Dust or Extra Cooling???

[supastar1568]

ok, i currently have a 80mm side fan and an 120mm exhaust fan on my logysis phantom case.

Over the summer, I ran into a nice deal on a 120mm case fan, so I installed it in the front of the case as an inlet fan. I noticed that the front grill of the case has a lot of dust on it. Like the amount that I can write my initials in or something. My question is, with the winter coming, should I take this fan out??? Or should I leave it?? My room is about as clean as a room can get, but dust just happens. My CPU temp at idle is like 30C. But it will probably be in the mid-high 20s during these cold winter months.


So, its the trade-off. Dust or more cooling??

 

[nsafreak]

You could always install a filter on the inlet fan and have your cake & eat it too

 

[meltdown75]

your CPU temp @ idle is pretty low imho.

just get a can of compressed air and clean that sucker out.

 

[supastar1568]

thats exactley what i was thinking

but what could i use as a filter??



Im thinking maybe that peice of foam that comes in the motherboard box? I could cut that to fit???

Put that inbetween the inside of the case and the fan itself??

 

[nsafreak]

Depends on how dense the foam is but that might work. You don't want to put something in front of it that will restrict the air flow.

 

[supastar1568]

thats true.


i might try some panty hose

 

[nsafreak]

Those would probably fit the bill perfectly.

 

[meltdown75]

you could always use an actual 120mm filter.

Text

like that one.

also, watch out for the wrong forum police

 

[BW86]

Just use a filter. Just cut some of your mom's stockings and fit it into the case (stretch and tape). Done.

 

[supastar1568]

but maybe my mesh grill kind of acts like a filter.


Like i said, it gets a layer of dust on it. Well wouldnt a filter do this anyway??

this is a picture of the case

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/xoxide/phantomcase2.jpg

on the bottom of the front face is where the mesh parts are. They have that trianglular shape to them.


Eh oh well, ill figure something out. Just bored and trying to kill time.


5 days without work or school is really wierd.

 

[supastar1568]

oh, and 44C idle for my x800xl. So my temps are good i think

 

[marvdmartian]

Um, if temps in the winter aren't an issue, why bother removing it? Clean it with some compressed air, then UNPLUG it. It won't offer any significant restriction of airflow, but it also won't be sucking air into the case, so you'll want to keep an eye on case & cpu temps for a while.

They actually make fan filters, like what was pointed out above (I prefer the all aluminum ones, as they tend to filter a bit better, imho, and are a bit more durable), but on an intake fan it's likely you'd have to mount it on the backside of the fan, so the fan will still get dirty (it just will stop the dust before it gets into your case). Pantyhose work well too.

 

[shilala]

I keep a couple cans of air in my right desk door for the exact purpose you mentioned.
I can keep the front of my case clean with them. Behind the grille and in front of the 80mm papst is one of those wack metal fans filters.
It helps.