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If you haven't cut a hole in your computer desk, do it now. (Mike's Epiphany)

MichaelD

MichaelD

Lifer
Wow, what a difference thru-flow can make. Like a 10-degree difference.

My 1 Gig T-Bird was running up to 132F at full load. While this isn't as hot as some folks, and while I realize that TBirds run hot, this was unacceptable for me. I have a decent HSF (CoolerMaster). And my case has front and rear 80mm exhaust fans. The case also has perforated sides.

I started looking and thinking and noticed that the cubby in the desk where the CPU sits has a solid back. No holes! So, what was happening was even though I leave the door open while the CPU is running, the hot air exhausted from the back was getting sucked back in thru the holes in the sides. Time for some mods!

One half inch drill bit, one jigsaw, one hour and 34 pounds of sawdust later, i had a nice 7 x 9 inch rectangluar opening cut out in the back panel of my computer desk. The hole lines up nicely with the PSU and the Exhaust fans.

Booted up. Ran some benchmarks (SANDRA/3Dmark)

Before hacking the desk my temps were:
CPU: 132F
System: 78F

After hacking the desk:
CPU: 122-125F
System 75F

All I can say is "duuuuuuhhh" 😱 and "why the heck didn't I realize this before?" It's kind of embarassing, but hey, if others can be helped by my "epiphany" than so be it!

You can have all the fans you can possibly stuff into the case, but if the case isn't constantly receiving a supply of FRESH, COOL air, then all your doing is recirculating hot air.

I think that 122-125F under full load for a 1Gig Tbird is pretty good. Just wanted to share. Cheers!
 
d00d, i thought you mean for cabling...

my computer IS NOT INSIDE MY DESK.

both are sitting next to it, with their blowholes pointed AWAY!!! =) both have side mounted blowholes with 120mm fans.

anyway... if you do cut holes, depending on the nature of the desk and the nature of the holes, you may want to reinforce the sucker. =)
 
My desk is mainly open, with a steel bar array. I'm glad my desk has no solid panels, save for the top and the shelf that the computer itself sits on. Makes for a very nicely ventilated area.

dm
 
That's a pretty impressive temp change MichaelD. Be interesting if you tested it with the case cover off.
 
yeah the worse is blocking the computer off.. i have a desk with 4 legs and nothing around.. good breathing room...
 
or if you have a nice desk maybe you could just move your computer?

thanks, i just moved mine
 
Actually, I do have a nice desk! Pretty fancy. The back of the desk is 3/4 inch particle board (what a mess when you cut it). Cutting the hole doesn't bother me at all because you cant see it. No matter where I move it, the back will most probably be against a wall. Someday, if I ever have a house, maybe my "computer room" (yeah, right) will be big enough to have the desk facing out...I'll worry about that when I come to it though....could always get some moulding and make a "frame" if you will, around the hole...make it look all fancy!

As far as leaving the side of the case off...I've thought about it and some folks have suggested it, but I'm worried about dust buildup. I know that dust gets inside anyway, but my apt is dusty. When I first took the cover off my old pc, there was a slight dust buildup inside, but in back of the pc, where you can't clean unless you remove the box, there was about 1/4 inch of dust back there. Ergo, I'm hesitant about leaving the cover off of my new "monster" that I spent a whole lotta cash on.

I still haven't modded the front of my case; i.e. cut a hole in the plastic bezel in front of the fan mounted on the chassis to improve airflow. Haven't done that yet because that involves removing drives to get at the clips that hold the bezel on. But, I'm pretty happy with a 10-degree drop. For now that is 😉
 
Dude! It worked!
I also had to drill a 8cm hole through the back of my cubicle and through my coworker's filing cabinet but it was worth it!

😉
 
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