Anyone just leave their side panel off?

[Shafra]

Just curious to know if anyone leaves the side panel of their case off. I'm running a Centurion 5 case which is fairly decent, but my temps drop 10 degrees with the side panel off. If I take a small desk fan and set it about 2' from my PC and aim it into the case I drop another 8 degrees. Every 4-5 weeks I blow the dust out and it looks pretty ugly but so much cooler. Anyone else ever do this?

 

[b1gapl]

I did it before, and faced a desk fan to it, and temps dropped alot. Only thing is dust, but it works.

 

[Elite Bullet]

I leave both sides off and have a desk fan next to it to push out all the old/hot air. Reduces the temp really well.

 

[Ridlyn]

I used to when I had my 6800 in my dell. During the summer with the stock HSF on i was getting over 90ºC playing games. So i kept it off for like a couple weeks until I got my VF700-CU and got a high CFM to put on the side for better circulation.

 

[Shafra]

With the hot summer approaching I'm considering doing this during the hotter months. It does get pretty dusty inside, but then again, even when I keep everything in the case it tends to get pretty filthy. Doesn't look very nice though

 

[Sora]

You should keep the side on unless you absolutely are just overheating like crazy. Though it may seem that it's dusty enough already...if you were to take off the side fan you would be needing a full supply of canned air sprays to clean your stuff lol...

 

[Shafra]

Speaking of cleaning stuff... A couple of my cards are filthy, the canned air won't even get the dust off. Is there anything that can be used to wipe them down? Looking inside, it's mainly the sound card. And they got dirty WITH the side panel on

The thing I liked best about keeping the side panel off is that the desk fan is much quieter then the 3 case fans I have. But I think on my system last summer I did leave the panel off and went through a can of air in about 3 months.

 

[Sora]

Take out the card and wipe it off with like a cloth or something is all...just a dry cloth.

Like I said you can leave it off but I don't recommend it unless you are overheating badly.

 

[Shafra]

Thanks, Sora. I'll do that, the card is really filthy. I'll just try to use a lint free cloth and stand on tile or something.

My temps are fine with the panel on, I guess all the countless threads on high temps just make me feel like keeping things the absolute coolest. I can say with 100% honesty I was much better off before I ever started checking temps on my PC components. One of my friends just runs his systems, doesn't even know how to check temps, he's so much better off!

 

[Apokalipse]

Just curious to know if anyone leaves the side panel of their case off. I'm running a Centurion 5 case which is fairly decent, but my temps drop 10 degrees with the side panel off. If I take a small desk fan and set it about 2' from my PC and aim it into the case I drop another 8 degrees. Every 4-5 weeks I blow the dust out and it looks pretty ugly but so much cooler. Anyone else ever do this?

I do.

Once I get an HSI heatsink for my 8800 GTS, and fit my MCW60 onto it, I should be putting it back on.