I started changing out some computer components today, re-vamping my de-ll desktop. I found out de-ll cheated on some of their components, not surprising but disappointing. For those who might not know and are curious… The real computer in a desktop is the “mother board”. On the mother board are the brains of the computer, the “cpu chip”. It relatively small but produces a lot of heat. The cpu chip needs to be cooled independent of the desktop chassis which has its own cooling fan. On top of the cpu is an aluminum heat sink, an aluminum block cut so it has lots of layers/fins. It functions like a radiator in a car. The heatsink absorbs heat from the chip. A fan mounted on top of the heat sink cools the heatsink, just like the fan on your car engine that cools the radiator.
The people who design and make cpu chips also specify how much “cooling” it needs to keep it operating within a specified temperature range. The people who make heatsinks w/fans design them to cool a cpu chip within that range.
DE-LL cheated, they had thinner heat sinks installed on the cpu chips so the chip still operated within the specified range but at the higher end of that range. This would shorten the life span of the cpu chip. But there was a double whammy! Though thinner, these heatsinks had more fins. To be fair this would technically allow for more cooling in a pristine setting with heavily filtered air which was cooled to a very constant temperature.
But, the average home is not a pristine setting. Its air is not heavily filtered nor is it at a constant temperature. De-LL knows this, they are selling millions of desktops to private homes knowing the air is dirtier and sometimes very warm.
If they wanted a desktop to last a long time, they would have provided extra cooling to the cpu chip not less. The double whammy is extra fins which are closer together. They trap dust far more easily and then clog up faster providing less cooling and shortening the life span of the cpu even more. This is just cheap dirty tricks by a big company who wants to sell computers more often to the same people. grumble, grumble #$%!
How do I know they did this? Mostly experience but I installed a new heatsink w/fan on my cpu chip today. The old heatsink was getting badly clogged. It was made by the same people who designed the chip, Intel. This was the heatsink w/fan De-LL should have installed on the cpu chips in all the desktops they sold that year.
It’s slightly thicker (has more mass), a few less fins (they won’t clog easily) and a more powerful fan to move more air and cool the heatsink better. This heatsink and fan is designed to keep the cpu temperature in the middle of its operating range thus giving it a longer life span.
Personally, I know how dusty homes are. Every 6 months or so I pull the cover off my desktop, blow out and vacuum all the dust in the tower. I also take a dental tool and clean between the heatsink fins as best I can (but I can never get all the crud out). But it still p#$% me off when I catch a company cheating like this.
Anyway, the one thing most people can to keep their desktop running longer is blow out the dust from the tower. 2nd, if handy with a screwdriver, if crud is building up on the fan surfaces or heat sink, replace them. I've seen a lot of desktops die an early death from nothing but a little dust.
New heat sink follow by the old one...
The people who design and make cpu chips also specify how much “cooling” it needs to keep it operating within a specified temperature range. The people who make heatsinks w/fans design them to cool a cpu chip within that range.
DE-LL cheated, they had thinner heat sinks installed on the cpu chips so the chip still operated within the specified range but at the higher end of that range. This would shorten the life span of the cpu chip. But there was a double whammy! Though thinner, these heatsinks had more fins. To be fair this would technically allow for more cooling in a pristine setting with heavily filtered air which was cooled to a very constant temperature.
But, the average home is not a pristine setting. Its air is not heavily filtered nor is it at a constant temperature. De-LL knows this, they are selling millions of desktops to private homes knowing the air is dirtier and sometimes very warm.
If they wanted a desktop to last a long time, they would have provided extra cooling to the cpu chip not less. The double whammy is extra fins which are closer together. They trap dust far more easily and then clog up faster providing less cooling and shortening the life span of the cpu even more. This is just cheap dirty tricks by a big company who wants to sell computers more often to the same people. grumble, grumble #$%!
How do I know they did this? Mostly experience but I installed a new heatsink w/fan on my cpu chip today. The old heatsink was getting badly clogged. It was made by the same people who designed the chip, Intel. This was the heatsink w/fan De-LL should have installed on the cpu chips in all the desktops they sold that year.
It’s slightly thicker (has more mass), a few less fins (they won’t clog easily) and a more powerful fan to move more air and cool the heatsink better. This heatsink and fan is designed to keep the cpu temperature in the middle of its operating range thus giving it a longer life span.
Personally, I know how dusty homes are. Every 6 months or so I pull the cover off my desktop, blow out and vacuum all the dust in the tower. I also take a dental tool and clean between the heatsink fins as best I can (but I can never get all the crud out). But it still p#$% me off when I catch a company cheating like this.
Anyway, the one thing most people can to keep their desktop running longer is blow out the dust from the tower. 2nd, if handy with a screwdriver, if crud is building up on the fan surfaces or heat sink, replace them. I've seen a lot of desktops die an early death from nothing but a little dust.
New heat sink follow by the old one...
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