Airflow in a cheap case

[RealNeil]

He did the best he could with what he's got. When it's possible to use a side panel fan, it helps a lot.
And you're right about the cable management.

 

[eidairaman1]

There's no way I'm cutting anything, the hard-mod for the fan was enough for me already, haha. And as far as dust is concerned, if you look at the picture I posted after managing the cables, the PC was last cleaned at least a month ago, no dust filters what-so-ever.



You mean on the other side-panel? I don't really think I wanna do that, hahaha.

so the case doesnt have cutout over where the CPU sits normally in the motherboard tray?

 

[peche]

so the case doesnt have cutout over where the CPU sits normally in the motherboard tray?

yes it has, take a look

 

[Shrike42]

My advice run the case open like shown no case doors/panels. The only issue will be dust.

Not sure it's a good idea to run with the panels off from what I understand, as this would actually disrupt the airflow one is trying to direct over the components and could actually result in higher temps.

 

[natr0n]

Not sure it's a good idea to run with the panels off from what I understand, as this would actually disrupt the airflow one is trying to direct over the components and could actually result in higher temps.

Ask yourself this. People use open test bench systems right do they ever have higher temps ?

If you place fans where you know hotspots exist you have no issues.

 

[peche]

Ask yourself this. People use open test bench systems right do they ever have higher temps ?

If you place fans where you know hotspots exist you have no issues.

respect that opinion but not shared it... cases are meant to be used with bot panels and closed, not gonna discuss the topic...

Regards,

 

[natr0n]

respect that opinion but not shared it... cases are meant to be used with bot panels and closed, not gonna discuss the topic...

Regards,

I use lots of hard drives and swap them out so because of that I'm used to having no case/panels.

Of course if you have a modern case you want everything closed.

 

[Vayra86]

There is the dust issue. Open cases are just a bad idea.

@OP: great job!

 

[Thimblewad]

Again, I can't thank you all enough for all the help.

I see that some of you are thinking of going open-case style and whatnot, but since the beginning, my task was to make my PC look like a "sleeper". That's why I have decided to keep the case closed and not too flashy. The only thing that bothers me when it comes to looks is the fan on top but unfortunately, I cannot place it any other way than on the outside of the case itself (the RAM clamps interfere with the fan).

As far as the temperatures go, I have tested many different scenarios, fans on, off, intake, exhaust and all sorts of mumbo-jumbo with them and stress test after stress test, the current configuration yields the best results. Also, my computer was never really running hot, I just wanted it to run a little bit cooler. In-game temperatures for the GPU never go over 55 °C (see signature, Furmark: 67 °C) and the CPU never goes above 40 °C(AIDA only 35??) (also see signature).

Dust. Another issue quite a few of you are worried about. I live in a village, my house isn't that dusty and I'm totally fine if I clean my PC every 2 months or so. I know that winter is coming, we'll be heating the house and everything, and that of course means more dust, but I am not concerned about that at all. If the need arises, I will buy some dust filters and install them.

Also, a lot of time before I got to this many fans and all, I already had issues with vibrations caused by the fans. Solution? Well, you're gonna laugh but here goes: I put some double-sided thick duct tape between every fan and the case itself (a pad about 0,5 cm x 0,5 cm) where the screws go and I haven't had any vibration issues to date (I know anti-vibration bolts exist but "ain't nobody got time fo dat" )

So what's left for me to do?
I'm definetly ditching the grills on the side-panel and bottom fans, the other ones must stay for reasons stated before. After that, maybe I'll just go clean everything up (I haven't cleaned it for a month by the way, see post #31) and take some more pictures

EDIT:
Comparing to what we've started with and what we've accomplished, I think we all did a great job. In the beginning, I never in my wildest dreams imagined, that this thread will reach such a huge amount of support and regular updates. You're the best!

Before (clickety-click on the image):


After (clickety-click on the image):


↑ And these are just the looks! ↑