Cone on side of computer case?

[xamire]

I recently got a new computer, and it has a cone on the side see-through window of the case. There is no fan in this cone, and it doesn't even line up with the cpu fan perfectly. It about 3 inches away from the cpu fan, and a bit off from it.

It's only a cone with vent slots. I was wondering what this thing really does? It seems more like for show than actual usage. Seems that a fan in that slot would serve better purpose. I'm guessing it's to let the CPU fan disburse heat through the side of the tower. I may be wrong though.

 

[robin banks uk]

have you got a pic? name of case?

 

[xamire]

Sorry I don't have a digital camera or pic. Have you ever seen a cone bolted to the door of a computer case before? I have seen a few, but they usually have fans in them.

 

[misry]

Do you have an AMD CPU? If so the cone wants to line up to the placement of an Intel cpu.

 

[xamire]

Do you have an AMD CPU? If so the cone wants to line up to the placement of an Intel cpu.

Yea its an Athlon II x4 630. That's probably why then. you think I should remove the cone and replace it with a 80mm fan forcing air out instead?

 

[flaminggerbil]

Unless you're having trouble with airflow/high temps, dont worry about it.

80mm fans are quite loud (to get any decent flow) so it's not really worth the bother unless you're having issues.

 

[misry]

I've done both and didn't see much difference until I overclocked. In that case mount the side fan to suck air in to blow in the general direction of the CPU fan. (Black nylons make decent filters till you find something better. Screw then down *tight* before you trim the extra away.)

 

[xamire]

Unless you're having trouble with airflow/high temps, dont worry about it.

80mm fans are quite loud (to get any decent flow) so it's not really worth the bother unless you're having issues.

Yea, so far everything in my pc is staying pretty cool. I don't even have an intake fan. Just an exhaust fan, cpu, psu (of course), and gpu fan, and everything stays surprisingly very cool.

30c (and cooler) for CPU Athlon II x4 630
55c for GPU radeon 5670
33c Mobo m4n68t-m

I can't believe how cool these new systems run. My old athlon 64 3500+ (single core) setup, always had to have ample supply of fans. Now with 4 cores, and even better graphics card, they run cooler now.

 

[flaminggerbil]

Yeah with that setup you'll be perfectly fine without a side fan, it'll keep your system nice and quiet!

As MISRy said, if you start overclocking that's when you really need to be thinking about airflow and a more advanced CPU sink, but until then there's nothing to worry about.

Edit: One thing I forgot, I take it those are idle temps? It's the load ones you need to look out for.

 

[xamire]

Yeah with that setup you'll be perfectly fine without a side fan, it'll keep your system nice and quiet!

As MISRy said, if you start overclocking that's when you really need to be thinking about airflow and a more advanced CPU sink, but until then there's nothing to worry about.

Edit: One thing I forgot, I take it those are idle temps? It's the load ones you need to look out for.

I really can't seem to get my equipment to full load. Even while running world of warcraft maxed out, with a few browser pages open and ventrilo.. it runs at the same temperature. Right now the temps are about 3 degrees lower since the pc is now "idle" but it seems pretty cool. And unless I'm running top notch games (which are usually boring game anyway) is there any need to over clock anything? Everything seems so fast.

 

[misry]

And unless I'm running top notch games (which are usually boring game anyway) is there any need to over clock anything? Everything seems so fast.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[xamire]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

perfect motto

 

[masterjaw]

@OP: the side cone is intended (i guess) to extract air from the outside directly into your CPU HSF. But honestly, that isn't effective as it will just obstruct normal case airflow inside.

If I were you, I would remove the cone, maybe put up some filter in it (to lessen dust accumulation) and configure a front intake back exhaust airflow. Well, that's me anyway.