Ah airflow. If you get it just right, it's like a breath of fresh air. If you get it wrong, it's like a breath of old dusty air pointing right at your GPU. If you're planning out your next build and want a rough approximation of where your air will flow, BuildCores has a neat new feature.
As shared over on the PCMR subreddit, creator bosoxs202 demonstrates it with a handful of builds. It's worth noting it's not a full-on simulation; it can't demonstrate how a GPU might get in the way of a fan, or how differently powered fans might suck in or blow out that air separately. It's simply a neat little visualisation tool for you to approximate how those fans will interact.
Responding to some negative feedback, bosoxs202 says, "I didn't mean to showcase this as a full airflow 'simulation'. It's basically a visual configurator that showcases the orientation of intake and exhaust fans to simplify it for beginners. But feedback is noted and [I] appreciate it. Maybe we'll do a full simulation one day..."
As an alternative to the likes of PC Part Picker, it combines over 3,000 3D models to visualise what your next build could look like. I've spent a little time putting together the most expensive build I could build (around $70,000 with a measly single GPU and monitor), and it's pretty neat to see a build I'm not rich enough to even be in the same room as.
It may not fix you putting the fan in the wrong way, but it's not a bad tool for imagining where your fans may fit, especially if it's a case you are unfamiliar with.
As is always the case with building a PC, no amount of research can stop you from encountering issues, but I can see the value of a 3D model of your dream build, even just to imagine what it could look like when it's all prettily put together.
And, as an aside, with the memory crisis now accounting for about a quarter of PC build costs, it's just fun to play around with the 3D model of gaming PCs that just aren't worth the money right now. Sure, I'll take a 15 TB SSD. Why not?
