Should I keep my pc on my desk or in a cabinet?

[joe10231]

My desk is quite small, but there is a cabinet (which has a door) for a pc. However I am worried about airflow. what should I do?

 

[Harsh_11]

My desk is quite small, but there is a cabinet (which has a door) for a pc. However I am worried about airflow. what should I do?

Keep it on desk. Blocking airflow is never a good idea. It will cause overheating of the components, system crashes and processor throttling.

 

[nmb255]

Why not just try it and see? If you want to know the numbers. Use a temperature monitor with it on the desktop for a few hours/days so you have some data. Then move it to the cabinet and repeat checking the temps.

In the end, if it works or fails is what matters, not so much how cool or hot is gets. It's very unlikely any permanent damage will occur if it gets too hot, and if you get issues, crashes and shutdowns then you know there is a problem and you have to move it back to the desktop.

 

[newbcakes]

Why not just try it and see? If you want to know the numbers. Use a temperature monitor with it on the desktop for a few hours/days so you have some data. Then move it to the cabinet and repeat checking the temps.

In the end, if it works or fails is what matters, not so much how cool or hot is gets. It's very unlikely any permanent damage will occur if it gets too hot, and if you get issues, crashes and shutdowns then you know there is a problem and you have to move it back to the desktop.

in addition to this, if temps run hot and you can cut a hole in the cabinet to draw in some cooler air... cut a hole! Intake and exhaust holes are important...

 

[Ravi Sankar]

You can place your PC box in the cabinet if it has proper ventilation. You can check CPU max temp at max load while your pc in the cabinet and out of cabinet, based on the temperature difference you can decide yourself the right place

 

[nmb255]

Yes, even just using some rubber pads on the door to jar it open a little can help.

I have a PC in a desk cabinet right now. It's been running constantly for 4 or 5 days. I've no idea what the temps are, but its running.

At one time I did consider getting/wiring up a USB fan and fixing that to the back of the cabinet where there is a huge hole and so forcing some airflow into the cabinet. In the end I didn't bother, it wasn't needed.