You don't need a computer case.

[farzher]

something interesting i've slowly realized over time by procrastinating on getting a case for years now and wanted to share.
i'm not talking about building your own case out of wood or cardboard or a testbench or whatever.
i mean literally just put your motherboard on your desk.

pros:

• free: $0
• simple: easy to build "in". i swap out my interal m.2 drive as easily as a usb drive.
• performance: optimal air flow. can cheap out on cooling. zero case fans required. i'm running a big overclock on a tiny quiet cooler.
• tiny: smallest form factor possible. easily portable. i traveled on a plane with my gaming desktop in my personal bag, which also had my laptop, and other stuff.
• easy to clean: dust surprisingly isn't an issue. maybe because it can easily escape. i haven't cleaned it in 4 years, dust just falls to the floor or something.
   

cons:

• unsafe: don't let the cat on your desk.

 

i never considered this a real option. but now i'd do it again for sure.

some photos of my computer in different setups over the past few years:

 

[manikyath]

my "test bench" is a piece of wood thick enough so that the pcie brackets dont lift the motherboard off the table.

 

unfortunately i have cats, and a clean desk policy.

[Stahlmann]

Good if it works for you, but i personally don't like blocking airflow for my GPU using a riser cable.  

 

Cases also do have benefits, like you not being able to touch and short components, aestetics, etc.

[KangUsapEmenq]

 

29 minutes ago, farzher said:

tiny: smallest form factor possible. easily portable. i traveled on a plane with my gaming desktop in my personal bag, which also had my laptop, and other stuff.

Makes me wondering how in the heck it's not get damaged or such on travel. 

 

29 minutes ago, farzher said:

• can't let the cat on your desk

Actually did this few years back just because I don't wanna bother to put the PC on a case that's... Near-decade old, dirty af.

The only issues tho as a cat guy and my cat kind-of always leap up onto my table unexpectedly..... Scared the shit outta of me that the cat could've get hurt, or either the computer.

 

So cleaned the case just for the sake of near-constant fear above? Totally worth it perhaps hahaha

 

+ how in the heck u guys can have their room not so dusty af, my PC fan filter usually already have dust on it after 2 weeks of use (5-8 hour/day turned on)

[BetteBalterZen]

Make sure you don't bump your table haha

[WereCat]

What happened to your keyboard?

 

*Desk PC* - lazy version

[farzher]

26 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

blocking airflow for my GPU using a riser cable

blocking the gpu airflow didn't matter. it stays cool enough even on max overclock. i don't use the riser cable anymore though because of the 12% performance loss
 

25 minutes ago, BetteBalterZen said:

Make sure you don't bump your table haha

i made a sheet of hot glue, and placed the motherboard on that. keeps it locked in place nicely.
btw @BetteBalterZenyour sig says you also use a 8700k but delidded. did you have to cover the component inside with like nail polish? or you just cracked it open and applied the liquid metal with the help of tape? if it spills to the little components nearby it'll short them, right? and why are you only running at 4.7ghz? i'm currently running at 5ghz with my micro cooler and no delid, yet.

[farzher]

21 minutes ago, TukangUsapEmenq said:

Makes me wondering how in the heck it's not get damaged or such on travel. 

psu went into my luggage. motherboard was simply wrapped in a shirt and stuffed in my backpack. same with the gpu. worked perfectly

[BetteBalterZen]

38 minutes ago, farzher said:

blocking the gpu airflow didn't matter. it stays cool enough even on max overclock. i don't use the riser cable anymore though because of the 12% performance loss
 

i made a sheet of hot glue, and placed the motherboard on that. keeps it locked in place nicely.
btw @BetteBalterZenyour sig says you also use a 8700k but delidded. did you have to cover the component inside with like nail polish? or you just cracked it open and applied the liquid metal with the help of tape? if it spills to the little components nearby it'll short them, right? and why are you only running at 4.7ghz? i'm currently running at 5ghz with my micro cooler and no delid.

to the hot clue

Yes, my 8700K is delidded and uses a custom made cobber, nickle plated IHS. A guy from another city in Denmark made it for me and installed it on my 8700K + the liquid metal. 

And yes, my 8700K is one of the worst in existence... It runs FREAKIN hot, it's directly stupid. Maybe it's kinda broken, I don't really know. I got the new IHS and LM to fix the overheating that started happening. 

About a year ago, I had a GTX 1080 Ti and 16GB of 3200MHz CL16 RAM - 2 sticks. Then I upgraded to a RTX 3090 and 32GB of 3600MHz CL16 RAM - this time 4 sticks. 

The increased GPU power and the faster RAM + 2 extra sticks was appearently too much for my 8700K to handle. I started reaching 100c after just 5 minutes in BFV and FH4. This was with stock settings in BIOS + XMP. 

I then tried undervolting my 8700K - the same undervolt as I use now but with the all core frequency locked to 4.3 GHz - and that dropped the degrees with about 5 celcius. Still terrible temps considering the locked 4.3GHz aswell. 

Then I got the new IHS and LM on, and that "fixed" the temps. Now I can keep a 4.7GHz all core OC with a small undervolt, while running XMP with the new RAM kit, and now only reach around 75c on all cores, after a big gaming session. In the summer, cores might reach 78c. 

I could increase my fan speeds a bit more but I like the silent-ish build, so my fans on the raditor runs around 1200RPM. 

Edit: 
This is the guy that did the delid for me DKDELID, and yes he did cover the small exposed chips or whatever they are with nailpolish or something like it 

[emosun]

yes people in 1977 also noticed that this was a thing that was possible as well.

[KhakiHat]

28 minutes ago, WereCat said:

What happened to your keyboard?

 

*Desk PC* - lazy version

it's an ergo boi

[freeagent]

I have a bench, but I get better temps in my Meshify C, so no.. not optimal going case less.. unless you have a big case with slow anemic fans. Or just slow anemic fans. Then yeah maybe..

[farzher]

On 11/26/2021 at 10:16 AM, freeagent said:

I have a bench, but I get better temps in my Meshify C, so no.. not optimal going case less.. unless you have a big case with slow anemic fans. Or just slow anemic fans. Then yeah maybe..

is this actually true? every time i see a list comparing case temps they always forgot to test an open air test bench ...
i'd love to see what case configs beat a test bench

[freeagent]

1 hour ago, farzher said:

is this actually true? every time i see a list comparing case temps they always forgot to test an open air test bench ...
i'd love to see what case configs beat a test bench

I have a Meshify C with 2x iPPC 3K NF-A14 up front, a 3K NF-F12 in the rear, and about 210 CFM worth of fans on my cooler lol. I have the top of the case sealed off, no pci slot covers,  and it is flowing front to rear and is literally a wind tunnel. Works great, but those fans are pretty rowdy with my 5900X, it gets pretty loud if I don't silence them. With my 5600X they are fairly tame though. Kinda. Oops also have a TL-D14X 140mm fan on the floor of the case bringing in dust from the bottom