Summer starts in the northern hemisphere in June, so it seems like a particularly good time to talk about cooling and how it affects your personal computer system. Even those of you in the southern hemisphere will want to pay attention to this one. After all, cooling your CPU is a year-round concern!

Electricity generates heat. Inside your case, all of the internal components are using electricity and potentially turning every kilowatt hour into heat. PCs are generally designed to deal with heat at most normal levels. Your case has vents for dispelling heat buildup, your system has one or more fans to exchange the heated air inside the case for cooler air and your CPU probably has a special heat sink or fan of its own just to help keep it sufficiently cooled.

Potentials for trouble

To make the most of the cooling features built into your system, you need to follow some simple steps:

• Do not block any air vents on your PC's case

• Keep the fan(s) clean and free of debris.

• Open your case once a month and use a computer vac or a blower to clean out built up dust and debris.

• Try to keep the room in which you keep your system from getting too hot. If it's uncomfortable for YOU it's definitely uncomfortable for your PC.

Fan failure

Fans can and do fail in personal computer systems. You can see if the fan attached to your power supply has failed because you can look right in at the fan and see that it has stopped spinning.

Internal fans, such as the one at the front of many desktops, can also fail though. As you use your PC, become familiar with the typical sounds it makes. The most obvious sign that a fan is about to fail or has failed inside the case is a change in the noise level that your PC usually puts out. By the time you can literally smell an overheating problem or your components start failing, fixing the problem may involve replacing peripherals, not just fans! So when you have your case off once a month to clean it out, turn the PC on when you have finished and make sure that all the fans are spinning.

CPU fans

Some newer computers have CPU fans that you can set to only spin when the temperature gets too high. If yours allows this, you may not see it spinning when you have your case open. To verify that the fan is working, you should first set the BIOS setting for your fan to run constantly rather than simply when the temperature reaches a certain point. Restart your PC (still with the case off) and you should see the fan operating.

One interesting feature that is not always well documented among the PCs that have it is an alert sound that comes through the PC's internal speaker when the CPU fan fails. Not all PCs have this feature (and even if yours does, you might not be able to find it described in your system manual!). But the sound is usually musical in nature rather than a regular beep tone that you are used to hearing. Cooling problems are very serious and must be corrected as soon as possible. So don't skimp on this.

Finally...

Most brand name PCs are well designed to provide adequate cooling for the components they include when you buy them. With some common sense and routine maintenance, chances are you'll never have a problem. But don't forget about cooling concerns when you think about upgrading your CPU or overclocking the one you have.