Going commando

morinfen · 04-09-12, 08:46 PM

can anyone tell me the pros and cons of having no computer case? i was going to put my computer in a case but then i thought that it's another expense. it's not that i could not afford it or anything. i think it does well on top of the computer cabinet now. a bit unsighty but i think it gets cooled better. here are the things that i can think of as pros and cons.

------Pros------
less noise
better? cooling
cheaper

-----Cons-----
unsighty
insecure cards(mine's held down by the clip on the slot and its and the dvi cord's weight)

btw, mine's sitting on the table with a 80mm fan blowing downward and two 50mm fans blowing sideways(towards the back end of the mobo where the keyboard ports are)

mokrunka · 04-09-12, 08:49 PM

Unsightly and the lack of being able to move it around as easily comes to mind.

Also maybe vibration, or random things bumping into your cabinet. My comp would be done in a few days in that setup; my dog has a big tail

thideras · 04-09-12, 08:58 PM

Better cooling.
More/less noise depending on how you use it. You will have direct view of the fans, which will make it seem louder, but you will have less fans.
Cheaper.
You can't move it easily.
Vastly increased dust intake -- the case isn't there to filter it out.
Easy to tamper with, especially if you have small children/pets.
Easy to bump and cause a crash.

manu2b · 04-09-12, 09:11 PM

All of the above, plus:

Easy access to components
More dust but easier to clean

Pics of mine:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...postcount=1806

Janus67 · 04-09-12, 09:26 PM

I personally love using my benching station instead of a case. Everything stays pretty quiet and dust is not really an issue because there is no real place for it to get caught. I also like to be able to access the 'inside' of the computer at any time so it is convenient for that

Scout · 04-09-12, 09:27 PM

Your case is out in the open and unprotected but I am sure everybody has run their rig out side their case to test components before you install them into a new case.

Angry · 04-09-12, 09:48 PM

As some one who is moving back to a benching station...

I agree with all the above statements.
Also, and as it seems for me, I live in a somewhat dusty environment, and with a case, dust build up seems worse than when it was open air. Thats with positive case pressure, and high RPM fans, left running 24/7 like to build up dust, and lower rpm, fans done seem to as quick. At least in my case. I used less canned air on the open bench, than I have on my case.

With the proper bench station, you can move the system around just as easy if it was in a regular case.

petteyg359 · 04-09-12, 10:03 PM

If you've got four cats, you definitely don't leave anything with little switches and wires out in the open.

"Better" cooling is arguable. The case makes sure that air flows over the whole board. Outside a case, you've got to have some way to have some fans around the sides, which is what a case is supposed to be for.

morinfen · 04-11-12, 12:32 AM

having a case would mean air will have to pass in and out through small holes, that should mean more noise. it still gets lots of airflow from the 80mm i installed. i'm guessing it's the same amount of air to collect X dust in Y months.

04-09-12, 08:46 PM	Thread Starter #1
morinfen Registered Join Date: Feb 2012	Going commando can anyone tell me the pros and cons of having no computer case? i was going to put my computer in a case but then i thought that it's another expense. it's not that i could not afford it or anything. i think it does well on top of the computer cabinet now. a bit unsighty but i think it gets cooled better. here are the things that i can think of as pros and cons. ------Pros------ less noise better? cooling cheaper -----Cons----- unsighty insecure cards(mine's held down by the clip on the slot and its and the dvi cord's weight) btw, mine's sitting on the table with a 80mm fan blowing downward and two 50mm fans blowing sideways(towards the back end of the mobo where the keyboard ports are) Last edited by morinfen; 04-09-12 at 09:01 PM.
	QUOTE Thanks

04-09-12, 08:49 PM	#2
mokrunka Join Date: Dec 2009	Unsightly and the lack of being able to move it around as easily comes to mind. Also maybe vibration, or random things bumping into your cabinet. My comp would be done in a few days in that setup; my dog has a big tail __________________ Case: Mountain Mods U2-UFO PSU: Silverstone Strider Gold 1200W Mobo: ASUS P9X79 CPU: Intel Core i7 3820 @ 3.8 GHz Memory: 32 Gb DDR3 2400 RAM, G.Skill Rip Jaws Z Series, 1.5v Video: GTX 690 4Gb Storage: LSI MegaRAID 9260-8i, 4X 240Gb Kingston HyperX SSD, RAID 0, 2X Samsung 5400RPM 2Tb, RAID 0, 2X Samsung 5400RPM 2Tb, RAID 1
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04-09-12, 08:58 PM	#3
thideras Banned Neckbeard Moderator Premium Member #3 Join Date: May 2006 Location: South Dakota	Better cooling. More/less noise depending on how you use it. You will have direct view of the fans, which will make it seem louder, but you will have less fans. Cheaper. You can't move it easily. Vastly increased dust intake -- the case isn't there to filter it out. Easy to tamper with, especially if you have small children/pets. Easy to bump and cause a crash. __________________ Desktop: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H \| 3570k 4.6 GHz \| 32 GB GSkill Ares \| GTX 570 \| 180 GB Intel & 2 TB total \| Arch Linux and Windows 7 Main server: 37 TB raw disk \| 2x Opteron 6134 \| Asus KGPE-D16 \| 48 GB RAM \| LSI 8708EM2 \| CentOS 6.2 VM Server 1: Dell R510 \| 2x E5645 \| 128 GB RAM \| 4x 300 GB Velociraptor \| Xen Cloud Platform (XCP) VM Server 2: Dell R710 \| 2x E5645 \| 288 GB RAM \| 8x 300 GB Velociraptor \| Xen Cloud Platform (XCP) "That's not overkill, or a lot. That's just thiderastic." -txus.palacios Current projects: Rackmount Overkill (New) \| 30/45 hard drive server Articles: Rack Mounting 101 \| Dell Perc 5/i Throughput Benchmarks Past projects: Software RAID \| The Dragon Case My Website *Want to talk directly to all* the moderators at once? Call the Mod Hotline!**
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04-09-12, 09:11 PM	#4
manu2b Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Brussels	All of the above, plus: Easy access to components More dust but easier to clean Pics of mine: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...postcount=1806 __________________ MSI 990FXA-GD65 PhenomII x6 1075t 4.1GHz/1.52v Noctua NH-D14 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance 1840/Cl9 Sapphire 7970 Dual-x@1215(1.3v)/1825(1.63v) BeQuiet Pure Power 530W Crucial M4 256GB Samsung SyncMaster BX2450 24" Last edited by manu2b; 04-09-12 at 09:17 PM.
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04-09-12, 09:26 PM	#5
Janus67 Benching Team Leader Wannabe Admin Senior Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ohio State	I personally love using my benching station instead of a case. Everything stays pretty quiet and dust is not really an issue because there is no real place for it to get caught. I also like to be able to access the 'inside' of the computer at any time so it is convenient for that
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04-09-12, 09:27 PM	#6
Scout Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Tampa, FL	Your case is out in the open and unprotected but I am sure everybody has run their rig out side their case to test components before you install them into a new case. __________________ 3770k 7970 DC2 Top Asrock Extreme 4 Corsair Dominator GT 2000mhz 8-8-8-24 Kingston 128GB SSD Custom H20 cooling
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04-09-12, 09:48 PM	#7
Angry Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Bluefield, WV	As some one who is moving back to a benching station... I agree with all the above statements. Also, and as it seems for me, I live in a somewhat dusty environment, and with a case, dust build up seems worse than when it was open air. Thats with positive case pressure, and high RPM fans, left running 24/7 like to build up dust, and lower rpm, fans done seem to as quick. At least in my case. I used less canned air on the open bench, than I have on my case. With the proper bench station, you can move the system around just as easy if it was in a regular case. __________________ Main Rig.......................Game Server.........................Media Server..............Untangle Core i3 2100 ....... ........Phenom II X4 965...................Athlon II X4 620....... Athlon X2 2350-BE 2.1ghz MSI P67A-GD65 ..............Asus M4A79XTD........................GA-890GX.................MSI 785GTM-45 G.Skill 1333 4x2gb............16gb Partriot S5 DDR3 1333.......4gb DDR3 1600...........4gb OCZ DDR2 1066 EVGA GTX 670 FTW SLI........2x EVGA GTX 550Ti.........................Onboard 890gx 60gb OCZ Summit.................4x250gb WD RE Raid0 ViewSonic VX2453mh-LED
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04-09-12, 10:03 PM	#8
petteyg359 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: University of Southern Mississippi	If you've got four cats, you definitely don't leave anything with little switches and wires out in the open. "Better" cooling is arguable. The case makes sure that air flows over the whole board. Outside a case, you've got to have some way to have some fans around the sides, which is what a case is supposed to be for. __________________ MSI 890GXM-G65 - X6 1055T - 16GiB 10700 - 5850 1GiB - 7 Pro x64 / Gentoo amd64 - HX520 Dell XPS 15 L502x - i7 2760QM - 16GiB 12800 - GT 540M 2GiB - 7 Pro x64 / Gentoo amd64 - Agility 4 512GB [GB ≠ GiB] [MB ≠ MiB] [kB ≠ kiB] [1000 ≠ 1024] [Giga ≠ gram] [Mega ≠ milli] [Kelvin ≠ kilo] [Byte ≠ bit] "Apparently, Plaintiff believes that he could sue an egg company for fraud for labeling a carton of 12 eggs a “dozen,” because some bakers would view a “dozen” as including 13 items." - Western Digital 2006
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04-11-12, 12:32 AM	Thread Starter #9
morinfen Registered Join Date: Feb 2012	having a case would mean air will have to pass in and out through small holes, that should mean more noise. it still gets lots of airflow from the 80mm i installed. i'm guessing it's the same amount of air to collect X dust in Y months.
	QUOTE Thanks

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