Is it safe to run a computer without a case forever?

[nerp]

Just get a tool-less case. Sheesh.

 

[CHADBOGA]

I've got into the habit over the last few years of leaving both sides off my tower case.

I love being able to look at my internal components.

3 and a half years since I posted this and my system with both sides off my tower case hasn't missed a beat.

It is also overclocked from 3.4Ghz to 4.0Ghz the whole time too.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

Don't take offense, but I never understood this. People buying high end components and either buying a POS case and PSU or no case at all. I don't know what the motivation is. Is it a cost thing? Put the $300 for a good case and PSU towards the CPU or video instead? If it dies in a few months, hardly seems like a good tradeoff.

I am the opposite. I always found it odd that people would spend so much money on a case, when it doesn't actually affect performance in any meaningful way.

So, many people have completely misguided beliefs about airflow.

 

[wisegeek]

I guess i am inclined towards both, i really like the open setup esp if its a GPU miner for bitcoin or something , or doing some GPU intensive (multi gpu setup) tasks.

For other aesthetic reasons, i like the nice cases but never would spend a whole bunch on just getting a fancy case for CPU

 

[TeknoBug]

Yes it's possible but there are factors to consider; dust, animal fur, carpeting (static), etc. Long time ago I used to have a long fur persian cat and every 2 weeks I had to clean off the coat of hair blocking my intake fans. I used to keep a small server on a chassis in the bedroom closet and it was pretty kept clean.

 

[VirtualLarry]

3 and a half years since I posted this and my system with both sides off my tower case hasn't missed a beat.

It is also overclocked from 3.4Ghz to 4.0Ghz the whole time too.

I just "breadboarded" my FM1 A4-3420 rig last night, since I didn't have a case to put it in. Got it 12% overclocked, from 2.8 to 3.15. Not to bad, for a really poor overclocking platform.

Now I need to shop for case + PSU to put it all together and maybe sell it.

 

[ceponatia]

I know this is an old thread but the beauty of the internet is you can continue to expand upon things. I suppose like some of the other people here, I don't understand the whole premise of this thread.

"I kind of move a lot and i can dissemble and assemble computer parts within 3 mins (yes i can do that in lightening speed). Case make it bulky and difficult to move. "

I'm with another poster in thinking that this is a ridiculous statement. The OP is stating that it is easier to take every component off of his board, unplug his drives, disconnect the PSU, etc. instead of just unplugging the PSU, monitor, and keyboard / mouse (which he'd have to do anyway) and then carrying all of those components (somehow... plastic bag? box? I wouldn't trust those things banging around in something) instead of just carrying a case, many of which have handles.

Further, you can not be 100% certain that you will never spill anything on it or that nobody else will ever mess with it. At least a case offers SOME protection. I have a > $3000 desktop and there's no way in hell I'm leaving that investment to random chance. Also as someone else said, a case improves airflow and increases the amount of cooling hardware you can install. Aiming a box fan at your exposed motherboard is not the same as having a cold air intake and hot air exhaust to dissipate heat. I read that after 3 years your rig is still doing fine, that's great. I'm still not willing to risk melting my CPU in order to make some arbitrary point.

Just my 2 cents for anyone else who stumbles across this thread 7 years later like I did. Hardware runs hotter than it did back then and decent cases have become even cheaper. Don't risk thousands of dollars just because you like looking like the guy from Pi. There are transparent cases.

 

[ehume]

I know this is an old thread but the beauty of the internet is you can continue to expand upon things. I suppose like some of the other people here, I don't understand the whole premise of this thread.

"I kind of move a lot and i can dissemble and assemble computer parts within 3 mins (yes i can do that in lightening speed). Case make it bulky and difficult to move. "

I'm with another poster in thinking that this is a ridiculous statement. The OP is stating that it is easier to take every component off of his board, unplug his drives, disconnect the PSU, etc. instead of just unplugging the PSU, monitor, and keyboard / mouse (which he'd have to do anyway) and then carrying all of those components (somehow... plastic bag? box? I wouldn't trust those things banging around in something) instead of just carrying a case, many of which have handles.

Further, you can not be 100% certain that you will never spill anything on it or that nobody else will ever mess with it. At least a case offers SOME protection. I have a > $3000 desktop and there's no way in hell I'm leaving that investment to random chance. Also as someone else said, a case improves airflow and increases the amount of cooling hardware you can install. Aiming a box fan at your exposed motherboard is not the same as having a cold air intake and hot air exhaust to dissipate heat. I read that after 3 years your rig is still doing fine, that's great. I'm still not willing to risk melting my CPU in order to make some arbitrary point.

Just my 2 cents for anyone else who stumbles across this thread 7 years later like I did. Hardware runs hotter than it did back then and decent cases have become even cheaper. Don't risk thousands of dollars just because you like looking like the guy from Pi. There are transparent cases.

While I would agree with the main thrust of your opinion, I would add one thing: if one has a large heatsink, one should either remove it or pad it against random knocks.

As it can be easier to remount a heatsink outside a case, one could make a case (pun not intended, but you could make one) for running your machine without a case, especially in these days of high-capacity SSDs. When I ran heatsink-testing rigs, I routinely ran them without cases. In later years I ran them one pull-out motherboard trays. The last one came with a place on the back for USB-style SSDs. And with modern MBs and NVMEs, you could easily do with naught but spacers.

 

[ceponatia]

Fair point and I agree that it can be done. My opinion is more that sure it's possible, but it's just easier to have a case (for an average person). Most of us aren't going to be swapping out parts routinely and the OP didn't sound like that's what he was going to be doing either. He just wanted to disassemble his PC every time he needed to move it for... reasons. I used to have a testing board that ran without a case but it's not something I would have run 24/7 like I do my desktop.

 

[mopardude87]

At one point i had a gaming desktop i sold when i had momentarily stopped gaming for a couple years.All i had was a P35 motherboard,a E8200 and 4gb of ram and a 9500gt from when i upgraded someones stuff and was given this.I had it for maybe like a entire year sitting on a cardboard box without issues.No pets and being in California we only dealt with dry heat.Pointed a box fan on it and had absolutely no issues using it for emailing and Facebook.This was before smartphones were a big thing i guess.

 

[HisEvilness]

There is a wide range of small form factors cases if you need to pack up and move. But the main reason for having a case is airflow, component protection even if you do not spill anything. Building a small form factor is just what you need really, also easier to pack up is simply disconnect the cables and put it in your truck maybe add some of the air cushions in the case to prevent damage while traveling.

 

[moinmoin]

I have an older computer (mid 2000s) in a cardboard box as well (it's some sturdy white Ikea box). It's sufficiently protected for my use case, easy to move and quick to assemble whenever I need it (which is not often anymore). The computer never was demanding with airflow and doesn't burn the box either so it's a good fit.

 

[Oddtechfan]

I suppose it goes without saying, and don't take this as a slam - but computer enclosures were of course always intended to protect the expensive electronics they house. If you can somehow otherwise protect the computer from environmental issues, be they moisture/rain, electrical, pets or otherwise without an enclosure then yes, it should operate fine.

Don't take offense, but I never understood this. People buying high end components and either buying a POS case and PSU or no case at all. I don't know what the motivation is. Is it a cost thing? Put the $300 for a good case and PSU towards the CPU or video instead? If it dies in a few months, hardly seems like a good tradeoff.

Just an argument for POS cases, as long as it has decent airflow since it is basically being used as a protective shield for bumps, dust, and ESD, whats wrong with the idea of a basically disposable case?

From my experience after the initial build I tend to get into the system itself 3 to 5 times during the lifetime of the system usually for fairly minor upgrades and troubleshooting. Things like quick release drive bays, cable sleeves, and the nicer end dust filters aren't that big of a deal when I compare it to my time spent to earn the money to buy it. I don't cut myself on sharp machining on $25 dollar cases and it has been exactly 3 times that my cases have failed to physically protect my machines. Once was a deluge from broken plumbing that no air cooled machine would service which was a decent but not great case.

I had a cheap case that died due to a fat man sitting on it. Case deformed motherboard flexed. I had seen him sit on slightly high quality mid towers previously but I had also seen a couple of them bend and warp under him. (we conducted a bit of an investigation after the fact) Most cases can stand a roughly 200 lbs guy sitting on it. Somewhere between 200 and 250 they seem to deform for cheap and mid-grade cases.

One was a nice case that got caught in some mid 20's rough housing between friends not sure how it happened but somewhere in the deal something got the side of the case in the screen just right over the cpu tower cooler, which took out the motherboard and probably the cpu. (I don't think that we ever tried to use that cpu on another pc, I do know the graphics card was ok as was the power supply, I am pretty sure someone reused the ram DDR2) I also know that the motherboard socket got separated from the board.... Hum I wonder why no one ever tried the cpu in something to the best of my memory. I really should ask my friend alex what happened to it.