Passive/Active

[xtox]

Can someone explain to me what these two terms mean, and which would be best applied in a situation?

Thanks

 

[wee96]

Passive = no fan

Active = fan

Thats the basics.

 

[xtox]

So say you had a box with low profile heatsinks and CPU blowers, would that be passive?

 

[morningreis]

Passive would be a Heatsink that doesn't require any fans or moving parts or anything. It just sits there and helps dissipate heat.

Active would be a Heatsink that has a fan to blow air and dissipate heat.

 

[mad_mod]

So say you had a box with low profile heatsinks and CPU blowers, would that be passive?

if it has a fan its active if happens to have not fan its passive, like stated earlier

 

[xtox]

I was asking because blowers dont fit onto the heatsink.

Would any of this take into consideration case fans?

 

[best [486]]

if normally passive heatsinks happen to have a fan blowing on it, it magically becomes active

 

[westrock2000]

Traditionally Passive means no electricity or outside force is required. However now-a-days simply adding a fan to a heatsink may still be considered passive. Some poeple may refer to water cooling as active, because well, your pumping stuff around which logically seems "active". That would also apply to Phase and TEC cooling.