Leaving side of case off?

[willhub]

Does anyone else do this? I'd assume even the best of cases the temperature is going to be higher with it on, my Enthoo Evolv or whatever it's called I've taken the front metal, even then, with the side of the case on my GPU is around 4 degrees C hotter, however it might even be more so given that the temperature differences also comes with much less GPU fan noise when the side of the case is off so it's obviously having to ramp up to work harder to keep the temp from going up any further.

Thoughts?

 

[tom_e]

Absolutely fine as long as you don't have pets/kids that might get into it.

 

[eddiew]

I do it all the time in summer

Which is why I want to pick up a new case with better airflow. Sound dampening is a bit of a lie when it makes your fans spin faster

 

[lsg1r]

Does anyone else do this? I'd assume even the best of cases the temperature is going to be higher with it on, my Enthoo Evolv or whatever it's called I've taken the front metal, even then, with the side of the case on my GPU is around 4 degrees C hotter, however it might even be more so given that the temperature differences also comes with much less GPU fan noise when the side of the case is off so it's obviously having to ramp up to work harder to keep the temp from going up any further.

Thoughts?

Taking the side panel off may actually make temps worse because of air flow etc.
Your gpu will be cooler if it's getting access to unrestricted air but your cpu cooler, not to mention motherboard heatsinks, might actually be worse because they're no longer getting air directed over them etc.

I know in my own setup (o11 evo) it isn't much different either way. My side mounted aio pulls in air from outside, so no different on the cpu and I have top to bottom air flow which basically blows cold air onto my gpu as well...maybe a little different in the motherboard and ram but nothing major.

Normally I don't run with the case side panel off, although I am at the moment while waiting on a couple of parts.... summer, the fans ramp up a little higher to compensate for the higher room temps.

 

[Skynet5]

My brother had a computer about 20 years a go. No idea what it was now, but he had endless over heating problems. He put the side of the case on and it all solved itself.

He lives somewhere quite hot in the summer though. And I guess one component was dumping heat on to another and nothing was moving the air.

I wouldn’t leave mine open just for other reasons cited above. I have a cat for a start and he’ll be bathing in coolant in no time.

 

[clone]

Sounds like your cooling is the problem as I had that case with 5 140mm corsair fans in it and it was fine.

 

[SpudMaster]

As said above. If your case has good airflow and is set up correctly then really your temps should be worse with the side panel off

 

[Deleted member 77746]

I used to do it but don’t do it now. I even took my custom blue neons out of the case and it’s a plain Corsair 240 now.

 

[adidan]

Does anyone else do this?

No.

 

[Drumroll]

For cases starved of cool air or undersized, is an option. A well balanced case with decent airflow will benefit for the side panel in place as it will kind of direct the airflow or at least help keep the pressure/way the airflow goes.
Open side panel pretty much works as a bench kind of case, where the system will draw cool air for the surrounding area without any obstruction. Works fine, but in some situations, for example when you have bottom intake fans pointed at the GPU, you won’t have that “passive” cooling. Not really passive, but the GPU won’t get any active cooling unless start spinning its fans.