Question External ventilation (or lack of)

[pooj]

I put my desktop in an armoire that has a cubby created specifically for desktops. The back of the tower is about 4 to 5 " from the back of the armoire and there is less than an inch on each side of the tower. There's about 6" of space above the computer. So it's surrounded on all sides but the front of course. This PC has two front fans, two top fans and one rear fan, and a 3070Ti gpu. I'm wondering if I should cut an opening in the back of this armoire behind the computer to get more airflow? Thank you.

 

[Lafong]

I wouldn't, unless:

You are highly anxious about it for whatever reasons, good or bad

Temp readings with standard tools like HWInfo show high readings.

I'd think it would be speculation as to how much this hole you might cut would help.

All of this pending more info from you.

 

[hotaru.hino]

If this is furniture you don't really care about that much, I don't see why not. Even better: mount a fan back there to increase airflow.

 

[pooj]

Thanks Lafong. I was reading about HWInfo earlier...I'll look into it some more. I was hoping this new Lenovo Legion would have temp monitoring built into its Vantage program.

 

[Paperdoc]

It will have temperature monitoring, but that will NOT tell you what you ask in any direct sense. Your system has at least two very similar systems to control cooling. ONE always is concerned solely with cooling the CPU. It uses the TEMPERATURE inside the CPU chip (a sensor built into the chip) to guide its actions, and it manipulates the SPEED of the CPU_FAN cooler to ensure that the measured temp is on target. Similarly, there is a system that uses a different temp sensor on the mobo to guide fans plugged into SYS_FAN or CHA_FAN headers, manipulating those fans' speeds to keep the MOBO temp on its target. Your mobo CAN display those two temperatures for you in BIOS Setup, and other software utilities that you can run under Windows (HWMonitor is one, and your mobo probably came with another tool on its accessory disc) can show those to you in "real time" when Windows is running.

But here's the tricky thing. The automatic control systems basically alter the FAN SPEEDS to whatever it takes to achieve the pre-set temperature targets at those sensors. So whatever you do to change the flow of air in and out of your case, the TEMPERATURES will not change much because the FAN SPEEDS are being adjusted to keep the temps constant!

 

[pooj]

So whatever you do to change the flow of air in and out of your case, the TEMPERATURES will not change much because the FAN SPEEDS are being adjusted to keep the temps constant!

Good info. So in other words, no need to cut an opening cuz the fans are doing their job?

 

[Paperdoc]

Probably so. The impact of cutting a hole would be small in most cases. The holes would allow access to air from other directions which MAY be slightly cooler. That could result in a small decrease in fan speed to keep the temps decent. But unless your fans already are running close to max speed just to keep things right, the impact is not worth it.