[SOLVED] Is it okay to leave the side panel off and put a fan blowing into it?

[TheGreatGatsby999]

My computer temperature has been really hot lately.. I was thinking of taking out the side panel and put a fan beside my computer blowing into it.

I was wondering if it would cause any problems in the long run.

Thank you!

 

[joleske1738]

It surely wouldnt cause any problems, except dust buildup. Make sure to clean your pc.

If it is running that hot, consider upgrading your cooling solution.

 

[TerryLaze]

It will also not help much in lowering temps...
The whole idea of cooling is to move heat away from the CPU,blowing room temperature air onto the CPU cooler will not help with the cooler getting any cooler...

 

[Viking2121]

It will also not help much in lowering temps...
The whole idea of cooling is to move heat away from the CPU,blowing room temperature air onto the CPU cooler will not help with the cooler getting any cooler...

Guess it would depend, I can certainly see this helping to some degree if you are just on the edge of thermal throttling where air flow may be crap, I've seen this help systems in the past, and I've done it before myself with pretty good results, this wouldn't help much if at all with let's say a failed pump on aio or dried and cracked thermalpaste. Though again the fans inside the pc do also blow around ambient room temp air or hotter most likely, it's no different than throwing on a 120mm fan though most house hold fans move way more air.

Its not ideal, wouldn't hurt to try and I wouldn't do permanently, dust your pc out, and replace thermalpaste and if it's still quite warm, I'd look into purchasing a new cooler. But no it wont hurt anything to have a house hold fan blowing into the pc, just keep wires away from the blades

 

[TerryLaze]

Though again the fans inside the pc do also blow around ambient room temp air or hotter most likely, it's no different than throwing on a 120mm fan though most house hold fans move way more air.

The fans inside the pc are supposed to create a constant air flow of cool(er than in the case) air,suck in air from one side blow it out the other,or at the very least suck out the hot air from inside the case.
If you have a case with zero air flow then yes a desktop fan will be better than no air flow at all.

 

[DSzymborski]

It won't hurt anything, but it's a little like having a car that's burning a quarter of oil every 500 miles and solving the problem by just adding a quart of oil every two weeks; it won't fix the underlying the problem, which will need to be addressed.

 

[grimfox]

It's really dependent on the case. If the intake fans are blocked by a sheet of glass then taking off a side panel and using a fan would help with cooling. If you have something like a meshify case then, you probably wont see a lot of improvement.

What are your system specs, What case do you have and how many case fans and what are their orientations. IE 2x 120 fans in front(intake) 1x 120 fans on top(exhaust) etc.

 

[Viking2121]

The fans inside the pc are supposed to create a constant air flow of cool(er than in the case) air,suck in air from one side blow it out the other,or at the very least suck out the hot air from inside the case.
If you have a case with zero air flow then yes a desktop fan will be better than no air flow at all.

Exactly why it would work, crap air flow or even dust build up, forcing air in with lets say a box fan does normally work, plus the cfm and static pressure a box fan can produce is much higher than a 120mm fan, many people have done this with success as a temp solution for a system on a real hot day, trust me I lived in Arizona, when the ac quits, and I need to do rendering on a 120f day, it sucks but makes a rather noticeable difference, I can't imagine that working that good on a system with aio, but it would help to some degree with a gpu the exhaust air in the case for example.

 

[rubix_1011]

Airflow is airflow, regardless of where it comes from.

Getting the air out of the chassis is expedited by 1) much higher CFM from a house fan and 2) no restrictions of the case and fan ports limiting the inlet/outlet of air.

In fact, what is being suggested is the exact method I recommend to people to test if their CPU cooler is poor or if they just have poor case airflow.

This helps eliminate the airflow variable by providing far more of it than can be provided by PC case fans. If a PC still runs hot with that much air blowing through it, something else is really wrong.