Heat-dissipative performance of heat sink in desktop PC

This paper presents different test conditions intended to investigate the factor of heat-dissipative performance of heat sinks in desktop PC. For this study, three test factors, such as thermal-interface materials (TIMs), static load between heat sink and central processing unit (CPU), and fan speed have been selected. Experimental results indicate that TIMs have a major impact on the heat-dissipative performance; the effective temperature-reducing ratio of the CPU simulator was reached by as much as 43.8%. From experimental results, we conclude that the most efficient solution for the CPU heat problem is to simplify the attachment mechanism between the CPU and heat sink so as to ensure the effectiveness of the TIMs between their surfaces. This solution is simpler and more economical than improving heat the sink fins.