Fans are taboo because so few know how to implement them well. Common mistakes are made such as thinking use of a small fan is better, or a thin one, or trying to do some complex thing which is entirely unnecessary.
Basic tips for easy fan use:
- Keep RPM under 1,000, by combination of fan model and voltage level
- use a thick(er) fan whenever possible and at least 60mm, preferribly 80mm.
- Thermal control is not important. Proper fan implementation will be silent, and choosing a quality fan means it will run for 20 years. A fan can run at a fixed speed with no good reason to get more elaborate in most cases. Do not be deterred because someone tries to make things more difficult than they are, some "hypothetical" ideals are more hypothetical than realized, benefit. The one issue with fans is use in very dusty environments, particularly if used for whole-chassis cooling or with fine-tinned 'sinks, it will require a periodic maintenance (clean out dust).
- Yate Loon are often low quality fans. They require relubrication and are often so off-balance that they need special isolation. Many off-brand fans need this, but most good quality major brands don't. Wwhat any fan needs is an isolated power source to keep the noise off the chip power rails.
The benefits of a properly implemented fan are real, particularly when it is set up to move air through whole chassis, not just in/out of the 'sink. Only using it for the 'sink cooling is a bit of a waste of the secondary benefits.
- Lower chip temp
- Cooler running transformer
- Cooler running capacitors, diodes, etc. (lifespan increase)
- Smaller heatsink
- Smaller chassis
- Did somebody say Class A? More amp options easily attainable.
- Lower total amp cost
It's your amp, I'm not trying to convince anyone to use a fan but for all the very real benefits it is seen far too seldom, and so for a moment I took devil's advocate position even though my next amp probably won't have one.
Basic tips for easy fan use:
- Keep RPM under 1,000, by combination of fan model and voltage level
- use a thick(er) fan whenever possible and at least 60mm, preferribly 80mm.
- Thermal control is not important. Proper fan implementation will be silent, and choosing a quality fan means it will run for 20 years. A fan can run at a fixed speed with no good reason to get more elaborate in most cases. Do not be deterred because someone tries to make things more difficult than they are, some "hypothetical" ideals are more hypothetical than realized, benefit. The one issue with fans is use in very dusty environments, particularly if used for whole-chassis cooling or with fine-tinned 'sinks, it will require a periodic maintenance (clean out dust).
- Yate Loon are often low quality fans. They require relubrication and are often so off-balance that they need special isolation. Many off-brand fans need this, but most good quality major brands don't. Wwhat any fan needs is an isolated power source to keep the noise off the chip power rails.
The benefits of a properly implemented fan are real, particularly when it is set up to move air through whole chassis, not just in/out of the 'sink. Only using it for the 'sink cooling is a bit of a waste of the secondary benefits.
- Lower chip temp
- Cooler running transformer
- Cooler running capacitors, diodes, etc. (lifespan increase)
- Smaller heatsink
- Smaller chassis
- Did somebody say Class A? More amp options easily attainable.
- Lower total amp cost
It's your amp, I'm not trying to convince anyone to use a fan but for all the very real benefits it is seen far too seldom, and so for a moment I took devil's advocate position even though my next amp probably won't have one.
Just another note to add: DC fans can crank out a ton of noise due to brushes. If properly designed, your amp should be immune to this, but AC fans will minimize that noise since they don't have brushes (woohoo!). If you can use an AC fan, I would highly recommend you use these over DC fans in noise sensitive applications. Again, I am not saying that DC fan noise will goof up an amp, just that you can eliminate this noise source quite easily and avoid the possibility (and it means you don't have put in a separate DC psu just for fans)
dfdye said:
A wall-wart can be had for next to nothing these days, and it's often not hard to strip them down and attach them to the power transformer's primary.
I, however, offer a quieter, better-performing solution:
Watercooling.
It's been in use for years with PCs; why not give it a shot? A simple waterblock can be made out of a bit of copper scrap with some grooves cut into it; thin copper pipe makes for a dandy high-flow waterblock.
Overkill, but I agree it is really cool! (Edit: Sorry for the pun.Spasticteapot said:
It was totally spontaneous and I didn't even notice it until I posted.)Also, I was more referring to electrical noise generated by brushes than audible noise, just for the record. I think my post was a little ambiguous on that. Sorry for the confusion.
Which specific brands were you thinking of? Yate loon does not make Delta, NMB, Sunon, Panasonic, Papst, Nidec, Sanyo, Comair. These are the majority of the best names. It is sometimes true that you get what you pay for but the fan market is so varied, it's quite easy to get a top-quality fan as a surplus part for quite cheap.
No typical DC fan you'd see [used in an amp, or a computer, or most any small fan without need for high-torque], has brushes. There is no need for AC fans and they might be a hard choice in some cases because the amount of control (easily obtained) over their speed is quite limited. If your use makes the default speed of an AC fan acceptible, it would do fine but for electrical or directly audible noise reduction/prevention they aren't necessary.
It's quite simple to isolate a fan and provide good control over it's speed simultaneously. Put it behind a linear regulator (such as LM317) in current-limiting mode. Current limiting mode is superior to voltage limiting mode due to the way the fan would pulsate with only voltage limitation, ie- it allows a lower quiet RPM IF you are trying for the lowest RPM possible. If you have another need then an appropriate filter can be used, per application, but the main thing is to never put one directly parallel to either (or both) of the supply rails used for other sensitive components.
Touche. I guess I am still thinking old school.! said:
Yea, but with an AC fan all you have to do is plug it into the power before the transformer. You should be able to buy the speed/size that you need before hand and avoid speed control issues altogether. I know you can use a celing fan speed control from the hardware store if you really have to adjust the speed of the fan, but I have no idea how noisy those are.
Anyway, I'm not trying to start a debate, just adding my suggestion. Besides, I hate fans!
In practice the issue is most often the speed control, that one often cannot choose (find) an AC fan that has sufficiently low RPM. Take an 80mm x 25mm fan, one of the most common sizes... where can you get one that is spec'd for 800 RPM? Key is implementation, that a fan can be used but to be used in such a way to avoid the most common detractions- noise, short(er) lifespan and shorter service intervals. Towards this end, getting a fan to turn as slowly as (reliably) possible is a good goal. AC fans just don't facilitate that.
There are many types of AC fans, with a ceiling fan you are starting with a different motor and a different RPM range. It's also bulky, more expensive than just throwing a 50 cent regulator plus 5 cent resistor in. Ac fans don't really have any benefits over DC fans in most low-flow situations, rather than the more obvious benefit that they're used where there is no DC supply at all to step down from. If you put an AC fan in a case, if you didnt isolate it somehow too, then you have that noise on the AC line local to the amp.
Anyway, I'm not trying to start a debate, just adding my suggestion. Besides, I hate fans!
Normally I wouldn't mention fans at all, but in this thread, it only seems appropriate as they are on the CPU coolers and without a fan, a typical CPU cooler is a bit marginal in size unless the builder only wants a lower wattage chipamp. Funny how we always assume if a chip can do 60W then everyone "should" be designing towards 60W rather than the target use. How often do you hear anyone claim it might be ok to use a 50VA transformer and 2200uF caps?
Without revisiting the AC/DC fan issue (about which I am sure we can respectfully disagree), I coincidentally am using 2200uF caps in my LM3886's, Also conicidentally, I am powering this righ with two 80VAC torroids that I am probably going to drop to one if all tests work out right. But this is more than slightly off topic, so I will elaborate in other threads where appropriate!! said:
Oh, and to get back on topic, I have both of my chips cooled by old school Pentium 133 passive heat sinks (you know the funky little blue ones?) They are more than adequate without any active cooling, even when running the amp full out. I am honestly not seeing why you are referring to these as being marginal. What CPU coolers are you using that aren't hacking it running passively? I figure if those old simple sinks can hack it than anything that is available today has to have a much higher capacity. If there is a design that you are using, have used, or have tested that is not sufficient, please let us know so that it can be avoided.
David
dfdye said:
There are a lot of funky blue heatsinks out there in the wild, I'd have to see a picture of the 'sink with something common beside it for scale. Even then, It goes back to what I wrote about output, that some aren't going to run at near 1/3 output. If a 'sink is designed to be passive, it is an exception in today's CPU 'sinks and may be more appropriate (if large enough), since it was originally designed for the task, tends to have lower density fin/pin grouping. Where it is mounted (entirely internal to a case with low passive ventilation perhaps) is another variable. Even whether the chip uses the isolated casing and the 'sink can be mechanically 'sunk to the metal case/suppport or must be further isolated from chassis ground instead, can matter.
How hot do you want to let a chip get if it can be avoided? A bit of subjectivism there since some take the textbook "it says X degrees so I'm under that" and others hit some lower figure whether valid or arbitrary, or at least think they do but I don't recall too many people reporting back temp measurements taken of their chipamp cased, in use, rather than only what it sounds like. Most electronics that fail early due to heat, will of course be working until they fail else they wouldn't have been turned on for the use. Even a low quality 20 year old amp might work today if it's failure points are addressed but until a design has aged, it is more difficult to know if a $200 (random figure) amp would work 5 years or 35.
Essentially too many variables for a cut-n-dry "cpu 'sink passive is ok" declaration, rather than ignoring the 'sink was from a computer and just looking at it's C/W as implemented. Each builder can do it themselves and decide.
The manufacturer data sheet is always a good place to start. (hint: P17 of the LM3886 sheet is almost entirely dedicated to the subject. Here's the URL to get you started. http://www.national.com/search/search.cgi/main?keywords=lm3886 )! said:
BTW, pictures of the dinky blue heat sink in comparison to some household objects are on their way. Also, even with tight fin spacing, modern CPU heat sinks work rather well as passive coolers as long as the fins are vertical and convection is allowed to do its thing (Yea Physics!!)
As always, YMMV, but chipamps are really rather easy to cool. Get a big hunk of aluminum and you are 9/10ths of the way there. . . .
Why are we arguing about this again?
If you get thermal shutdown, get a better sink. If not. . .Still waiting for the sinks that you have used that don't work. Pictures aren't really necessiary, just descriptions will be fine.
dfdye said:
Of course, a place to start but never the final answer as they are always max values, (typically) towards a guaranteed lifetime projection that is all too often, far far below the desired lifetime of the device. There is no way I'd settle for near 165C on an LM3866, nor anywhere near the max datasheet temp for any other parts in the case such as caps, diodes, transformer, etc.
Big hunk, yes, especially when mounted to more metal. Relatively speaking they are not hard to cool, but like any easily cooled device there is still the possiblity to choose an insufficient 'sink that results in hotter running, shorter life.
Why are we arguing about this again?
This is where we disagree. I'm not interested in running any device so hot it (has potential to) shuts down to save itself from destruction. If there is any remote doubt I measure the temp. Of course the die temp cannot be taken so the casing thermal figures are used to inflate the extra-case temp.
Nothing fancy, they were typical midsized socket 7 'sinks. Chip was not shutting down to prevent self destruction, but I didn't "try" to force that with increased volume either. We just have completely different perspectives on heat removal, I don't "redline" anything unless it's a real drag race.
Variac said:
You can dissipate over 150 watts of heat with a basic-model waterblock.
On the topic of CPU heatsinks:
1. These things dissipate TONS of heat. A Pentium-4 heatsink, which usually has tons of fins and is made of copper, will cool a gainclone just fine. They dissipate huge amounts of heat. (Heck, Zalman even makes passive CPU coolers.)
2. Get a good one, if you can. A Thermalright XP-120, while pricey, can dissipate very large amounts of heat when actively cooled; Zalman HSF's (get one for Socket 370 or 423, so it'll be cheap) do a nice job passively.
3. Use a fan. A good (120$) 120mm Panaflo brushless dual-ball-bearing fan running at 7.2 volts produces nearly no noise, and lots of airflow.
4. Use a discrete (wall-wart?) power supply.
Stop being ninnies. Just find something between 7 and 9 volts with 200ma or more of current. Dead easy.
5. Watercooling is easy.
All you need to do, really, is cut some channels into a bit of copper sheet about 1cm thick. Cover it with a piece of polycarbonate or plexiglass to which you attach the in and out barbs, and use a gasket cut out of some gasket rubber from the hardware store. Then, wire up an aquarium pump (10$ for a cheap Via Aqua), a small plastic tub for a resivoir, and some copper tubing or an old heatercore from a car as a radiator. It's not hard to do.
6. Submersive cooling:
Canola oil conducts electricty almost as badly as air. Just fill your case with the stuff, and throw in a small pump and some copper fins for heat dissipation. Presto! Noiseless, cheap liquid cooling! (Plus, you never have to worry about leaks).
7. Heatpipes:
For all you ninnies who are afraid of filling your computers with water or cooking oil, heatpipe-based CPU coolers work very nicely at dissipating heat. The trick is finding one.
8. Zalman heatpipe cases:
Although I'm not sure if they're made anymore, Zalman made a case which could passively cool a pentium 4 based system by using the case as a gargantuan heatsink. You could cool about a dozen gainclones with ease if you spaced 'em out right.
I hate to say this, but y'alls are WAY behind the world of computing. Small (computer) heatsinks can dissipate huge amounts of heat.
canola oil doesn't conduct heat close to as well as water does..not even close.....
Its easier than you state to make a waterblock. Grey Rollins cools his Aleph with his MOSFETs bolted to a 1/8" copper plate to which he has soldered a length of 1/2" home copper pipe. Then pumps water through the tube to the radiator.
The problem in a computer is that there is a cpu chip putting out a moderate amount heat from a very small area. It needs to be moved as efficiently as possibly away from the chip. This is different that a big audio amp which generally is giving off a lot more heat but from a less concentrated source.
In the case of a chip amp , the amp is running in class AB which doesn't give off that much heat... A reasonably sized heatsink easily can handle that amount of heat, so why complicate things with a fan or with water cooling? Possibly because you need a powerful chip amp in a very small case, but that's not normally needed. So I think thats a big point that people are making here. Water cooling is just silly in this case- unless you want to because well, you want to !- which is just fine. In fact the image of 4 square CPU heatsinks arrangened to look like a 4 barrel carb appeals to me!
In an amp generally the heat isn't as concentrated in such a small area, the noise of a fan and a pump are more of an annoyance, because, the point of amp is good sound with a decent noise floor.
So I dispute that the computer folks are so advanced, they just have different requirements, and noise isn't generally as much of an issue.
So now , if you want to discuss a large class A amp like a Pass Labs Aleph then you have cooling problems. They give off hundreds of watts of heat, really, like 600 watts! and just the heatsinks can cost hundreds of dollars.
With them fan and or water cooling could be a big help. With water cooling it is important to remember that once you have the heat in the water you have to get it out of the water. For this you need a radiator- a radiator with at least as much fin area as you would have if you just had fins on the amp itself. The cooling setup for a computer isn't even close to what is needed.
Soo, it could work if you have a place for a 2' by 2' radiator, and the radiator, tubes, pump and maybe a fan for the radiator all cost less than the couple of hundred the fins would cost. And the fan isn't noisy. The advantage is mostly that is is really cheap to get a radiator in a junkyard, and the block can be cheaply made as I mentioned above..and maybe a quiet pump is available at a surplus place.
If you make the radiator big enough, and the tubes also, and mount the radiator above the amp, then the hot water wll rise into the radiator without a pump and then circulate down when it cools, a thermo-syphon. With a big radiator and enough ventilation the fan might not be needed .
But you either hang the radiator above your amp (only if you aren't married) or hide it in a box which probably requires a fan, so you still have an incredible amount of space wasted- maybe more than the heatsinks would have used if you had just used them....
Its easier than you state to make a waterblock. Grey Rollins cools his Aleph with his MOSFETs bolted to a 1/8" copper plate to which he has soldered a length of 1/2" home copper pipe. Then pumps water through the tube to the radiator.
The problem in a computer is that there is a cpu chip putting out a moderate amount heat from a very small area. It needs to be moved as efficiently as possibly away from the chip. This is different that a big audio amp which generally is giving off a lot more heat but from a less concentrated source.
In the case of a chip amp , the amp is running in class AB which doesn't give off that much heat... A reasonably sized heatsink easily can handle that amount of heat, so why complicate things with a fan or with water cooling? Possibly because you need a powerful chip amp in a very small case, but that's not normally needed. So I think thats a big point that people are making here. Water cooling is just silly in this case- unless you want to because well, you want to !- which is just fine. In fact the image of 4 square CPU heatsinks arrangened to look like a 4 barrel carb appeals to me!
In an amp generally the heat isn't as concentrated in such a small area, the noise of a fan and a pump are more of an annoyance, because, the point of amp is good sound with a decent noise floor.
So I dispute that the computer folks are so advanced, they just have different requirements, and noise isn't generally as much of an issue.
So now , if you want to discuss a large class A amp like a Pass Labs Aleph then you have cooling problems. They give off hundreds of watts of heat, really, like 600 watts! and just the heatsinks can cost hundreds of dollars.
With them fan and or water cooling could be a big help. With water cooling it is important to remember that once you have the heat in the water you have to get it out of the water. For this you need a radiator- a radiator with at least as much fin area as you would have if you just had fins on the amp itself. The cooling setup for a computer isn't even close to what is needed.
Soo, it could work if you have a place for a 2' by 2' radiator, and the radiator, tubes, pump and maybe a fan for the radiator all cost less than the couple of hundred the fins would cost. And the fan isn't noisy. The advantage is mostly that is is really cheap to get a radiator in a junkyard, and the block can be cheaply made as I mentioned above..and maybe a quiet pump is available at a surplus place.
If you make the radiator big enough, and the tubes also, and mount the radiator above the amp, then the hot water wll rise into the radiator without a pump and then circulate down when it cools, a thermo-syphon. With a big radiator and enough ventilation the fan might not be needed .
But you either hang the radiator above your amp (only if you aren't married) or hide it in a box which probably requires a fan, so you still have an incredible amount of space wasted- maybe more than the heatsinks would have used if you had just used them....
Variac said:canola oil doesn't conduct heat close to as well as water does..not even close.....
Its easier than you state to make a waterblock. Grey Rollins cools his Aleph with his MOSFETs bolted to a 1/8" copper plate to which he has soldered a length of 1/2" home copper pipe. Then pumps water through the tube to the radiator.
The problem in a computer is that there is a cpu chip putting out a moderate amount heat from a very small area. It needs to be moved as efficiently as possibly away from the chip. This is different that a big audio amp which generally is giving off a lot more heat but from a less concentrated source.
In the case of a chip amp , the amp is running in class AB which doesn't give off that much heat... A reasonably sized heatsink easily can handle that amount of heat, so why complicate things with a fan or with water cooling? Possibly because you need a powerful chip amp in a very small case, but that's not normally needed. So I think thats a big point that people are making here. Water cooling is just silly in this case- unless you want to because well, you want to !- which is just fine. In fact the image of 4 square CPU heatsinks arrangened to look like a 4 barrel carb appeals to me!
In an amp generally the heat isn't as concentrated in such a small area, the noise of a fan and a pump are more of an annoyance, because, the point of amp is good sound with a decent noise floor.
So I dispute that the computer folks are so advanced, they just have different requirements, and noise isn't generally as much of an issue.
So now , if you want to discuss a large class A amp like a Pass Labs Aleph then you have cooling problems. They give off hundreds of watts of heat, really, like 600 watts! and just the heatsinks can cost hundreds of dollars.
With them fan and or water cooling could be a big help. With water cooling it is important to remember that once you have the heat in the water you have to get it out of the water. For this you need a radiator- a radiator with at least as much fin area as you would have if you just had fins on the amp itself. The cooling setup for a computer isn't even close to what is needed.
Soo, it could work if you have a place for a 2' by 2' radiator, and the radiator, tubes, pump and maybe a fan for the radiator all cost less than the couple of hundred the fins would cost. And the fan isn't noisy. The advantage is mostly that is is really cheap to get a radiator in a junkyard, and the block can be cheaply made as I mentioned above..and maybe a quiet pump is available at a surplus place.
If you make the radiator big enough, and the tubes also, and mount the radiator above the amp, then the hot water wll rise into the radiator without a pump and then circulate down when it cools, a thermo-syphon. With a big radiator and enough ventilation the fan might not be needed .
But you either hang the radiator above your amp (only if you aren't married) or hide it in a box which probably requires a fan, so you still have an incredible amount of space wasted- maybe more than the heatsinks would have used if you had just used them....
First, I was suggesting the waterblock for a class-A amp. Those put out tons of heat.
Secondly, the "copper tube" method is much less efficient than using channels in the copper itself. Look at Danger Den's or Little River's waterblocks; they all work this way. (That, and they're easier to make; all you really need is a drill press and some time.)
Secondly, radiators don't need to be as large as you think. An actively cooled 8" radiator can dissipate the heat produced by a dual-core Opteron processor; I've seen watercooling setups crammed into Shuttle XPC's the size of toasters.
Lastly, the "oil submersive cooling" attempt works very well for one simple reason: You've got so darned much of the stuff. Having copper strips with half in the oil and half out will dissipate a lot of heat. (I've seen top-of-the-line systems cooled in this manner with NO FANS AT ALL, including on the graphics card.)
Also, I've yet to see a good "thermal siphon" watercooling system. A cheapie pump is the way to go.
Clearly we agree that this makes the most sense for Class A
I'm pretty sure the method I mentioned will be easier for some to make waterblocks. Perhaps your way will work better for others. Again I am only quoting someone, but he has in fact made waterblocks in this way and has used them and they work very well on an Aleph class A amp by his report.
Ok an 8" square radiator WITH a fan can cool a dual core CPU
A dual core CPU doesn't put out anywhere near 600 watts obviously, 150 watts max I'd think, correct me if I'm wrong...Then we're talking about a 16" x 16" radiator AND still using a fan for 600 watts.
The point is that you can move heat around, but at some point you havee to get rid of it. Insteat of a radiator I have heard of people using buried pipe or water from a fishpond.
A case filled with oil will need to radiate the heat to not eventually get hot. In the situation you described, the outer case is acting like a large heat sink, Admittedly if the computer is used for a limited time then the oil would have time to cool before overheating while it is switched off.
I'm pretty sure the method I mentioned will be easier for some to make waterblocks. Perhaps your way will work better for others. Again I am only quoting someone, but he has in fact made waterblocks in this way and has used them and they work very well on an Aleph class A amp by his report.
Ok an 8" square radiator WITH a fan can cool a dual core CPU
A dual core CPU doesn't put out anywhere near 600 watts obviously, 150 watts max I'd think, correct me if I'm wrong...Then we're talking about a 16" x 16" radiator AND still using a fan for 600 watts.
The point is that you can move heat around, but at some point you havee to get rid of it. Insteat of a radiator I have heard of people using buried pipe or water from a fishpond.
A case filled with oil will need to radiate the heat to not eventually get hot. In the situation you described, the outer case is acting like a large heat sink, Admittedly if the computer is used for a limited time then the oil would have time to cool before overheating while it is switched off.
That's what the copper fins are for; they'd act as a radiator.Variac said:
Secondly, although CPUs only put out about 150 watts maximum, you must consider that you can actually disperse a lot more heat if the temperature difference is greater; a computer CPU will often run at 45 degrees tops, while a class-A amp can do a minimum of 60. Also, it's traditional to use a heatercore from an old car (VW's are supposed to work nicely); these dissipate monstrous amounts of heat, and are cheap enough that two can be used.
An intercooler or chiller is a possible option, too. Peltiers, providing you don't saturate 'em (read: use MASSIVE waterblocks) can help dissipate more heat; a chiller on the resivoir can also help.
Being quite a PC modding fan, I have done a fair bit of reading into the topic, and basicaly its not just the rate at which water can absorb heat but also the rate at which it will transfer it, thats important. I saw a number of side by side tests with difirent liquids, and waters wins outright.
PC modding is a great source for nicely packaged small radiator if you do feel that way inclined, alternativly hit a scrapyard and get a Camry's heater radiator.
PC modding is a great source for nicely packaged small radiator if you do feel that way inclined, alternativly hit a scrapyard and get a Camry's heater radiator.
Humans, it seems, are nothing if not ironic. On the one hand we have the limits of passive cooling, and on the other people contemplating oil and radiators. I'm sure they could be done well, too, but a lot of unnecessary expense and addt'l size. Within the expected heat production of (most) chipamps, we reach a point where it requires very large passsive 'sinks for high output, or a fan, but never is the heat generation so high as to need anything more unless you have an extreme environment. That includes Class A. I'm sure if someone tried to make some odd thing, 5 bridged output in an old shoe, there'd be a need for something special to cool it but I'm about to get back to a point I made earlier;
The benefit of the fan is not just to cool the chip more, it's to cool the whole amp case some. Submersing the whole amp in oil doesn't seem like a real solution as much as a novelty and while water-cooling can be an interesting hobby, who is going to water cool the rest of their amp? The fan would need be pushing or pulling on the case frame for best benefit and if that is done the radiator is mostly just an impedance to the flow rate and another fine-finned thing for dust to get hung up on. Fans can be cheap, easy to implement, and pretty low maintenance or they can instead become an undesirable burden. The best fan implemenation is one where you forget there's even a fan in the amp, except perhaps to swap a filter panel every couple years or so.
The benefit of the fan is not just to cool the chip more, it's to cool the whole amp case some. Submersing the whole amp in oil doesn't seem like a real solution as much as a novelty and while water-cooling can be an interesting hobby, who is going to water cool the rest of their amp? The fan would need be pushing or pulling on the case frame for best benefit and if that is done the radiator is mostly just an impedance to the flow rate and another fine-finned thing for dust to get hung up on. Fans can be cheap, easy to implement, and pretty low maintenance or they can instead become an undesirable burden. The best fan implemenation is one where you forget there's even a fan in the amp, except perhaps to swap a filter panel every couple years or so.
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