Open air case during the summer?

[scooterlibby]

I have an Antec 1200, which performs beautifully, but during the Texas summer my OC'd CPU and pair of 580 generate a tremendous amount of heat. I've toyed with removing the side panel and just letting it air out. My question is, am I actually improving airflow by doing that? I know I can benchmark my temps for with/without, but wanted to know theoretically how taking of the side panel effects airflow. I did not have a fan on the side.

 

[dfanatic86]

A lot of the components are designed to work in a closed environment. Not mention more dust will be able to on your pc's components. Also having the case on controls system airflow. I'd put back on. jus my opinion tho.