’s power supply to fail.

Cooling Fans

When a cooling fan in a power supply unit stops operating, its lifespan is significantly reduced.

When fans grow old, the bearing inside them might stop working. The fan will either not spin at all or will spin extremely slowly. This is the worst-case situation, and as fans age, they frequently get noisier and use more power.

However, if the fan slows down sufficiently, cooling for the power supply may be affected. A cooling fan’s typical lifespan is roughly three and a half years.

Conclusion

There are a lot of factors to consider when determining how long does PSU lasts. Given the unpredictability of some components, determining dying power supply signs is hugely challenging.

Some components, such as capacitors, may begin to degrade after five years and will no longer perform as effectively as they once did.

While the power supply may function normally, the typical user will be unaware of the system’s lesser effects.

Given the low cost of a computer power supply in most computers, replacing it with a new one appears to be a wise move.

If you are using your PC for gaming, animation, design, or even a major coding project, you might need a better CPU cooler. These tend to have a large heatsink which can make your CPU quieter. It can also increase the efficiency of your CPU.

If you just bought a new PC and you are not planning to place it under heavy load, then you may not need a dedicated CPU cooler at all. Stock Coolers can typically last for a few years, but if you’re looking to squeeze every last bit of performance, you will need a better cooler.

Or, it may be the case your old machine can’t handle your everyday load as well anymore. In that case, upgrading isn’t on the table for you currently, investing in a good CPU cooler could be just the upgrade you’re looking for to help your PC cope better without breaking the bank.

So, from deafening blowiematrons and silent coolers to hunks of metal almost as heavy as your computer case that you can slap to your motherboard, here are some things to look at to help make the best choice for you.

Step 1 – Heat generated by your CPU

Figuring out how much heat is generated by your processor can allow you to quickly determine the size and type of cooler you will need. If you still have the packaging your CPU came in, you may be able to confirm the Thermal Design Power of the processor from either the user manual or any attached pamphlet. However, if this is not the case, you have two options; Use your CPU model or Use CPU-Z. CPU manufacturers usually call this value the TDP of the processor.

If you don’t know your CPU model, use CPU-Z to find the model number. Once you know your CPU model, you can find it here (Helpful tip: Use Ctrl + F). This is what you can expect to see when looking at processor data on the website:

A quick Google search of your CPU model will lead you to the manufacturer’s website with the listed information in no time. You’ll see a rounded figure for the amount of heat your CPU outputs on its default settings listed here like this:

Now to determine the size you need, let’s consider the Core i7-11700K. Since its TDP is around 125W, a large cooler will be required.

For CPUs that have TDPs ranging between 50W and 70W, medium-sized coolers will give you the best performance for your money.

For CPUs that have TDPs less than 50W, smaller coolers will be the most reasonable choice, and you may even want to stick to the Stock Cooler.

Here are some suggestions for good low profile coolers. Your stock cooler will generally be designed to handle most of your CPU heat, but if you see your CPU temps constantly staying above 70 degrees while you’re working on your computer or you notice the fan ramping up and your computer slowing down, it means your cooling system cannot handle all the heat your processor throws at it.

Using the TDP as a reference figure to opt for an appropriate system cooler can ensure that your new cooling system is matched to the CPU heat output. It enables your system to perform better and avoid thermal throttling, prolonging the life of silicon in your machine.

Step 2 – Check if you may be overclocking

There are two quick ways to check this;

Firstly, you can enter BIOS settings. Check for the base clock, multiplier, and CPU VCORE properties. If these do not match the defaults, you are overclocking.

If you do not want to restart your computer or mess with the BIOS, you can use CPU-Z. It will give you a value for core speed in MHz, so move the decimal three places to the right to read it in GHz, the unit generally used.

Now to see the actual speed, you need your computer to get into action. The easiest way is to run Prime 95. It will calculate values for trillions of primes in the time it took you to read this paragraph. It will let you know the actual speed of your PC.

If you are overlocking, you may want to avoid your stock cooler, as getting a liquid cooler or something with similar heat dissipation characteristics would suit you better than an air cooler.

Stock coolers are not something you should overclock on. Manufacturers design stock coolers to just about match your default TDP. Overclocking your processor is going to make it pull more power from the wall, increasing your thermal output by a lot as well.

Opting for a beefier cooler is almost necessary when going for even light overclocking. If you fail to provide sufficient cooling, your computer can perform worse and even be unstable, crashing if pushed even slightly since your cooler can not keep up with your processor.

If you’re planning to go for moderate to intense overclocking, opting for a water cooler becomes a necessity. Even the sizeable air coolers on the market will fail to run at an amount to dissipate heat effectively.

Liquid coolers typically rely on the water running in a loop to take the heat away from your processor and throw it out using a radiator mounted somewhere on your case. Water cooling can be a little harder to pull off than traditional air cooling, but these AIO options come preassembled and can make the task a lot easier if you decide to go that route.

Step 3 – 3-pin or 4-pin

When shopping for computer fans, you will come across 3-pin and 4-pin options.

4-pin fan options allow for much finer control over your fan RPM, the speed at which it spins, based on how hot your computer is running. It translates into your computer being quieter when you’re pushing it as hard and the fans only ramping up to full speed when they need to.

While there are companies that offer fans branded as being silent, the fan always has some noise to it, and depending on the ambient sound level in your work environment, you may notice even the most silent of CPU fans. If you work in a loud environment, CPU fan noise might not be an upsetting factor.

There is another advantage 4-pin fans have as well since they’re not pushed to their limit 4-pin CPU fans usually have longer lives. This choice is also partially decided by your motherboard though, not all boards support 4-pin headers, so before you make the distinction, double-checking if your board supports 4-pin headers is a must.

3-pin fans are usually cheaper, and every motherboard will support 3-pin fans so if you’re on a tight budget and want a quick and easy option without going overboard or are looking to replace your CPU fan after the older one died, the 3-pin fans are a cheaper and safer bet.

Step 4 – Choosing a good thermal compound

Having a shiny new fan isn’t all you need.

Fans sit directly on your CPU, but they need a layer of thermal compound to go in between to ensure good thermal contact. Choosing the correct thermal compound is necessary to ensure your new fan performs as well as it should.

A good rule of thumb is to not cheap out too intensely on the thermal compound. Options like the Arctic Silver 5 or offerings from Thermaltake or a well-known name can’t go wrong but make sure it’s not cheap enough to raise some eyebrows, which usually means it’s no good.

If your computer worked fine before with just the stock cooler and you’re seeing it running hotter now, you might not need a new cooler. Give your fan and computer case a good dusting off and check the thermal paste. If it looks cracked or dried out, a fresh new tube of this stuff might be the only thing you need to get your computer working like it used to again.

Conclusion

There is no hard and set rule for picking something like a CPU cooler. A stock cooler might be enough for one use case on a given processor and might be inadequate for someone else using the same processor if they decide to use it for a substantial workload or overclock it. It depends on what you need.

In general, the way to making a good choice is to know how much heat your CPU outputs. Overshooting the target just slightly can never hurt and can ensure your computer fares better even on warmer days or when you push it a little more than usual.

Being aware of the novelties other than just picking any CPU cooler off the shelf, like making sure you have a good thermal paste, is necessary to squeeze every last drop of performance out of your investment.

As long as you keep your computer case from getting clogged up with dust, ensure your thermal paste is fresh, and don’t push your processor beyond the limits it was designed to go, even the stock cooler should fare well against the test of time.

Investing in a beefier cooler might make it easier on your current processor, and the effort is not wasted with more efficient processors. TDPs have remained relatively similar the past couple of generations, so a good cooler you buy today might be good enough for your next computer as well.

It is a good investment if you make sure you have good research and your use case makes it necessary. No matter what fan you go for, making sure it isn’t clogged by dust and refreshing the thermal compound every couple of months can keep your computer cool and keep it going a lot longer.

In all this evolution, one component of the PC has survived. It’s the PC fan. The PC fan remains the primary method to cool down your PCs and laptops. Although other cooling methods have come about, most PCs still use a fan to prevent overheating.

Companies nowadays are allowing their customers to build customized PCs. You get to pick everything from the memory and processor to the components that will help the PC case airflow. It’s the latter that we will be looking at today.

Why do We Need Desktop PC Airflow?

If you are building your PC for the first time, you should keep in mind the importance of desktop PC airflow. Most components in a PC, for example, a CPU, GPU, etc., have specified temperature ranges in which they operate.

All these components generate constant heat, which gets stored inside the PC case. This heat circulates inside the PC and must be removed, as it can warm up the other components like the motherboard, processor, etc. This can, in turn, slow down your computer big time and affect its overall performance.

The desktop PC airflow needs optimization, and this PC airflow guide will help you set up and choose a PC fan for airflow and proper cooling of your desktop PC.

PC Case Airflow and Ventilation

When you are setting up a PC fan, your main aim is to configure how the air will flow inside the case. As such, make sure that you select the best case within your budget. The PC fan installed should move the cool air inside the case, and it should ventilate out the unwanted hot air causing all the trouble.

The primary gauge to measure the pressure of the air inside a PC case is a cubic foot per minute rating shortly used as a CFM rating. A higher rating is preferred, and you can check PC case fans online.

Types of PC Airflow Configuration

There are essentially three main types of desktop PC airflow configuration. We will start by developing an understanding of these types to configure PC cooling and figure out which one is the best fit for the PC airflow optimization in a case.

Two key terms are used here for explaining these three types to make them easy to understand for a layman. The main focus here is PC fan airflow direction.

• Intake fans: Its blowing side faces the inside of the PC case, as it mainly takes the air from outside to blow it inside the PC case.
• Exhaust fans: Its blowing side is installed to the wall of the case. It mainly takes the air inside the case and blows it outward, removing stagnant air inside the PC case.

Image Source: A Guide to Intake/Exhaust Fans and Airflow for Your Desktop Computer – MakeTechEasier

Positive Air Pressure

When the Intake fan blows more fresh air inside the PC case than the exhaust fan blowing stagnant air out, this air pressure inside the PC is known as positive air pressure. It mainly happens when you have installed more intake fans than exhaust fans, or the intake fans have a higher rate of airflow comparatively.

At first glance, having positive air pressure is a good thing, but you can find yourself with a lot of stagnant air inside the case if enough external air movements do not occur.

It could increase the temperature of your PC case, damaging the internal components along the way.

Negative Air Pressure

When the exhaust fan blows outside more stagnant air from the PC case than the intake fan blowing fresh air inside, such air pressure inside the PC is known as negative air pressure. It mainly happens when you have installed more exhaust fans than intake fans, or the exhaust fans have a higher rate of airflow comparatively.

Again, at first look, this seems like an effective way of cooling down your PC. But it can also increase the number of dust particles inside the PC case and adding a filter to tackle the dust particles is particularly difficult.

This diagram captures the difference between positive air pressure and negative air pressure.

Image Source: Corsair Obsidian 750D Case: Well Built For Water Cooling – Page 2 | HotHardware

Neutral Air Pressure

When the intake and exhaust fan blow the same amount of air inside the PC case, you have a neutral air pressure. It happens more or less with an equal amount of intake and exhaust fan installed in a PC case.

It is considered the best airflow pressure for a PC case because of its balanced nature. The air pressure and temperature are more suitable for all the components inside a PC case to work efficiently.

A comparison table illustrating some salient features of the three types shown below:

Proper Fan Positioning is Paramount

We have already established that the air travels in from one side of the PC case and goes out from the other side. The PC fan can be an intake or exhaust, depending upon the position of the fan or how it is mounted.

You can install a fan in four sections of the PC case: front, back, top, and bottom. The front and bottom sections mainly occupy the intake fans and draw the fresh air inside to pass through the heated components.

While the top and backside occupy the exhaust fans mainly because the hot air goes upwards and draws it outside to keep it away from internal components. So, proper fan positioning is vital for PC airflow optimization.

Dust is the Quiet Hunter

If you live in a dry and dusty environment, or you smoke in the room where you have set up your PC, then your PC is in extra trouble. It is essential to protect your PC from dust. Otherwise, no PC fan can protect your internal components from getting roughed up and lose their potency.

It is vital to install a removable air filter in your PC case and make sure the air passes in and out through it. It is important to blow the dust off all the components inside the case. Cleaning the filter every once in a while, is also essential to keep it running at the optimal requirement to increase the airflow and cooling power.

Cable Management and Other Obstructions for the PC Airflow

Ideally, it is better to have no obstructions (like cables) in the path of air and let it move freely. It will enable the intake and exhaust fan to work more efficiently for the PC case airflow and effectively cooling down all the components.

Some of the cables inside the PC case like the unused power supply cables, cause the hindrance. Cable management is not given much importance by PC users, but an organized case interior is most certainly a big help. The interior of the PC case will look smooth and tidy and helps in PC airflow optimization.

Small Word on Water Cooling

Water cooling is more expensive, yet it is not necessarily an effective method. For your understanding, and to put things in a simple perspective, water-cooled components have little effect on the internal airflow of the PC case. They may make your PC run cooler, but there is also the added risk that goes along with water coolers.

One big problem for water coolers is the pump. Not only does that add additional noise and cost, but it also adds a point of failure and a nasty one too. The water-cooler pumps are more likely to fail than a PC fan, and when they do, it is more catastrophic for your PC and much harder to detect.

Now, if your PC fan stops, then you can probably see that it is not spinning. You can slap a case fan on there until a new one arrives. But a water cooler will remain undetected for a while, and it might be too late by the time you detect a problem.

PC heatsinks are the metal fragments attached to the chip of computers such as CPUs. They are used for blowing the heat away from your device. It moves towards the heatsink due to its heat-absorbing material through natural conduction.

Heatsinks are combined with a cooler to reduce the heat from its surface. It is a type of radiator that gets assistance from a thermal conductor to transfer and dissipate heat. Usually, a thermal pad or thermal paste acts as the thermal conductor in question.

Types of Heat Sinks

There are a total of three different types of heatsinks. They offer various advantages and disadvantages of their own, and what you end up using depends entirely on your needs.

Active Heatsink

An active heatsink comprises moving parts such as a fan or a blower. It increases the inflow of thermal paste over the hot area of the system by achieving maximum heat conduction and enhancing the total thermal gradient across the heat sink system.

Passive Heatsink

A passive heatsink does not contain any additional mechanical components or moving parts. Heat is dissipated through by the process of convection, i.e. heat is transferred as a result of the movement of thermal fluids without any help of a secondary system.

Hybrid Heatsink

A hybrid heatsink combines the characteristics of both passive and active heatsinks. It often depends on control systems such as fans to cool the system based on temperature requirements. When the system operates at cooler levels, the air through the fan becomes inactive, only cooling the system passively.

When the source reaches a higher temperature, the active cooling mechanism engages to increase the cooling capacity of the heat sink system.

Fans, radiators, and other elements in the cooling components allow the accumulated heat to flow away from vital working parts of a computer without damaging the hardware.

Types of CPU Air Coolers

There are many CPU coolers available in the market, and every unit is built-in with specific characteristics. Let’s compare the most common Air Cooler types.

U-Type/Twin Tower Air Coolers

Twin tower air coolers are commonly used coolers with a vertical pile of heat fins placed parallel to the heating base. It is known as the u-type/ twin tower air cooler because it is structured similarly to a tower (due to the heat pipes being u-shaped). The lower half of the heat pipe is down in the heating base.

Heat energy is actively dissipated through the heat pipes using fans with this construction of the CPU cooler.

C-Type Air Coolers

C-type air coolers are the top-down air cooler with c-shaped heat pipes having the curve from the heat fin stacks. These fin stacks are attached to only one end of the heating base, allowing the fan to be to either the top or the bottom of the heat fins. This shaped design allows for multiple fans to get installed to one given unit.

The installation and thickness of these fans determine the quality of air flowing from the unit and its clearance within the PC case. The 120mm and 140mm designs, mostly used on C-Type Air Coolers, are perfect for tower casings.

Low-Profile Air Coolers

Low-profile air coolers are simple coolers that do not take up much space. This type of design is better for users whose PC case does not have any extra space. However, low-profile coolers are not that adept at dissipating heat.

Stock CPU Coolers vs Aftermarket Coolers – Which One Should I Use?

In comparison to after-market coolers, stock CPU coolers provide poor thermal performance that can lead to the PC components destroyed. Stock CPU coolers can get too noisy, which can be bothersome and intrusive. For overclockers, an after-market CPU cooler is crucial.

Since we are on the subject of massive heatsinks, it’s worth mentioning that tower coolers play the best role in this regard. Tower coolers are the best air coolers available for desktop PCs. Not only do they offer reasonable efficiency when it comes to cooling, but they also refrain from producing too much noise as long as they are not pushed too hard.

The only thing that can beat a tower cooler is a liquid cooler. Liquid coolers are the most efficient at dissipating heat, and they are the most expensive after-market option by far. They work by using a circulating liquid instead of a heatsink. It takes the heat away from the CPU and towards the radiators comprising of multiple cooling fans.

In short, any stock cooler will keep a CPU from overheating (in most cases), but if you want a more efficient cooler and are planning to overclock your CPU, then an after-market cooler will almost always be the better and quieter choice.

There are quite a lot of form factors out there. However, the most commonly used ones are EATX, ATX, Micro ATX, and Mini ATX.

In our guide below, we have detailed every relevant aspect of each of these form factors so that you can have your pick out of them.

So, let’s begin!

EATX vs ATX vs Micro ATX vs Mini ITX Motherboards

Source: NZXT

ATX/EATX

Advanced Technology eXtended (ATX) is the most popular motherboard form factor in the contemporary world.

Introduced in 1995, ATX overcame the shortcomings of its predecessor, the IBM Baby AT form factor, especially in terms of space optimization and overall hardware interchangeability.

Today, due to its reasonable cost and countless possibilities of building that it offers as well as the relative ease that comes with the process of building, ATX is the most abundant form factor of motherboards that any manufacturer has in the market.

If we talk about Extended ATX (EATX), it is essentially a slightly larger version of ATX, in which you will find the best VRMs, the greatest range of connectivity options, and the strongest build.

However, in the case of EATX, the case compatibility of your mother will be a bit worse and the price will be comparatively greater.

Anyhow, with no hardware restrictions and the ability to integrate custom liquid cooling loops in PC enclosures nowadays, AEX and EATX guarantee you the most robust computer systems possible.

Your PC will support overclocking, massive power supplies, multiple full-length GPUs, large heat sinks, lots of fans, or reservoirs, cooling blocks, radiators, and tubing.

If you’re someone with no experience in building computers, ATX is your best entry-point due to its configuration flexibility.

Micro ATX

Developed in 1997, just a couple of years after the advent of ATX, Micro ATX is probably the least popular form factor amongst the ones mentioned in this guide.

Apart from being slightly shorter and having lesser expansion slots, Micro ATX is largely identical to ATX, whether we talk about the chipsets, VRMs, or connectivity options.

If we talk about the casing of Micro ATX, this form factor is supported by almost all full-tower and mid-tower enclosures by replacing a few standoff screws. There are even more options available in the market for micro-towers specific to this form factor.

You may enjoy the same flexibility, ease of use, and hardware compatibility as even some full-tower ATX cases but you will most probably be contained to closed-loop AIO liquid coolers instead of fully custom open-loop liquid cooling with multiple radiators and a reservoir.

The major drawback of this form factor is that nowadays, there are far fewer high-end Micro ATX motherboards with Intel and AMD chipsets than both ATX, EATX, and Mini ITX, considering the substantial rise in the popularity of Small form factor (SFF) over the recent years.

Anyhow, Micro ATX can still be a brilliant choice for you if you’re looking for something smaller than a full or mid-tower build while trying to avoid the complications that come with SFF PCs.

Micro ATX is also the cheapest option amongst all the options in this guide.

Mini ITX

Mini Information Technology eXtended (Mini ITX) was developed by a company called VIA Technologies back in 2001, and over the years, it has gained massive popularity and transformed into the form that we are familiar with today.

Despite being the smallest mainstream form factor in the market, it has many motherboard options that are capable of supporting even the most powerful CPU and GPU combinations.

The majority of these options have a fantastic build quality and overall design. Better still, it makes your whole computer system extremely portable.

However, the drawbacks this sleek and relatively smaller form factor brings cannot be overlooked. The first one is that due to lesser space availability in SFF cases, hardware compatibility becomes pretty restrictive.

So, you will need to carry out extensive research to ascertain which components you can fit, ultimately, installed into your chosen case.

Furthermore, since a larger chunk of SFF cases doesn’t support full-sized ATX power supplies, you will need to get yourself an SFX power supply.

Another major issue is that of large heat dissipation from the components installed on Mini ITX. Since you won’t find many fans with support for your PC’s enclosure, you will have to resort to air-cooling.

When it comes to the cost of Mini ITX motherboard, excluding premium variants of EATX motherboards, they are the most expensive of all.

On top of that, there are always new versions of Mini ITX motherboards getting introduced into the market so you might end up regretting the purchase of a Mini ITX motherboard that receives a new and tweaked version shortly after.

Why do the Size of a Form Factor Matters?

The size of a specific form factor can be crucial for the overall build of your computer system.

Amongst the form factors under discussion in this guide, ATX is the standard-sized motherboard, EATX, as its name suggests is larger than ATX whereas Micro ATX is smaller than ATX, followed by Mini ITX.

The smaller motherboards are made possible from the larger ones by removing some extension slots from a motherboard itself, meaning that there will be lesser space for additions of say, a graphics card or other components.

For example, the change from ATX to Micro ATX is brought about by the loss of some PCI slots. ATX motherboards usually come packed with six PCI slots (3 PCI-E x16 and 3 PCI-E x1) while Micro ATX motherboards have three (1 PCI-E x16 and 2 PCI-E x1).
Mini ITX motherboards, on the other hand, have only one PCI-E x16 slot.

On some occasions, a smaller motherboard may also take it in terms of RAM and USB ports. It means that there can be only two slots of RAM in a Micro ATX in comparison to ATX’s four, though this commonly doesn’t happen.

Due to fewer PCI and RAM slots, you may notice that the smaller form factors can’t handle the heavy processes like overclocking as well as the larger form factors.

For a larger form factor, you require a larger CPU case. If you bring aesthetics out of the equation, any small form factor will fit just fine into that larger case as well.

So, if you ever feel that you need to make a change from one larger form factor to a smaller one, say ATX to Micro ATX, you can do so without having to spend more money on buying a new case.

However, remember that a larger form factor won’t fit into the case-specific to a smaller form factor.

Which Motherboard Form Factor Should You Go For?

If you’ve gone through everything written above, you will probably have an idea now on which form factor suits you the best. However, if you don’t, continue reading.

If you are looking to build a budget-friendly PC and you need it mainly for light usage i.e. browsing, reading emails, playing low-end games, then go with a Micro ATX motherboard.

On the other hand, if your budget is fully flexible and you are an avid gamer, then you need a form factor that provides you the best possible features, and in our list, ATX or EATX fall into that category of form factors.

Most modern graphics cards possess the ability to render millions of pixels, thereby showing the best possible product on the screen.

However, as is the case with any other piece of hardware in your PC, a graphics card has a certain life span which, on average, is 5 years. After this time, or sometimes even before that, it starts to exhibit certain symptoms that indicate that it is dying.

In our guide below, we will get your up to speed with all of these potential symptoms and how you can diagnose them.

A Faulty Graphics Card – Signs to Look Out For!

Loud Fan Noise

Similar to your PC or a laptop that has a fan for cooling the moving parts, a graphics card also possesses a fan that keeps the extra heat from accumulating inside the graphics card.

There is a standard, bearable noise that comes from this fan if it is in the right condition. However, if the noise coming from the fan feels extra loud to your ears, then the odds are that your graphics card is overheating.

Overheating of graphics card is harmful so your first instinct should be to close all the tasks on your computer, turn it off and clean your graphics card.

After doing so, if the problem persists, then it indicates that there is some internal problem in your graphics card.

Blue Screen

This infamous blue screen has been experienced by the majority of laptop and desktop users at one point or the other. It is the indication of issues with several hardware components, like random access memory (RAM), hard drives, and graphics card.

To verify that the occurrence of a blue screen is due to your presumably faulty graphics card, try doing some graphics-intensive tasks such as playing video games or watching movies, etc.

If the blue screen continues to pop up on your screen, then it hints that your graphics card is wearing out.

Screen Glitches

Sometimes, when you are playing a video game or watching a video, you may come across very unusual and rather funny colors on your screen. These colors might disappear if you reboot, but they will continue to appear from time to time.

These colors are screen glitches and their persistence is a clear suggestion that your graphics card is failing.

The Appearance of Artifacts on the Screen

Just like screen glitches, these odd artifacts tend to appear before you while you are using on your PC. Again, although restarting your PC might get you rid of these artifacts, this is only a short-term solution.

The appearance of these artifacts can be due to any of the following: overheating, overclocking, dust build-up, and faulty graphics.

To eliminate all other possibilities, turn off your computer, give it some rest while you clean its components and then, turn it back on.

If the problem continues, then it is most likely an indication that your graphics card is dying.

Screen Freezes

Computer screen freezing or stuttering is what probably all the PC users come across at one point. Apart from a faulty graphics card, a virus, a failing hard drive, and a troubled RAM are also amongst the causes of this.

Your first probable action after encountering screen stuttering would be to turn off your computer and give it some time to cool but as you will find out, the problem won’t go away.

Remember that if your screen freezes with a warning sign mentioning anything other than malware, RAM, or a hard drive, then there is a decent chance that your graphics card is the culprit.

Driver Crashes

Sometimes, while you are busy using your PC, your screen automatically goes off. It usually gets back on after a few seconds with a message saying that your graphics card/video card crashed, and it had to restart.

This is different from the whole PC crash like in the case of a Blue Screen, but it is still very annoying.

Black Screens

On some occasions, your complete can go completely black, showing no visuals at all!

Now, this could either be due to your faulty graphics card or your monitor. To find out which one of these is the culprit, you will need to rely on your PC’s integrated graphics or your other graphics card (if you have one).

If the monitor works just fine with the other graphics card, then you know which component to blame.

Diagnose Your Graphics Card

The conditions mentioned above are some of the most common telltale signs of a dying graphics card. However, these signs do not confirm anything. For all you know, there could be a problem with another component of your PC.

Below, you will find some of the ways following which you can know, for sure, whether your graphics card is faulty or not.

Swap APIs

Application Programming Interface (API) is the means of communication between an application and your Graphics Card’ Driver. There are three different APIs which the contemporary GPUs use: DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan.

These APIs have an array of versions that support different combinations of a graphics card, driver, and operating system.

This means that if you are encountering trouble in only specific applications, say video games, simply swap your API and the video game might just run fine.

Change the Drivers’ Version

If you are continuously coming across graphics rendering issues while playing video games, then it is probably because your GPU’s driver is outdated.

Update your driver by searching it up on your vendor’s website.

However, if you have recently upgraded your driver and you can’t get rid of the problem, then, try shifting back to the older version of the driver by going to your vendor’s drive archive.

As contradictory as it may sound, this may solve your problem.

Complete Driver Uninstallation

If you are someone who continuously likes to try out different vendors of graphics cards, then this might be the solution to your problem.

So, what happens is that, when you move from one brand to the other, say from Nvidia to AMD, the Nvidia official uninstaller will leave the traces of its driver behind.

So, to tackle this problem, you will need to download and install Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) and run it before you change your graphics card.

Once you have uninstalled the previous GPU’s driver completely using DDU, turn off your PC, insert your new graphics card and fire your PC up. Now, install the new display drivers and they will be installed correctly if all goes well.

Make Sure It’s Properly Positioned

Similar to other parts of a computer, a graphics card does not work efficiently until it is seated correctly into its designated spot.

So, ensure that it is fitted properly into its PCI slots and screwed in tight. Also, if there are any power connectors, properly clip them into the unit.

Check the Video Cable

If the cable that connects your PC to your graphics card is twisted along the way, then it may not be correctly connected, causing your graphics card to produce unusual display effects.

So, ensure that the video cable is properly fitted from both ends. If you still get visual bugs, try replacing your video cable with a new one.

Conclusion

If you have applied all of our troubleshooting methods and you are still experiencing any of the symptoms of a faulty graphics card mentioned in this guide, then, unfortunately, your graphics card is on its way out.

In that case, if your budget is a bit tight and your work is mainly light such as reading emails, watching videos, etc., the integrated graphics will get the job done.

However, if high-end gaming is your thing, then you should consider buying a new, better graphics card.

For desktop computers, the PSU is built-in and you connect it to the power socket via a wire while for laptops, the whole PSU is external.

Whether you own a desktop computer or a laptop, they both are non-functional without a power supply. Unfortunately, similar to any other piece of hardware, even the most efficient power supply is bound to die at some point.

However, before it dies, it experiences some symptoms and signs that give you an indication that it is coming to its end.

Our guide below takes a dig into all the signs of a dying power supply. So, let’s get started!

How to Tell If Your Power Supply is Dying?

The Computer Does Not Start

Since your power supply is the source through which your whole computer system gets the energy required for it to run, if you are unable to start up your PC, there are good chances that there is something wrong with your power supply.

You will notice that although your PC is not up and running, the fans of the processor are spinning.

Now, there may be other reasons for the inability of your computer to start up, like a fault in the motherboard.

However, a dying power supply is still one of the main reasons for this problem so be sure to test your power supply in case you are met with a similar situation.

The Computer Randomly Shuts Down or Reboots

If your PC automatically shuts down or restart during usage, especially heavy usages like video games, video encoding, and programming, the odds are that your PSU is unable to meet up the energy requirements of your PC.

To further confirm the trouble with your power supply, ensure that your heat sink is dust-free and your computer’s processor is not overheated since overheating can also be a cause of random shutdowns and reboots.

The Computer Blue Screens and Crashes

Like the aforementioned signs, a dying power supply is one of the major causes of your computer’s screen getting frozen as a result of which you receive a blue screen crash.

There are a lot of hardware and software drivers that can also prompt this blue screen to show up but a faulty power supply is still one of the culprits.

A Harsh, “Grinding” Sound is Emitted by the Power Supply Fan

Just like any other fan in the CPU, when the fan of a power supply is nearing its end, it starts to produce a very harsh and noticeable sound.

It usually happens suddenly, without any sort of warning, and indicates that the fan bearings of the fan have worn out.

So, if it does happen to you, quickly identify the component with the problematic fan. If the component turns out to be the power supply, you can save it from dying by getting it fixed in time.

Other Signs and Symptoms of a Dying Power Supply

There are some other indications of a failing power supply too:

• The computer turns on for a couple of seconds, then turns back off
• Saggy rails
• Inability to overclock
• Excessive heat release from power supply along with the burning smell
• Lower voltage supplied than expected
• Random resets
• Emission of smoke in extreme cases

What Now?

Keeping in mind the signs mentioned above, you might be suspecting that your power supply is dying but how can you be sure? For that, continue reading the lower portion of this guide.

Check Your Power Supply Wattage

Power Supply Wattage refers to the amount of power a PSU can produce. If your computer is obtaining more energy from the power supply than it can deliver, you will inevitably have issues with your power supply.

Calculate how much power your computer requires and then compare it to the Wattage rating of your Power supply.

If the requirement of your PC outweighs the power supplied by your power supply, then immediately take off your Power supply and get yourself a better one.

Diagnose Your Power Supply

There are different ways following which you can test your power supply.

If you suspect there is a voltage issue in your power supply, you can download and install various software monitoring tools like Open Hardware Monitor, HW Monitor, or Speedfan.

While using these tools to monitor your power supply’s voltage, keep the following voltage readings in mind: 3.3 V, 5 V, and 12 V. If there is over a 5% difference between your power supply’s voltage and these readings, then your power supply is in the red zone.

Furthermore, you can use the relatively cheap devices known as power supply testers to detect any problem with your power supply. However, make sure that the brand you use is a trusted one.

In addition to this, if you have the technical know-how of a multimeter, you can use it to measure the output of your power supply unit. Compare the result with the standard output to find out the problem.

Alternatively, just to be on the safe side, you can head to a nearby hardware repair shop and have your power supply checked.

Conclusion

To sum up, there are a lot of different signs of a failing power supply that you need to keep out for.

Every PSU at one point or the other dies but and if you want to prolong its life, you can resort to methods like keeping it dust-free or keeping its temperature under 80 degrees but your best bet is to purchase a high-quality power supply in the first place.

Graphics cards have come a long way since when they were invented back in 1981. Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA) was the first graphics card that could only display texts of white or green on a black background.

Today, the top-of-the-line graphics cards can display millions of colors at comparatively astounding resolutions.

By monitoring the display of your computer screen, the graphics cards have a crucial part to play in your computer system but the question is, how are the graphics cards able to do what they do?

In our guide below, we have explained the whole working principle of a graphics card by giving you an in-depth look at all of its key components, the difference between integrated and dedicated graphics cards, and more.
So, let’s get started!

How does a Graphics Card work? Everything that You Should be Aware of!

The operation of a graphics card is a complex process but if we streamline it, it is something like this:

First, the CPU sends out information related to an image, in the form of binary data, to the graphics card.

To create a 3-D image out of this data, the graphics card first creates a wire mesh out of straight lines. Then, it fills out the remaining pixels and adds lighting, color, and texture to the image. Finally, it transfers the image to the monitor via a cable for display.

For heavy games and software, this process is almost sixty times as quick. That explains why without a graphics card, a computer would simply crumble while such games and software.

A graphics card makes use of the monitor and the motherboard for its work. On the card itself, you can find a GPU (the processor) and VRAM.

The GPU

A graphics processing unit (GPU) is the processor of a graphics card that carries out graphics rendering through complex mathematical and geometric calculations. In other words, it is the brain of the graphics card.

Due to the nature of its task, a GPU dissipates a lot of heat which is why it is usually located under a heat sink or a fan.

The two mainstream manufacturers of GPUs in the market are AMD and Nvidia. Each of these two manufacturers applies special techniques in their GPUs to tweak the application of colors, shading, textures, patterns and hence improve the overall performance of the GPU.

For instance, to boost the image quality, the processors use Full scene anti-aliasing (FSAA) and Anisotropic filtering (AF). FSAA smooths the edges of the 3-D objects while AF makes images look sharper.

VRAM

As images are being continuously created by the GPU, they need someplace to be stored. This is where the memory/VRAM of your graphics card comes into play.

A higher memory capacity of the VRAM means that more data can be copied to and from the VRAM in a second and hence, more images can be stored.

Apart from storing the image’s each pixel, its color, and its location on the screen, VRAM also acts as a frame buffer. This means that it only displays the images on the screen when prompted.

Whenever you try to view an image, the VRAM sends that specific image to the digital-to-analog converter (DAC), also known as the RAMDAC. The DAC converts the image into an analog signal and conveys it to the monitor through a cable to be displayed on the screen.

In the graphic cards with multiple RAMDACs, this whole process goes on a lot faster. On top of that, it all can happen on more than one monitor!

PCI and Other Connections

Graphics cards are connected to your computer system through the motherboard. The motherboard not only supplies power to the graphics card but also lets it communicate with the CPU.

However, the advent of the powerful graphics card in the current era means that the power supplied to them by the motherboard is simply not enough.

To tackle this problem, the graphics cards now have a direct connection with the power supply as well and they are connected to the motherboard through one of the three interfaces:

• Peripheral component interconnect (PCI)
• Advanced graphics port (AGP)
• PCI Express (PCIe)

Amongst these, PCIe is the latest and the fastest. Also, it supports two graphics cards in one computer.

Furthermore, most of the graphics cards have two monitor connections. You will find an HDMI port and a Display Port in modern cards. Previously, the DVI connector, which supported LCD screens, and the VGA connector that supported CRT screens was common.

However, if your graphics card has incompatible connections, you can use an adapter if you want to solve the problem in a pinch.

There are also some graphics cards with dual-head capability that makes it possible to divide the display between two monitors.

Additionally, a few of the graphics cards out there allow you to make connections to TV, Analog video cameras, and Digital Cameras as well.

Frame rate

Frame rate or frames per second (FPS) determines how many complete images a graphics card can display in a second. The greater the FPS, the better is the graphics card.

The frame rate consists of the following two components:

• Triangles/Vertices per second – It defines how quickly a GPU can process the 3-D images which are usually in the form of triangles and polygons.
• Pixel fill rate – It defines how quickly a GPU can rasterize an image.

Integrated and Dedicated Graphics Cards

In a PC, the CPU generally has an integrated graphics card/video card which helps the computer in tasks related to 2-D imaging, web-surfing, reading emails, etc.

However, when it comes to activities like 3-D image processing and fast-paced video games, apart from this integrated graphics card, you will need to plug in a dedicated graphics card too.

A dedicated graphics card serves as an extra pair of hands to help your PC handle the high-end software and video games.

The type of dedicated graphics card you should get depends on your requirement and budget. Now that you have a good understanding of how a graphics card works, you will have a much easier time choosing the best one for yourself!

The need for peripheral input on the motherboards is minimized though it depends on your requirement. For instance, if you’re into video gaming, it’s recommended that you attach a separate video card with your motherboard.

However, before you can think of doing any such thing, you must know how the motherboard works. Though the whole working principle of a motherboard is quite complex, but we have streamlined it in our guide below.

How Does a Motherboard Work? Everything that You Need to Know!

Form Factor

The form factor determines the layout and design of the motherboard. It governs the shape of the computer’s case and where each one of the computer components fits in.

Different models of the motherboard have different types of ports, dimensions, and mounting holes – in short, different form factors. The most popular of these form factors include;

• ATX: The most prominent feature of ATX is its large dimensions (most being 12 x 9.6 inches).
• Micro-ATX: It’s a smaller version of the standard ATX and has comparatively fewer features.
• Mini-ATX: It’s smaller than the micro-ATX and is only designed for the mobile CPUs.
• Mini-ITX: It is smaller than an ATX board (6.7 x 6.7 inches) and is very quiet and efficient.
• Nano-ITX: It works best with thin devices.
• Pico-ITX: It’s an extremely small motherboard with a 3.9 x 2.8 inches dimension size.

Sockets and CPUs

A Central Processing Unit (CPU), also known as a processor is that component of a computer system on which its performance depends. The better the CPU, the faster is the computer.

Back in the day when the computer was a brand-new phenomenon, all CPUs used to have a set of pins called Pin Grid Array (PGA) that could be fixed into the Socket 7 of any motherboard. This meant that any CPU could be connected to any motherboard.

Nowadays, CPUs of neither of the top-notch computer manufacturers like Intel and AMD can be fixed into Socket 7. It’s because the CPUs of the modern era comes packed with an array of features that inevitably need more pins to be fully operative.

Historically, some of the most commonly used sockets of motherboards are Socket 478, Socket 754, Socket 939, Socket 939, Socket AM2, and Socket A. Nowadays, LGA 1200 and AM4 are seen in the newest motherboards. As you may have noticed, the naming of these sockets is often based on the number of pins.

If we talk about the most recent Intel CPU, it has a Land Grid Array (LGA) instead of a PGA. LGA is also called Socket T and what stands it apart from PGA is that in its case, the pins are on the socket rather than on the CPU.

Important Chips, Slots, and Ports

Image source: HP

There are numerous chips, slots, and ports on the motherboard that play a key role to play in its working. Remember that some of these are not used anymore as they have been replaced by better technology:

• The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) chip – monitors the basic functions of the computer and self-test itself whenever you launch it.
• The Real-Time Clock chip – responsible for basic settings and system time.
• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) – provides connection expansion cards like video, sound, and network cards.
• PCIe – A modern version of PCI that supports almost any kind of expansion card.
• Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) – dedicated port for video cards.
• Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) – provides an interface for the hard drives.
• Universal Serial Bus or FireWire – provides a port for peripherals.
• Memory/DIMM slots – connections for memory chips/RAM.
• SATA – connects optical/hard disk/solid-state drives to the computer.
• USB – connects USB connectors like a flash drive.

Chipset

The chipset connects the CPU with the motherboard, thereby acting as a bridge for all the information that has to travel from the CPU to the motherboard or the other way around.

The chipset is made up of two parts – northbridge and the southbridge. The northbridge is in direct connection with the CPU through the front side bus (FSB). The memory controller on the top of the northbridge makes it possible for the CPU to access the memory.

On top of that, northbridge also has a connection with the AGP or PCI Express bus.

The southbridge, on the other hand, is connected to the CPU through the northbridge which explains why it a comparatively slower. Other than that, some buses connect the southbridge to the PCI bus, the USB ports, and the IDE or SATA hard disk connections.

Data Buses

A data bus is a circuit that connects all the parts of the motherboard and hence, controls the flow of information between them. The more the data flows in a given time (speed of the bus), the more productive can the motherboard be for that specific duration.

Bus speed is generally linked with the speed of FSB. Since FSB connects the northbridge with the CPU that in turn, grant CPU access to the memory, FSB can have a considerable effect on the overall functioning of the computer.

There are some other very important buses found on the motherboard:

• Back Side Bus – connects the CPU and the level 2 (L2) cache.
• Memory Bus – connects the northbridge to the memory.
• IDE/ATA Bus – connects the southbridge to the disk drives.
• AGP Bus – connects the video card to the memory and the CPU.
• PCI Bus – connects the PCI slots to the southbridge. A faster alternative to PCI is PCI Express.

Memory

The memory of the computer, more commonly known as random access memory (RAM) has a direct say in how much data can be made available to the system and the speed with which it will travel – the more the RAM, the more the data travels and at a greater speed.

Similar to other components of the computer, RAM fits into the motherboard through a series of pins. Most of the advanced motherboards can fit multiple of such memory chips. However, each memory chip must have the right number of pins corresponding to the slot on the motherboard.

How it All Connects?

So, what happens is that when you switch on your computer? Power is supplied to the motherboard.

As a result, the data starts getting transferred via the data buses to the northbridge and the southbridge of the chipset.

The northbridge imparts data to the CPU, RAM, and PCIe. This prompts the RAM to send inputs to the CPU which considers all these actions as an output. After that, data in the PCIe is fed to your expansion card.

The southbridge imparts data to the BIOS, USB, SATA, and PCI. The data flowing to the BIOS causes your computer to boot up while the signals to the SATA makes your optical, hard disk, and solid-state drives functional.

Finally, data is transferred from the SATA to make your video, network, and sound cards functional, making the operating system all ready for your use.