I never considered cooling important enough in my first few PC builds, trusting cheap cases and stock coolers, and never looking at the CPU temps or fan curves. This approach might have worked for some of the earlier CPUs I used — Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD FX-6300, and even the Ryzen 5 1600. However, I later regretted not caring enough about PC cooling. The PCs I have built would have been so much better had I known some of the basics about cases, case fans, coolers, and thermal paste.

5 More fans alone don't equal better cooling

It's what you do with them that matters

Installing fans in every slot on your case might seem like the right thing to do — it did to me — but the configuration of your fans is more important than the number of fans on your PC. Generally, you'd want to go for positive air pressure inside the case, which most builders achieve with 2–3 front intake fans and 1–2 exhaust fans. If you have an AIO radiator at the top, you can skip the rear exhaust fan.

As long as all of your fans aren't conflicting with each other, you'll have a seamless airflow path inside your PC. Many times, using fewer silent, high-quality case fans is better than installing a greater number of cheaper fans — you get better thermals and noise levels, and might even save a few bucks. A mini-ITX case, for instance, will benefit from fans with high static pressure instead of those with high airflow. Depending on your build, the type of fans you use is an important consideration.

4 Balance of noise and thermals matters more than cooling performance

No one likes a noisy rig

I realized pretty late that I didn't have to live with a noisy PC. The fan behavior that I assumed was normal for a gaming PC was simply a result of ignored fan curves. Today, I care more about a silent PC than achieving the lowest temps possible. Even if my CPU temps are in the 50s at idle, I don't care as long as I get to enjoy a whisper-silent PC. And tuning my fan curves is what helps me do that.

The default fan curves on most systems aren't ideal. They make your fans too fast and loud for no reason, and setting custom fan curves in the BIOS or with a program like Fan Control is part of PC building 101. You can set your CPU fans and case fans to ramp up gradually with increasing load, so that you never need to put up with sudden bursts. This balance between decent temps and capped fan noise keeps your PC from overheating without making it sound like it's from the 2000s.

3 I should have spent more on a better case

Case closed? I wish I could have

Your case fans and fan curves will be helpless without a case with good airflow. Not only do you need a case with ample room but also plenty of mesh panels for fresh air intake. This is what I failed to do with most of my older PCs. The cases I was using had minimal air intake from the front, and nothing from the side or bottom. One of them just had a single pre-installed front fan that I never bothered to replace.

Besides, it also had terrible cable management features (or lack thereof) which created a cable jungle inside the PC, further obstructing the airflow. Overspending on the case isn't good advice, but skimping on it isn't the right choice either. You need to spend enough so that you get at least a front mesh panel, plenty of space for your components to breathe, enough fan and radiator slots, and a decent number of cable management features like cable routing channels and mounting points, cable sleeves, and removable panels (if possible).

2 Stock CPU coolers are fine, but not for everyone

To each his own

Stock coolers might be all you need, depending on who you ask. If you're running an entry-level or budget processor with a low TDP, and you don't care about having the best thermals or noise levels, then you don't need to spend on an aftermarket cooler. On the other hand, anyone who's building a gaming PC or workstation needs to replace the stock CPU cooler, if their CPU even comes with one in the first place.

After all, the best air coolers don't cost that much — the Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE costs only around $35, and offers phenomenal performance. At that price, replacing the stock cooler becomes a no-brainer. I used the stock cooler with my Ryzen 5 1600 for years before replacing it with a cheap Cooler Master cooler, and even that was a huge improvement.

AIO liquid coolers might not offer drastically better thermals in most cases, but they're still worth it for their unique esthetics and improved noise levels. Plus, they don't end up blocking half of your PC from view, so that's a bonus for many builders.

1 High-end thermal paste isn't all it's cracked up to be

A few degrees aren't changing anything

I was excited about buying an aftermarket thermal paste, eagerly looking forward to much-improved thermals on my CPU. To my surprise, however, the Arctic MX-4 that I bought to replace the Cooler Master MasterGel Pro performed essentially the same — a 2–3℃ drop wasn't worth all the hassle. Even if you consider the Arctic MX-6 or Noctua NT-H2, the story plays out the same.

High-end thermal paste might have a higher consistency, last longer, and be easier to apply, but its cooling performance doesn't break any records compared to the cheaper brands (or even the stock paste in most cases). The time I wasted disassembling the CPU cooler, cleaning the older thermal paste, applying the new one, and reinstalling the cooler could have been saved had I known I wouldn't be shaving off more than a few degrees from the CPU temps.

Cooling your PC doesn't have to be complicated

For most gamers and professionals, PC cooling is simple. When choosing your components, you need to pick a case with decent airflow, replace your stock cooler with an affordable one, configure our case fans and fan curves once, and ignore high-end thermal paste. And that's all you need for a PC with a balance of cooling performance and low noise levels. You don't even need a liquid cooler for most CPUs these days, and replacing the thermal paste is necessary only after 3 years (at the minimum).