Leaving your PC case open

Den_M

Is it safe to leave your computer case open while it's in use? I was cleaning out the inside today with compressed air and haven't closed it since.
My machine opens on a hinge at the front, like a book. Would leaving it like this help or hinder the airflow?

elexes

depends . i haevnt had mine closed in years

djmarkus

Theres no danger leaving the case open, just make sure nothing gets spilt into the case or anything gets dropped in.

When my computer is under pressure i take the side off and put it on its side so the heat can escape straight away.

Esel

Mice may nest in there, and their babies may be adversely affected by radiation.

Otherwise, monkeys may fly out of your . . . .

Just don't leave your beverage nearby. You may also be able to switch your central heating off. Win win!

Kensington

Would it not be best leaving it shut? I imagine the whole idea of the fan at the back is that it pulls air in the front, and pumps it out the back by sucking all of it across the motherboard and taking heat from the motherboard along the way. On my PC anyway (maybe it's just my PC, it IS a HP after all ) my HDD runs hotter with the side off than with it on.

Den_M

I'm looking right into the guts of it now, is that my RAM and the slots that they are in just above my graphics card to the right?
I gotta upgrade. 256mb ain't enough and hasn't been for quite a while now.

BopNiblets

Kind of defeats the whole purpose of the fans (heatsink excluded) if you leave it open. Airflow and all that.

Den_M

I'm nervous of eating crisps at my desk now. I'm probably gonna have nightmares about waking up and finding bits of Monster Munch all over the circuits n stuff.

zuma

Close it as "BopNiblets" is correct in the airflow department.

Components will a lot of the time actually get hotter without air circulation and dust will build up much faster as well.

Capt'n Midnight

Some servers used to have a warning about not running for more than one minute with the cover off !

Leaving the cover off will also mean you radiate more electromagnetic noise. Nothing good in that. And in theory the NSA could decipher some of the noise..

Balfa

If you have a very efficient and well-designed case fan layout, leaving the case open will raise temperatures, otherwise (in the majority) leaving the case open will usually lower temperatures.

Either way, it's very unlikely for temperatures to be so high as to cause damage and not at all dangerous.

On the other hand, leaving the case open is uglier and louder.

Domster

I've got an aluminium ThermalTake Kandalf VA9000SWA case with four fans in it.

I was overclocking yesterday, got up to 2.8Ghz, 1.55v(couldn't get it stable on less)on air but my temps were hitting between 55 and 60. I thought I'd just see what temps were like if I took the side off the case and voila, 48-52. Much less scarier.

So, I saw a nice little difference in temps by leavin' the side off.

djmarkus

No matter what anyone says about airflow, the fact of the matter is that heat rises, leave the side off and leave it on its side with the open side to the top and every bit of heat generated will rise vertically out of the case.

riptide

djmarkus wrote:

No matter what anyone says about airflow, the fact of the matter is that heat rises, leave the side off and leave it on its side with the open side to the top and every bit of heat generated will rise vertically out of the case.

I've done a bit of research in air flowing around the pc with case off. It all ends here. CPU will be a lot cooler in my experience, but harddrive temps will increase, and so will some motherboard components that are away from the CPU fan, and any PCI cards that are not fan cooled (passively cooled graphics cards and TV cards get quite hot too). So take your pick. Hardrive with no fan near the 3.5" bays can hit close to 50C and sometimes above in warm room and nobody wants a HD failure.

riptide

djmarkus wrote:

No matter what anyone says about airflow, the fact of the matter is that heat rises, leave the side off and leave it on its side with the open side to the top and every bit of heat generated will rise vertically out of the case.

Everyone has heard of the 'windchill factor'. Truth is any heat that is generated has to be carried away by thermal radiation or air. The more air blows over something, the more heat is taken away.

EOA_Mushy

Heat for bigger machines and dirt for all....

Sam Vimes

i've had mine open for years. the temp shoots up to over 70 degrees and the computer shuts down whenever i have it shut. i've had a few close calls with drinks tho

J2DaC

Was this topic not for a failing LCD monitor? lol

Stephen

Eh... No, it wasn't.

wtf?

Commander Vimes: sounds like you have some brutal airflow problems :v:

riptide

Commander Vimes wrote:

i've had mine open for years. the temp shoots up to over 70 degrees and the computer shuts down whenever i have it shut. i've had a few close calls with drinks tho

Thats bad man! 70! Man try water cooling. he he (I don't mean with the drinks though):D

CyberGhost

Den where did you guy compressed air can?

I bought one of Viking and the damn thing was spitting some liquid after couple of seconds of blowing air.

riptide

CyberGhost wrote:

Den where did you guy compressed air can?

I bought one of Viking and the damn thing was spitting some liquid after couple of seconds of blowing air.

Probably a compressor of the building site eh Den??

personally i wouldn't leave it open what with danger of getting something spilt in it, somebody sticking their hand in it, high dust build up and airflow issue's. just get a good case or water cooling kit.

Esel

CyberGhost wrote:

Den where did you guy compressed air can?

I bought one of Viking and the damn thing was spitting some liquid after couple of seconds of blowing air.

Did you hold it upside down? Dangerous - freezing etc!

BopNiblets

I'd like to know where to get a can of compressed air too, preferably one that won't spray liquid inside my PC... yeah, that would be good.
Maplins or a hardware shop or something?

you could always use a bicycle pump

Sam Vimes

Stephen wrote:

Eh... No, it wasn't.

wtf?

Commander Vimes: sounds like you have some brutal airflow problems :v:

i have an athlon 2800+ and its always been like that. i have a fan on it thats designed for a 3000+ and i used to have one case fan at the front and two at the back. it would still overheat. i attached picture of my current setup. just having the case open wasn't enough so i suspended a case fan from a ruler thats sellotaped to the case so it pushes air directly onto the processor

omahony99

Commander Vimes wrote:

i have an athlon 2800+ and its always been like that. i have a fan on it thats designed for a 3000+ and i used to have one case fan at the front and two at the back. it would still overheat. i attached picture of my current setup. just having the case open wasn't enough so i suspended a case fan from a ruler thats sellotaped to the case so it pushes air directly onto the processor

Nice carpet!

HelterSkelter

djmarkus wrote:

No matter what anyone says about airflow, the fact of the matter is that heat rises, leave the side off and leave it on its side with the open side to the top and every bit of heat generated will rise vertically out of the case.

Think you're wrong there. Any component will cool faster with a fan blowing air on it. To put it another way, imagine you have just played a serious game of footie and you are roasting. Do you think you would cool down quicker lying on the floor or lying on the floor with a fan blowing air over you?

Steffano2002

@ Commander Vines:

Did you overclock that Athlon 2800+ or something? Or does it just overheat since you got it? Just bought a second hand PC with this processor in it but I haven't used it yet... Waiting for my new Graphics Card to be delivered...

Furthermore, what tool do you guys use to check temperatures? Everest Home?

Khannie

Decent cases are designed to push air over the components, so removing the side actually heats up the individual components (though obviously still reduces ambient temperature).

Sam Vimes

omahony99 wrote:

Nice carpet!

i thought someone might pick up on the pink carpet i stole my sister's room because she's gone to australia for the year

Steffano2002 wrote:

@ Commander Vines:

Did you overclock that Athlon 2800+ or something? Or does it just overheat since you got it? Just bought a second hand PC with this processor in it but I haven't used it yet... Waiting for my new Graphics Card to be delivered...

Furthermore, what tool do you guys use to check temperatures? Everest Home?

nope not overclocked. been overheating since the day i got it. the program i use came with my motherboard. its called asus probe

Gurgle

Commander Vimes wrote:

the temp shoots up to over 70 degrees and the computer shuts down whenever i have it shut. i've had a few close calls with drinks tho

70°C is fine, just increase the shutdown temperature to 85°.
I ran an XP2500+ for 2 years from 8:30 on monday to 4:00 on friday, with stock speeds and cooling. It never dropped below 65, rarely went over 70.

Standard 'ambient' temperature ICs run happily anywhere between -40°C and +85°C.

ShiverinEskimo

I was overclockign for the last two weeks and upped the voltage on my gfx card. Was playing COD2 and motherboard monitor gave me a 70 degree warning for my VGA core.
I opened the case and all was well until my new vga cooler arrived. the case it shut now.
I am in the process of installing an additional fan on the removable case window to blow air onto my mosfets cos they are hot but I definately saw improvements in temps at core levels with the case open.

Steffano2002

Commander Vimes wrote:

nope not overclocked. been overheating since the day i got it. the program i use came with my motherboard. its called asus probe

Hmmm... I haven't used that PC much yet but I'll keep an eye on temperatures when I start doing so!
Should I worry about temperatures in the 70°C+ region?

To answer the OP though I would say this: "It completely depends on your case".
If you have a crap case, open is probably better as heat will escape easier. If you have a good case with good fans, leaving the case open will hinder the air-flow meaning higher temperatures.

Well that's my two cent's worth anyway...

Alkers

Commander Vimes wrote:

i have an athlon 2800+ and its always been like that. i have a fan on it thats designed for a 3000+ and i used to have one case fan at the front and two at the back. it would still overheat. i attached picture of my current setup. just having the case open wasn't enough so i suspended a case fan from a ruler thats sellotaped to the case so it pushes air directly onto the processor

Is that not a **** load of dust all over your fans? Have you treid dusting them?

Archytas

Commander Vimes wrote:

i thought someone might pick up on the pink carpet

Thin door too..... but back to the task in hand...

I used to close mine.. back at the start... but had numerous problems from buggy ram to graphics card burnouts(which I've been boring the good folks round here with). When everything was fixed(and what a beast it is!) and working I just never put it back on... truth be told Im slightly afraid.....:o

Steffano2002

If it ain't broke...

sweno

CyberGhost wrote:

Den where did you guy compressed air can?

I bought one of Viking and the damn thing was spitting some liquid after couple of seconds of blowing air.

I noticed this before too. The cheap viking cans are ****e! They'll spit little bits of liquid after a while, if you have to use it only use it on the keyboard etc.. If you want one for doing the inside of your PC pay a few euro more and get a decent one in PC world or something. It'll be worth your while

Ferror

sweno wrote:

I noticed this before too. The cheap viking cans are ****e! They'll spit little bits of liquid after a while, if you have to use it only use it on the keyboard etc.. If you want one for doing the inside of your PC pay a few euro more and get a decent one in PC world or something. It'll be worth your while

Alternatively you could buy a mini air compressor (12volt ones used for blowing up car tyres from lighter socket)

Example: Ebay listing

Power this off an old AT psu or a rigged ATX one (not the comp's supply!), now you have an unlimited compressed air feed that can even be mounted inside the case

ShiverinEskimo

Scroll down the listing provided by Ferror and see the real reason he found that listing.

Do you not find the PVC chafes a bit?

CyberGhost

rip, yes, I hold it properly.

great idea Ferror! but does it blow hard enough?