Using the Chimney Effect to Drop Passively Cooled PC Temperatures

Hackaday reports on a clever application of physics: using the stack effect—also known as the chimney effect—to passively cool PCs. The principle is straightforward: hot air naturally rises, and when guided through a tube, it creates pressure that actively draws more air in. YouTuber der8auer demonstrated this with three-D printed funnel segments stacked above a water-cooled radiator. With just one segment, temperatures noticeably dropped. By the second segment, a visible draft appeared—smoke testing confirmed the airflow. When der8auer stacked the full assembly, he achieved a nineteen-degree Celsius temperature drop on the CPU. While the required funnel eventually became impractically tall, the principle is proven: it's been used in computer cases like the passively-cooled Power Mac G4 Cube and SilverStone's Raven series. It's a reminder that sometimes free passive cooling is just a physics lesson away.

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