How important are case fans?

[the3eyedblindman]

The reason I am asking this is right now the arcade computer only has the power supply fan and the cpu fan, no additional case fans. It seems to run fine and everything, but I dont know if this is a potential danger or anything, I have vents in the arcade cabinet and everything, I was just wondering if I should be ok or really need more case fans, because i dont want to unplug everything and take the computer out of the cabinet if I dont need too.

[Goz]

Perosnally I'd recommend an additional fan.

check the temp inside your cab / case and use that to determing if you need to. I tend not to let any of my machine temps exceed 42C It is safer to go higher than 42C but the key concern is heat. Heat is bad on CPU's.



-Goz

[the3eyedblindman]

I guess what Im asking is: Is it really required to have more fans, or is it just an extra safety precaution. I just dont want my computer shuttin down on me or anything because of this. I have left it on for hours at a time before and everything is fine.

[SOAPboy]

mine atm, has no fan..

and it runs ALOT.. its been very solid..

then again, the back of my machine is open.. so its getting crazy ventalation.. AND im only using the Frame to the case for the pc

[NoOne=NBA=]

I guess what Im asking is: Is it really required to have more fans, or is it just an extra safety precaution. I just dont want my computer shuttin down on me or anything because of this. I have left it on for hours at a time before and everything is fine.

Leaving it on isn't the big problem.
The BIG problem is CPU usage.
The more you use your CPU, the hotter it will get.
If you run your CPU at 100% for long without additional cooling, it is likely to overheat, and shutdown/fail.

If you are lacking fans as a noise issue, rather than financial, you may want to look into water cooling as an alternative.

[SOAPboy]

I guess what Im asking is: Is it really required to have more fans, or is it just an extra safety precaution. I just dont want my computer shuttin down on me or anything because of this. I have left it on for hours at a time before and everything is fine.

Leaving it on isn't the big problem.
The BIG problem is CPU usage.
The more you use your CPU, the hotter it will get.
If you run your CPU at 100% for long without additional cooling, it is likely to overheat, and shutdown/fail.

If you are lacking fans as a noise issue, rather than financial, you may want to look into water cooling as an alternative.

really depends..

like i said, i have a generic no name cpu fan on my mame machines cpu.. its an athlon, they run hot.. not a SINGLE problem.


it just seriously depends on how its all set up inside.. if the tower is all closed up, YES it needs fans.. if not, then most likely no.

[lcddream]

absolute definite yes put one in there....fans == cheap other parts that might get damaged due to heat most likely == significantly more than a fan

edit:

if its an arcade cab i would recommend having an intake fan and a exhaust fan....

[Chris]

I find that the monitor adds a lot of heat in the box, so I added an intake fan at the bottom of the back of the cabinet and two exhaust fans out the top of the original vents for the cabinet.  These aren't super expensive fans, just old fans salvaged from old cases.  They ad a little noise, but when I'm playing I don't notice them.

--Chris

[Xiaou2]

  too much heat will reduce the lifespan of components.

   in addition to in/out fans... i Highly suggest a fan mounted close to & blowing air directly over your Hard drives. 

 Heat expands metal.  In a HD, its very precise.. and if the metal expands too much it will damage the read/write heads.  They will scratch the surface of the internal discs... and either the heads will break or spots in the disc will be permanently damaged.. or both.

  Also,  checkup on the cpu temps to make sure they are within recomended ranges.    Check cpu fans monthly to make sure they are working well... and blow out the dust that gets caught in between the cpu fans heatsink.   Dust = insulator = heat.   Also, dust can carry or be conductive to static charges... which will also lead to cpu destruction.

 I personally do not trust water cooling with computers.   With a single leak, all your hardware is destroyed.  Maybe even some condensation could form, making a drop of water that could short an important circuit.

 

[Crazy Cooter]

I've used water cooling before.  It worked well, but isn't for everyone.  You do need to know what you're doing with it.  As far as cooling inside a cab, it's best (IMO) to not use a case at all.  Heat buildup inside the cab varies depending on the design of the cab, vent locations, pc monitor vs TV vs arcade monitor etc. etc.

My advise is to use motherboard monitor or some other utility to monitor it for a bit and see what it is doing.  Add fans as needed.

[Wade]

Your PC itself isn't what you need to worry about, it is really the temp inside the cabinet as a whole that is the concern.  No matter how many fans are inside your PC case (or if it is uncased) it will not matter if the temp in the cabinet is too high and there is no ventilation.

At first I thought my cab had enough airflow that it wouldn't matter, until one day I took the back off after using it for a couple of hours, and it was smoldering in there!!!  Put a strong fan at the top and it stays manageable now.

Also keep in mind that some monitors really put out a LOT of heat and some can fail when they get hot, too, just like your PC.

The easiest and probably the best solution, is to have a good sized vent in the bottom of the cabinet (3" dia hole or larger) and a good fan at the TOP of the cab pulling the air out.  Then you will have good flow from the bottom to the top and your monitor and PC will do just fine.

This is the same setup I've seen in many real games, it is simple but effective.  You can also swap the location of the fan if your fan is particularly strong (pull in at the bottom and let the pressure in the cab push the air out of the top).

Wade

[Matt Berry]

I'd agree with putting a couple of fans in there, the most important being one blowing across the hard drives to keep them cool. Componet spacing is very important too, by allowing proper air flow / minimizing heat buildup. Heat stresses the system, some will say oh my system is fine (early pentium and athlon systems this is true) but then see how many have catastrophic hard drive failures because the drive got to hot.

[the3eyedblindman]

My cab has 2 vents in the back, the inside of the cab is warm, but not uinbearable, my main concern is what could happen to pc if i dont have any fans/

[Goz]

no fans? and a pc = poof! (unless using water cooling, etc)

[the3eyedblindman]

added one fan, should be ok.

[fogman]

I think we have a few knee jerk reactions here.  Without knowing what is in your rig, how much natural ventillation you have in your cab, and how the case is situated, it is hard to say if you need a fan.  If you are running an Athlon 1200 say, and have a PSU that has multiple fans, and you have vents in the cab that provide enough heat release, then you should be fine.
 
If you need to check, depending on the motherboard, there might be a temp reporting program, like Asus Probe.  If not, I'm sure the motherboard has a temperature sensor in the bios...just run a bunch of games, get the processor nice and hot, then do a warm boot and check the temp in the bios.

As far as the hardrives are concerned, again it depends on the rig.  If you have 1 harddrive in the box with nothing in the slots above and below, then you should have plenty of heat transfer to keep them running for a long time.  When you hear about water cooling and other cooling solutions, they are typically used in over-clocked boxes, well outside the manufacturer's recommendations or very top end machines.

In a nut shell, a low end system with proper natural ventillation should not require case fans.