Pros and Cons to leaving your side panel permanently open?

[MegaDave91]

You're letting a bunch of unfiltered air into your system, assuming you had have filters on your fans (shame if you don't).

[.Jay]

^^^ and with the side off you can blast some canned air into the case to remove it lol

[MegaDave91]

^^^ and with the side off you can blast some canned air into the case to remove it lol

Leave the side panel on and you can eliminate a whole step. Wow!

[Glaith]

If you have a decent airflow there wouldn't be much difference. I have alot of friends who have it off, but the close encounters are scary, for example when I Lanned at a mates who had his side panal off a beer fell off my desk and of coarse his PC was on the ground and holy crap the beer almost stuffed his whole system, Luckily nothing was damaged but it was to close and scared the crap outa both of us.

[.Jay]

Yea, with all the new cases (within the past 3yrs) they all move a ton of air.  Normally when the side of my case is off, it means I am tired of changing things, and its "just not on"  ha

 

 

I have a huge fan on the top of my case and feel the heat exhausting, as long as its being directed out I am good.  In the summer, while gaming for a while) I have to turn on my fan so there isn't heatsoak under my desk (I have a 10ft curved desk).

[LDX]

a much more interesting debate would be

 

Horizontal or vertical MOBOs????

 

[orangecat]

Cons: cats...

[xDLGx]

With any modern gaming case where they thought of airflow there would only be downsides with the dust, risk of damage etc.

 

In the old days (~10 years ago) I and many others had to keep the side panel off and have a floorfan blowing from the side to prevent overheating... terrible old computer cases.

[TygerStrype]

Dust: Thats why MOBOs are vertical, so the dust can accumulate in the Bottom, but at least U can see the dust in a daily basis

          so u are encouraged to clean more frequently

 

Best answer yet!  I better call my College professor really quick and tell him he needs to re-orient the colleges server racks.  LOL.  Just having fun with ya LDX.

 

The average case has more 'intake' fans that 'output' fans.  So, I would think that removing the side panel would not cause any problems.  Temps could be a bit cooler depending on what your running for a cooling solution.  Getting that hot air out of the case is the real goal isn't it?

[Puppet]

I get better temps on my GPU by up to 10c at full load with the side panel on.

I'm pretty sure leaving your side panel off is bad for your airflow and leaves area for air to stagnate. I suppose it all depends on the case though?

Cons: dust, noise

[Chevaishr]

well i used to run a pc with the side panel off (living on the edge) and i used ti stick a fan in the pc when ever i wanted to play gta. it greatly helped, my cpu temps went from like 80 to 75 while gaming though it could get a little noisy having a  21" air circulator stuck on hurricane  next to your case 

[.Jay]

What if the cat manages to pry off the CPU cooler, and touches it for a few seconds?

 

Then it doesn't do that again

[LDX]

Best answer yet!  I better call my College professor really quick and tell him he needs to re-orient the colleges server racks.  LOL.  Just having fun with ya LDX.

 

 

 

Touché :)

[IdeaStormer]

Pro's:

 

*Can see your cool components much better.

*Better Air flow if you have a bad air flow case.

*Can see issues and access them easier.

*Can hear minor changes in fan speed, and see the fans are still moving.

*Can see error codes much easier on the mobo error led's.

*Lets you know you're still not finished and need to get with it.

 

Con's:

 

*Can attract Linus Thumb Drives (surprised no one remembered that one!)

*Dust, but really dust is everywhere anyway.

*Can see bad wire management to no end.

*Can see the spots where the side panel mounts.

*Other wanting to touch components due to it being open.

*Accident waiting to happen.

 

On that note, I still have mine open, heck both sides are open! I'm not finished and continuing to play games is keeping me from finishing, chicken and egg issue at this point :P

 

As for horizontal vs vertical, well I will only add to that and factor in vertical, mobo exhaust out the back or the top B)

[jaypro]

Buy some XXXXXXL pantyhose, remove side panels, wrap computer in pantyhose.

Boom. No dust

[delet my acc pls]

Buy some XXXXXXL pantyhose, remove side panels, wrap computer in pantyhose.

Boom. No dust

Yeah but those are only avalible in the US

[onionring]

so no side panel

cons

more noise

less airflow over cpu / gpu heatsink

loads of dust

pros

you can more easily damage your components by hitting them...

wait that should be a con...

srsly your side panel help channel air to the right area, if you don t have that your fans will blow air all over the place near them but 6 in away you won t feel a thing (unless you have air penetrator fans)

you gain nothing by removing them... try it you ll see no change in temps or they ll raise.

unless you have a crappy case...

if so buy a new one and be amased by the power of fan filters and all that...

[WunderWuffle]

Yeah but those are only avalible in the US

I'm from the states and I have to agree, that's funny, but kinda messed up.

[xXmjzXx]

I never have my side panel on ever "Its on my desk btw". Yes my case gets full of dust. But i clean it daily. Also with me anyway i never see a difference in the temps of my gpu and cpu.

[Nit3Rid3R]

Dust, all that dust...