Case Open for New 790i Q6600 build

[diplodink]

I have a huge, ancient computer case (Circa 1995). As far as I can tell it's ATX compatible and all that. I know it's big enough to fit all the components of my new rig which I'll detail below. There's 7 bays on the case and plenty of inside room so it seems to fit the 790i motherboard which will be the base of the system.

Because it's an older case it has basically no cooling properties worth mentioning. What I'm wondering is would I be crazy to do the following

- Leave the case open
- Put at least 2 fans somewhere in the case blowing air over the motherboard
- Not opposed to setting up a giant desk fan next to the computer
- Something like a Tuniq Tower or some other quality CPU heatsink

The rig will be something like this - XFX 790i MOBO, Q6600 intel chip, 1X2 GB DDR3 Corsair 1333 Mhz ram, 2 8800 GT's or GTS's running SLI'd, no more than 2 hard drives and no more than 2 optical drives. 750 Watt Coolermaster PSU.

Make the following assumptions
- I don't care at ALL about noise, it could be as loud as a vaccuum cleaner for all I care
- I'll not be overclocking past 3ghz or so
- Cool basement room temperature usually 67 degrees farenheit
- No pets or small children poking around
- Cleaned regularly with compressed air for dust, etc.

I'm using a different open case set up currently on an older Pentium 4 chip and an AGP X1950 Pro Radeon video card. I don't know about the chip but it's overclocked at 20% with no stability issues and the video card idles well below room temperature, and actually I've never seen it get much above room temperature even running at, what for it, is intensive (like Caesar IV on Highest settings... pathetic I know). And that's overclocking the video card about halfway up on the Catalyst Control Center's overclock bar.

Any thoughts? Am I crazy to want to run a pretty nice system like this on an open case? I just like the idea of a more ghetto looking set up assuming I can still get decent overclocking\cooling, etc. I'm a novice at all this so I'm not looking to beat anyone's overclock times or set benchmarks or anything. Thanks!

 

[oushi]

Do you already have all the parts you've picked out? I would seriously consider changing the PSU to a PC P&C Silencer 750W...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009

Why go with the single 2GB stick of ram? Get two 1GB sticks and dual channel them...

I don't understand why you want a "ghetto looking" setup. You're already spending over a thousand dollars in high end parts, why not drop another $50 for a decent case?

 

[diplodink]

The power supply isn't ordered yet so I could change that. I already have chip motherboard and raptor hard drive. Why do you like the PC P&C Silencer? I don't really know one for another except that I want as many 12V rails at greater than 18 amps as possible.

I misstated the ram. It is 2 X 1 GB sticks dual channeled. As far as I know you can't get 1 stick of 2 GB DDR 3 1333 Mhz ram I looked. I considered that option figuring I could add more ram as I went along and DDR3 prices became more reasonable.

And I misstated my current temperatures on my old PC - got the celsius and farenheit wrong. The old video card idles at 48 celsius and the highest it gets is low 60's.

As for the "why" part of it - I don't know, just for fun? I like the idea of having the same computer case for 20 years. My old case has sentimental value. Despite it's giganticness and plainness I like the way it looks, and I've put stickers on it and such I like to be able to get in and out of the computer easily hence the open case set up I have now and have had basically since P1 days...

I'm just concerned that in this new era of wind tunnels and liquid cooled PC's that an open case can't get it done and want to know what experiences people have had with this, if any.

 

[oushi]

Actually, it's better to have a single, powerful 12V rail than to have multiple smaller ones. Here's a tiered list of psu's that most people go by:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

Don't think there's anything terribly wrong about going with an open case. It just seems to build up dust really quickly which could bring your temps up, plus it would disrupt the air flow of any fans you might already have in your case. I've got a 5 year old P4 system running next to me with the side panel off because the crappy case it came in didn't have good circulation to begin with.

 

[Night-Stalker]

You should rather go with a new cheap and decent case OR just watercool your CPU and NB, it will be silent and keep your case temp down. And if you ever want to overclock over 3.6ghz on the Q6600, you won't have a heat problem at all.

 

[Lord Gornak]

I understand your nostalgia. I had a military grade lead-shielded super-tower that dwarfed all of the motherboards I put into it. It finally just got too worn out and outdated and I had to get rid of it. I was sorry to see it go though.

I agree with oushi on the power supply. That PSU has one MASSIVE 12V rail, and you can't beat PCP&C's quality or warranty. The 750W rating is continuous, but it has an even higher peak rating. Plus, it's ratings are tested at 80 degress C, not 45 or 50 like other PSUs. If you can afford it, get it.