[SOLVED] Has anyone reverse all the fans and push hot air out the front mesh?

yargd

Commendable
Jan 9, 2021
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I asked because I don't want the dust to pile up on the front mesh when the front fans suck the air in.
 
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A PC case is like an oven, but much less thermally insulated, so part of what I'm about describe is less about being thermally insulative and more about being a sealed vessel.

Your kitchen oven is designed to continually create heat inside a sealed box, which is why if the door opens, oven temps drop suddenly (assuming you have an oven temp probe to see this occur). A PC without fans or airflow is much like this - the PC continues to generate heat inside the box, but if air cannot remove the heat, it continues to collect, warming the internal air more and more, faster than it is expelled. Even small PCs or machines with low TDP will still do this, although at a slower rate. Having good fans is like opening the oven door and leaving...

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I asked because I don't want the dust to pile up on the front mesh when the front fans suck the air in.
Has anyone done it?
I'm quite sure some misguided people have gone that route.
And ended up with a worse cooling situation than doing it the right way.

That front mesh is there specifically to catch that dust. Take it off once in a while and wash it.
 
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yargd

Commendable
Jan 9, 2021
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Btw, why does "thermal performance/good air flow" is determined by case models and not what fan they have?

Technically, the fans are the ones who push the hot air out to cool down the CPU/GPU. Without the fans, the cases are useless.
 

OrlyP

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Aug 20, 2020
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Btw, why does "thermal performance/good air flow" is determined by case models and not what fan they have?

Technically, the fans are the ones who push the hot air out to cool down the CPU/GPU. Without the fans, the cases are useless.
This is an oversimplification but in the context of a PC, for air flow to happen, you need two things: Fans to move the air and a case that is reasonably non-restrictive.

Any half-decent fan will blow air so let's get that out of the way.

But how does a case affect thermals?
  1. Does it have enough fan mounts and are they in the right places?
  2. Is the front intake made of glass/solid panel with tiny air intake holes on the side, or is it made up of a mesh/screen or even open?
  3. How tidy is the interior construction? Does it have parts jutting out that might hinder or improperly divert airflow?
 
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rubix_1011

Contributing Writer
Moderator
A PC case is like an oven, but much less thermally insulated, so part of what I'm about describe is less about being thermally insulative and more about being a sealed vessel.

Your kitchen oven is designed to continually create heat inside a sealed box, which is why if the door opens, oven temps drop suddenly (assuming you have an oven temp probe to see this occur). A PC without fans or airflow is much like this - the PC continues to generate heat inside the box, but if air cannot remove the heat, it continues to collect, warming the internal air more and more, faster than it is expelled. Even small PCs or machines with low TDP will still do this, although at a slower rate. Having good fans is like opening the oven door and leaving it open - the oven will never get hot because heat can easily escape the sealed unit.

The same principle works for the misguided concept of 'put the computer in a refrigerator or freezer'. These are both sealed containers and are well insulated. Even though they have cooling components to chill what is inside, they are designed to only do it ONCE, and then maintain lower temps. PCs continually put out thermal load, which easily builds beyond the heat load a standard residential fridge or freezer can remove and the compressor will run continuously until it burns out, all the while really failing to do a good job of cooling. With a sealed refrigerator or freezer, you end up with the oven scenario, where the PC is inside a sealed box without a way to vent heat.

Having a PC with good airflow is more important than the expensive cooler you have atop your CPU because at the end of the day, if that $100 heatsink or $200 AIO can't get cool air, it isn't going to cool effectively.


Edit: I should also clarify that any PC is not 100% 'sealed' or airtight, but the idea here is that there is more air continuously circulated internally than being exchanged with cool, fresh air from the room.
 
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