Vent Material for Side of Case

[LTCSZ 16]

Hope this is the ok forum for this question...I want to remove the metal cover from the side of my desktop and replace it with some sort of material that will allow much more air to enter the case...I guess it should be open enough to allow air in but sturdy enough to keep out flies and small fingers! Has anyone come up with a good material for such a purpose? Thanks,Steve

[dazz 69]

Hope this is the ok forum for this question...I want to remove the metal cover from the side of my desktop and replace it with some sort of material that will allow much more air to enter the case...I guess it should be open enough to allow air in but sturdy enough to keep out flies and small fingers! Has anyone come up with a good material for such a purpose? Thanks,Steve

Why would you want to do that Steve? Probably you will only manage to get tons of dust sucked into the case, and no benefit with temps. What case is that and what fans does it have? What are your temps like?

[cmeeks 8]

You could use something like this On a more serious note, how much do your temperatures drop if you just remove the side of the case?

[Jeff 0]

You can go to home depot or lowes and get a metal grate. Honestly I wouldn't do it. Most cases are engineered to create a vortex thru the case. The push and pull of the air create more velocity thru the case. Kinda like a ceiling fan in a small room. You feel the air moving. If you are in a open large room you dont feel it as much.

[Noel 4,499]

Hope this is the ok forum for this question...I want to remove the metal cover from the side of my desktop and replace it with some sort of material that will allow much more air to enter the case...I guess it should be open enough to allow air in but sturdy enough to keep out flies and small fingers! Has anyone come up with a good material for such a purpose? Thanks,Steve

I removed my case cover and put the PC within inches of a small A/C unit, which is actually super effective, and not too costly to operate. It was about $145 to purchase, nuttin' to install, and quite wonderfully works with ALL PCs built with a tower case. It has a remote control unit, and operates with Lo-Med-Hi fan speeds only, or Lo-Med-Hi with A/C on. Performance is grand. It cools everything that matters, and then some. If I am running o'clocked to 4.2+Ghz, I will run it on A/C low fan speed.At idle at 4.0Ghz, my CPU runs about 21C. At super dooper full load, at 54-57C. My GPU runs in the 40's at overclock. My mainboard in the low 20's C. My drives run around 23C at this level of cooling. It's Sharp Whisper Quiet 8.5BTU (or so) thru-the-wall AC unit using 110v. My combined gas/electric bills average $120 or so for a 2300 sq ft home. I don't need whole house AC very often, for which I have a full size central air conditioning system.Noise at full AC, low fan speed mode: can't measure it, but is typical AC unit: low pitched, white noise, of low intensity, but def there! Doesn't bother me with or without headphones as I simply don't notice it. When I need very very quiet for low intensity computing (I do some digital audio recording, gigastudio, etc), I simply turn it off and I have an ultra quiet PC. And it stays cool enough since the left case cover is off.A few have conjectured I would have problems with this, presumably because of fluctuating temps, debris, condensation, etc. I may have, I don't know. My QX9650 died after 3.4y. I doubt my cooling solution had anything to do with it, but I think it could have. Condensation is out, IMO for several reasons I won't elaborate on. Fluctuating temps is also out IMO, since when you look at idle versus load temps w/ the CPU, you see huge and very rapid fluctuations all the time. I'm going w/ Occam's Razor, from Intel's data sheet on my processor:Absolute Maximum and Minimum RatingsTable 2-2 specifies absolute maximum and minimum ratings only and lie outside thefunctional limits of the processor. Within functional operation limits, functionality andlong-term reliability can be expected. [for my CPU, that's 1.1 to 1.3v to the core. I ran at 1.3625 most often, sometimes over 1.4, and rarely to 1.45v)At conditions outside functional operation condition limits, but within absolutemaximum and minimum ratings, neither functionality nor long-term reliability can beexpected. If a device is returned to conditions within functional operation limits afterhaving been subjected to conditions outside these limits, but within the absolutemaximum and minimum ratings, the device may be functional, but with its lifetimedegraded depending on exposure to conditions exceeding the functional operationcondition limits.At conditions exceeding absolute maximum and minimum ratings, neither functionalitynor long-term reliability can be expected. Moreover, if a device is subjected to theseconditions for any length of time then, when returned to conditions within thefunctional operating condition limits, it will either not function, or its reliability will beseverely degraded. [Never went beyond 1.45v, but hey, plenty of hours in the 1.3625 to 1.425v or so over its lifespan]Noel

[dazz 69]

That's no way to cool a PC Noel

[Noel 4,499]

That's no way to cool a PC Noel

How so Dazz?Let's start with exactly what is happening, before we accept your brisk admonition:You must know that . . . 1. The intake part of the air flow coming from my A/C unit is filtered, and it is reasonable to expect the output will be quite clean, I'd say comparable to what people get with their case fans whirring along.2. The temperature of the air coming from the A/C unit ranges from about 42F to 60F, and is quite dry, so condensation is very doubtful. A/C never is turned on until components are warm and need the extra cooling, and as I say, we're talking 42F here, not -20F.3. The velocity of this air is very low, indeed much lower than the flow rate of the air blasting directly at my CPU at point blank range from its HSF. There could be some issues w/ static charge build up, but it's doubtful since the flow rate involved is very low.4. Dust and debris is not really an issue, nor is moisture from an outside source, because of the orientation of the case: nothing can get in it, except the gentle cool air from the A/C unit, or open case with fan only on low.5. Maybe rapid temperature change? I think once again, it's a non issue. I avoid directing air at HDD's as they are sensitive to rapid temp change, but arguably less so for silicon chips and chipsets. They routinely go from idle to full bore in a minutes or so, and sustain constant significant temp changes routinely, with arguably little harm done.6. And finally, you can't beat experience. I've done this, as has my brother, for many many years in one form or another, and never had a problem, until my QX died. At this point, I don't even have a theoretical explanation for how my cooling solution could have killed my CPU. I'm voting for chronic, outside the 'functional limits', over-volting as the most likely culprit.I will grant you this Dazz: were I running a mission critical application I'd rethink this cooling solution, on the off chance something weird could happen, like having a glass of wine slip out of my hands, hit the wall and have the wine drop into the A/C unit while it was on, thereby spraying the inside of the case, so something along those lines. Fortunately though, that couldn't happen because the entire setup lives under a built in counter.What's really bonus about this solution, is that it works for all PC's, and requires no special HSF's--just the retail one is fine to control temps very very well for reasonable overclocks. I don't even need the A/C in the winter months here, so I just go plain fan air. Summer though is another story, and I appreciate the A/C to keep the room comfortable, while keeping mainboard, northbridge, memory, and CPU nice and cool.

[dazz 69]

Even if all that was true, I could never justify the massive power consumption it adds to the system. And if your system and OC is set based on the cooling provided by an external A/C unit, what if it stops working overnight or something? Not worth the hassle IMHOIt's much easier, safer and cheaper to get a good cooler and a good case with proper ventilation, and if you need or want something better, go custom WCBut hey, if you're happy with it, to each his own

[Noel 4,499]

Even if all that was true, I could never justify the massive power consumption it adds to the system. And if your system and OC is set based on the cooling provided by an external A/C unit, what if it stops working overnight or something? Not worth the hassle IMHOIt's much easier, safer and cheaper to get a good cooler and a good case with proper ventilation, and if you need or want something better, go custom WCBut hey, if you're happy with it, to each his own

Well, it all is true Dazz. The 'massive' power consumption is certainly true but really isn't relavent in my case because as I may have mentioned, I really only use it during the summer here in quite warm Nor Calif. And even then, it cycles on and off only enough to keep my PC room at around 75-76F or so which is comfortable for me, and so utility bills are very small here. I built the home in '85 and kept to some pretty good passive solar designs features. If I didn't need the A/C for the room, I would have gone w/ an internal cooling solution. So, as it were, it's a 2-fer.All that hoopla aside, to be honest, look at my current overclock: it's not much, 3.78Ghz. I used to run at 4.1Ghz w/ my QX which necessitated the A/C on, but I really don't see that is worth the power consumption and voltage risk, ie the cost:benefit ratio for 4.1 over 3.8 is really pretty minimal, and now I am running my new Q9650 at 1.3425v, which as it turns out, doensn't need the A/C to remain well cooled. Just having fresh room air in the case handles it well now. I'll use the A/C just to cool the room once it warms up. Later, I may get bored and tinker w/ more overclock, but as I say, the benefit is really not there. I'm holding out for a new machine in a couple of years, and from the recent posts, it could be a worthwhile wait.