Active Cooling vs. Passive: How the REDMAGIC 3 Beats the Beat for Gaming

Let’s start with a bold statement: the RedMagic 3 is the world’s first smartphone with active cooling. Ever.

Sure, that sounds impressive, but what does that even mean? Does it really boost gaming performance? Is it all just marketing mumbo-jumbo? Let me give you an in-depth look at the REDMAGIC 3’s liquid cooling tech and internal turbo fan.

Spoiler alert: it’s awesome.

 

The Cooling Dilemma

 

Hardcore gaming is a hot business. When playing intensive games, your CPU and GPU are putting in work (and putting out heat). With gaming PCs, the cooling solution is simple: pack in several whirring fans, sizeable heatsinks, and, in some cases, liquid-cooled tubing. This stuff doesn’t exactly fit in a smartphone, though. And that’s the dilemma.

Since the invention of the smartphone, the solution has remained the same: passive cooling. Here, a metal heatpipe transfers heat from the CPU and GPU to the outer shell of the phone. No moving parts. No air circulation. Just passive heat transfer. This worked pretty well when mobile processors were slow (and mobile games sucked), but those days are long gone.

 

Liquid cooling vs. Active cooling 

 

Liquid cooling enhances passive cooling by adding a thermal liquid inside the heatpipe, creating a more effective heat exchange. This significantly improves thermal performance, but the problem remains the same: the outside of the phone gets uncomfortably hot, and the CPU and GPU begin to throttle after gaming for long periods of time.

Active cooling is the superior technology used in desktop gaming rigs. Strong fans force air across the CPU and GPU and out of exhaust vents, effectively blowing heat away from the computer. It’s the gold standard of cooling, and it’s what allows for high-performance gaming without throttling.

So, active cooling is the ideal solution to create an esports-grade gaming phone, but you can’t just put a fan in a smartphone... right?

 

REDMAGIC 3: We put a fan in it 

 

For the first time ever, fan-powered active cooling comes to gaming phones with the REDMAGIC 3. 

What does all that look like inside? Good question. Luckily our friend JerryRigEverything took one apart for your viewing pleasure.

Okay, that is cool. But is it really better?

 

“The REDMAGIC 3 and its cooling fan are tremendously effective...” Javier Penalva, Xataka.com (Follow him on Twitter)

 

Yes. The REDMAGIC 3’s boasts the most effective smartphone cooling system ever engineered — and it isn’t even close to the competition. Here’s how the REDMAGIC 3 stacks up against passively cooled gaming phones after 45 minutes of gameplay: