Open Case Cooling

[Pipsquek]

Does anyone have the side of their tower case open? I would think that keeping it open would increase some cooler air around the whole system or are their more cons than pros doing that?

[ElGriton]

I had both my sides off AND a 6 inch fan blowing into the case. All it did was get VERY dusty.

[CrystalMethod]

Having the case open has been known to decrease performance in certain instances. If you haven't modded your case, and stuck with the stock placement of fans. You'll probably drop 1-3°C by removing the side panel. For many of us however, we "design" our cases for optimal air flow. This means, air flows where we want it to, intake and exaust. Not where it's just availible, or forced in the general direction of the MB/CPU, etc...

[wildfrogman]

I have found with good airflow management you actually get cooler temps with case on. Also its less noisy since the case is on.... For a time i had 2 172mm 235 cfm fans and a delta 68~ one 172mm fan push in on pull out, 68mm fanon heatsink and its really good cooling, take off the side panels gain 3C or so. But that was just me.....and my wind tunnel case for LAN to show off....heheh. Need pics so i can put on case mod site and link to em in my under construction sig. I guess, it just depends on your fan setup and such but tweakit enough and its cooler with case on.

[ZeroAquaduct]

It does help your case temperature, but your case will look ugly and it'll get dusty very quickly. Also, since there's nothing to block sound, your computer will be louder than usual.

I personally feel the best way to tackle temperatures is to modify your case. If you have good air flow, you won't have to worry about temperatures.

[Warren G]

Yup, I have one side of my case off for about a month and it got pretty dusty in there. Had to clean with one of those dust blowers. Rite now I'm modding my case to stick in a couple 80mm fans so I can put the side back on.

[pommie]

MY sons case side has never been on, he just dusts every now and then :)

My temps stay the same on or off so it stays on, four kids under 7 in the house states it stays on even if it was hotter :p
:beer:

[james.miller]

mine runs cooler with the side on

[illbreakit]

cooler with the sides on, deffinately! unless you are putting a room fan on the side of the case, keep the sides on, it created a "flow" of air through the case and helps expell more heat from the mobo and hardware.

[james.miller]

exactly. without the side there is no flow of air - cuasing warm air to hang around the processor rather than be expelled from it

if a pc runs cooler with the side of then there is most probably a problem with its cooling