Over the past few years, the general awareness about the importance of PC cooling has grown by leaps and bounds. It's not just enthusiasts who take their CPU coolers and case fans seriously now; the average gamer is more aware of the unprecedented cooling requirements of modern PC hardware. However, myths about PC fans still hold back many PCs from achieving the best performance, temperatures, and noise levels.

With fish tank cases still extremely popular among new builders, it's quite common to cram the case with fans and run them at 100% speed without caring about fan placement. It's myths like these that end up hurting the performance of your gaming PC. Let's see how to avoid leaving cooling performance on the table, and get a more silent PC without hurting your temps.

5 The more fans the better

Less can sometimes be more

It sounds wise on the surface — the more fans you install, the more air you can get inside your PC. However, what matters more than the number of fans is the fan placement. Simply filling up all the fan slots inside the PC will not bring down your system temps by itself. You also need to keep positive pressure in mind and avoid turbulent air from disrupting optimal cooling inside the case.

A case with positive pressure means you have more air coming into the system than going out of the system. This is usually achieved by installing more intake fans than exhaust fans, with most users relying on 2 to 3 fans for intake, and 1 to 2 for exhaust. Avoiding turbulent air means you're not installing fans in a way that results in conflicting airflow — the intake and exhaust fans should work in synergy to create a seamless airflow path.

Lastly, the type of case fans matter much more than the number of fans. For instance, if you're working with a small case, a few fans with high static pressure can perform better than more fans with high airflow.

4 Fan noise is inevitable

Performance and noise need to be balanced

Many users believe that their PCs sounding like industrial fans under heavy load is normal. For one, that's what the fans are there for — to run as fast as possible and keep the PC from overheating. The thing is, however, that your PC doesn't have to sound noisy, barring a few extreme workloads. Even in heavy gaming, you can strike a good balance between performance and noise levels using optimized fan curves.

Even if you have, say, 6 intake fans and 3 exhaust fans (a common configuration), you can use Fan Control to allow your fans to ramp up only as much as you want while keeping temps under control. One could argue that fan noise doesn't matter as much while gaming with headphones on, but not everyone does that. If you want to enjoy a silent system without letting your temps become a concern, setting the right fan curves is indispensable.

New PC builders are especially susceptible to this myth — fans on newly assembled PCs often run at full speed by default. Inexperienced users might consider the behavior normal, and continue using the PC in the same state.

3 Fans perform best at full-blast

Sounds right, but it doesn't work that way

Some users might configure their fan curves for silent operation in idle conditions but prefer to run them at full blast when gaming. The logic at play here is that the faster a fan runs, the more air it pulls in, and the better it cools the components. The catch, however, is that running all your fans too fast ends up hurting the cooling performance.

This is because cool air needs enough time inside the case before being ejected out. The hottest areas inside your PC, such as the CPU cooler heatsink and the GPU shroud, need sufficient contact with the incoming air for optimal heat transfer. If both your intake and exhaust fans always run at near-100% speed, it creates airflow that is simply passing through the PC without doing its job.

Exceptions to this are your CPU and GPU fans — you should allow them to gradually reach their maximum RPM as the CPU or GPU temperature increases. The rest of the case fans, however, should be configured to run at a speed where you're comfortable with the noise. Personally, I keep my case fans under 60% even during heavy gaming, with the CPU and GPU fans running more aggressively. Other downsides of always running your fans at 100% speed are greater wear and tear and increased dust collection inside the case.

2 Fan configuration doesn't matter if you have enough airflow

It isn't an either-or situation

This is yet another myth that could be keeping your CPU temperature unnecessarily high. Despite enough air coming into the case, you could end up with sub-par cooling if the case fans aren't positioned right. Optimal fan configuration is crucial to creating unobstructed airflow inside the case. Your intake and exhaust fans should be installed in such a way that they work together, not against each other.

This can mean several things. First, you shouldn't install both front and side intake fans together, since air from both directions will create a disruption instead of working in synergy. Second, bottom intake fans work better with top exhaust fans since they can together create a vertical column of air ejecting hot air from above the case.

Third, a rear exhaust fan isn't always necessary if you already have top exhaust fans, usually in the form of AIO radiator fans. Even if you only have a handful of fans in the case, a well-thought-out configuration can result in a cool and silent PC. Of course, fan curves need to be optimized as well to achieve that, but the foundation is still a balanced number of fans installed strategically.

1 Default fan curves are good enough

It'd be swell if they were

​​​​​​​The default fan curves in the BIOS/UEFI or even in motherboard software aren't always the best. You can find silent, standard, and performance modes in these programs, but they simply can't replicate the optimum curves for every PC out there. You need to spend some time optimizing your fan curves if you want the best performance-noise combo for your PC.

The default curves might feel fine for a few days or weeks on a new system, but you'll soon feel the need to tweak them to reduce system noise or increase cooling performance. This is why tools like Fan Control are so powerful — you can not only set individual fan curves for every fan but also set them to function together based on various parameters. Most importantly, you can set case fans to operate based on the CPU or GPU temperature instead of the default temperature sensor.

The more time you spend with your new PC, the better you'll get at dialing in the right fan curves for the performance that works best for you. You might prefer a whisper-silent PC or one with slightly faster & noisier but more performant fans. It's all about creating the PC experience you're comfortable with for the long term.

For the fans

The role of fans on a gaming PC can't be overstated. They're responsible for keeping your powerful components performing at their peak. The right fan placement and fan curves further refine the kind of cooling performance you can expect. A balance between performance and noise is what most users target, especially when playing demanding games.

Common myths surrounding PC fans can prevent you from achieving the ideal airflow and performance on your PC. Once you're aware of the ones you believe in, you can go about making amends to your fan configuration, fan curves, and maybe even the type of fans to remove any barriers to peak performance on your gaming PC.