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Computer Cooling Help
Trimoor:
Is it a good idea to cover up the excess holes on my computer case?
My case has a couple hundred little holes punched in the side panel.
This will restrict airflow to entering and exiting only through the fans, but is that a good thing?
I really need to cover the bigger holes. Ladybugs are crawling in to die!
lcddream:
you want to understand the way the air is flowing and why...if the air can't complete it's route because of holes, i would say cover the holes up....keep in mind if the best way to kool a comp case is many little holes....then why is noone doing it?
DrewKaree:
Cover 'em up and don't give it a second thought. While there may be a claim put forth that "the case was designed by someone, and the holes prolly ARE for cooling", there's one easy way to tell if that's the case (no pun intended). Is there a fan at the back of the case near the top (roughly around the power supply) or at least a grid where a fan could go? Is there a fan at the front of the case near the lower section of the front bezel or at least an opening where a fan could go? If so, stop worrying yer pretty little head over it. If you're seriously stressed over it, drop a larger fan in there to replace the small fan - something in a 120mm should do the trick ;) ;D
Yeah, seal 'em up. Oh, and one more tip. Cut a piece of foam out and put it in front of any intake fans to help keep those dust devils out.
Want a BYO tip? Two words. Water cooling.
Trimoor:
Cover them I will.
I very much want to try water cooling, but I can't find any resources on cheap parts.
Do you know where I could get a cheap pump, radiator, and water block? The links in the tutorials I saw were all outdated, and no one ever responded on the forum.
DrewKaree:
Depends on what you run for cooling - I had a buddy who got a demo model that had a sketchy pump, he used distilled water and picked up an aquarium pump and used that....also needed an enlarger/reducer piece (aquarium pump line is smaller than normal water cooling line)
I dunno if Maximum PC shows it on their site, but they had a reasonably priced water cooling setup they reviewed, and IIRC, NewEgg had a decent price on a setup as well.