Ali of Optimum Tech, seen above in daylight finally dispelling the myth that he was a vampire, has used his 3D printing skills to make custom fan ducts or baffles with excellent results.
Air baffles (fan ducts) used to be more commonplace. OEMs such as Dell and Compaq would often use them to guide airflow over components instead of using direct fans, and many older cases used baffles to allow cold air to directly contact a specific component. However, the use of baffles has all but disappeared in the last decade. Ali has resurrected the the practice by designing, printing, and installing custom fan ducts to the CPU and GPU in his NZXT H5 case.
While absolutely not a SFF case, the proof of concept shows that there is serious potential. The testing resulted in substantial reductions in temps for the CPU and GPU, as well as a reduction in noise thanks to slower fan speed.
For those who might want to jump on the idea of ducting or baffling your air flow, Noctua recently announced the NA-FD1 for such a purpose. It’s limited to their 92mm fans, but it’s a good start.
Check out the Optimum Tech video below, and make sure you subscribe.
