Case Vents ???

[vfarrand]

Should I block all of the vent holes in my case ? (except the ones for fans of course).
I am using watercooling and have only 2 fans in my system.
1 in the front, and 1 in the back.

 

[Shadow ÒÓ]

Since those are the only fans you have, my guess would be no.

I'm a firm believer in a slightly positive case pressure if you are using dust filters to prevent dust from being sucked in tiny cracks with a negative pressure. Since those are your only 2 fans, you probably don't have enough ventilation anyway, so the extra holes can't hurt. If you had more intake fans, a positive pressure would be a little more difficult to achieve.

Also, you want air to come IN from the bottom and exhaust near the top where the heat rises to. Covering these holes with more fans would give the air a direction to "blow".

 

[William]

I'm with shadow. What are your case temps and how far are they from ambient temps?

You can try it with something like Duct Tape(i love that stuff) and see what happens. It isn't permanent so if you don't like, just peel it away.

 

[RedDeathDrinker]

Sealing the case is a pain if you want in and out of it regularly. Go for a slight overpressure instead (more sucking than blowing (ooh err missus!) about 20cfm diff) to keep the dust out.

Also, remember to keep your mobo and heatsink(s) free of dust and debris

 

[cjtune]

You SHOULD seal all other MAJOR openings if you want to maintain a straight airstream path from the intake fan to the exhaust fan. Air going in and leaving as they please from the other openings will mess-up the airstream between your in and out fans. Having two fans in series gives no pressure difference (ie. maintains neutral pressure in casing). More fans blowing in than out will give positive pressure and the converse will result in negative pressure. But then again, axial fans in parallel are bad at producing pressure and airflow falls, giving diminishing returns. But if you have some minor (small) holes here and there you really shouldn't bother unless you have alot of free time on your hand. Dust will find a way, any way, into your casing anyhow....