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[Digital-Aftertaste]

Over the years I have had my gaming pc exhaust directly at my face due to how I have it placed in my desk set-up. I would usually just have an 80 watt fan pointed at me and would be puzzled as to why my face felt warmer than the rest of my body. Cut to a few weeks back and I decided to just touch the glass panel of my pc from time to time and notice the difference in heat when I am running intensive applications in comparison to running idle (Big surprise). Out of curiosity one day, on this case that has a side intake for the fans, I decided to point my fan towards the pc to see if some added external cooling would actually do something to it. Cutting to the present day now, my pedestal fan now is being used fulltime as an external cooler given the fact that with this schizophrenic set-up, the exhaust from the pc along with the heat of the glass panel are noticeably cooler than if I do not prop up my fan to face my pc, even for the most intensive of games I throw at it.

I am aware that this is a very dumb set-up and even worse for the fact that I am not properly verifying my thermals to actually gauge whether this kind behavior is providing any sort of positive effects when it comes to running my system cooler. However, it has now become a habit that i do not veer away from and have it running this way near constantly whenever I am using my rig. I wanted to know if other people here on gaf have, or have had other similar experiences when it comes to cooling gaming pc's.

 

[Pejo]

 

[GreenAlien]

It has positive effects, but it isn't energy efficient.

 

[rm082e]

How many intake and exhaust fans do you have on that case? I have 4 intakes and 3 exhaust. It's very effective at moving the heat out of the case. I also have a 280mm AIO cooler on my CPU and a triple fan GPU.

 

[Digital-Aftertaste]

How many intake and exhaust fans do you have on that case? I have 4 intakes and 3 exhaust. It's very effective at moving the heat out of the case. I also have a 280mm AIO cooler on my CPU and a triple fan GPU.

triple fan intake and 2 exhausts. for CPU cooling I have a cooler master air block with 2 fans propped onto the heatsink block. Regarding the GPU it is a triple fan 3090. But, the case itself has no real lower exhaust or intake space other than the PSU. I really don't like the post 2012 cases that have a seemingly useless shelf space.

 

[RaZoR No1]

 

[flying_sq]

I have a 360mm AIO top mount, in winter I move my PC under my desk to keep my feet warm

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Dude just call musk and ask if you can send your pc to space, free cooling!

 

[rm082e]

triple fan intake and 2 exhausts. for CPU cooling I have a cooler master air block with 2 fans propped onto the heatsink block. Regarding the GPU it is a triple fan 3090. But, the case itself has no real lower exhaust or intake space other than the PSU. I really don't like the post 2012 cases that have a seemingly useless shelf space.

When I switched from a Cooler Master Hyper 212 to the biggest Noctua single tower cooler, I saw a big difference. When I switched again from the Noctua on my 5800x3d to the Arctic AIO, it was a similar huge jump in cooling performance.

Air coolers were great for a long time, but I think modern top end gaming and productivity chips really need water with multiple fans.

You could also check your BIOS to see if you can increase the speed of your case fans. That would help move more air through if you can stand the increased noise.

 

[Gonzito]

One thing you could do is to remove the glass and leave the pc open. The pc temperature will be lower in general when gaming and many people do this. The only downside is that you will have to clean it more often because of dust.

As for what you are doing now, I dont think its a bad idea, if it helps keeping the computer cooler why not

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

if the pc's rear is facing you, might as well go full retard and turn it upside down too

 

[Arachnid]

OP, it would take no time at all to open it up and just flip around some fans for a better set up

 

[Kilau]

OP when gaming.

 

[Soodanim]

I stopped reading half way through that rather confused mess of words, but it doesn't matter what the OP says because the answer is simple and never changes:

Front and/or bottom: intake
Rear and/or top: exhaust

More intake than exhaust for positive pressure (less dust, excess air will be pushed out of any gaps, risk of hot air remaining if too out of balance)
Equal intake and exhaust for equilibrium
Less intake than exhaust for negative pressure (air will be pulled in through any means possible to maintain pressure)

 

[KyoZz]

Got this 4 years ago

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0DWZJNH28?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

Very happy with it, you can refill it yourself which is a big +.

 

[BlackTron]

I've never pointed a fan at my PC case before. But I have removed a side of the case and where it was, placed one of those Plasko box fans. It worked!

As for checking thermals. Just download literally any app like HW monitor, and look at the temps. There isn't really any knowledge or setup there. Just compare the reading under the same stress/game with different cooling.

 

[Gp1]

"I felt like I was reading some sort of thermal ASMR... But ok...."

Mini ATX case, switch the frontal glass for a perforated metal sheet.

Fans:
2 frontal 120mm
2 side 120mm (right at the GPU)
1 upper front 120mm intake
2 120mm exaust
CPU cooler PA 120 v2

With the right curves, It keeps a pretty hot setup (i7 14700k + 9070xt) under control without too much noise or any sign of thermal throttling, even under extreme load.