Case cleanliness vs. Airflow

[aburntrose]

Hey guys, I just built my first system, i'm way happy with it (aside from some cable management issues i have to adress). My case seems to have very nice airflow. Anyways, i was inspecting my set up last night and i realised that i seem to be taking in a lot of dust. My house is kinda dusty (firing the maid. She can't even read anyways). I was thinking of putting some fan filters on my case, but i'm worried about how drastic of an affect that would have on the air flow. If anyone has any suggestions on good filters or that such, please help.
Thanks

 

[Boyo]

I would recommend these air filters, Filter Right. Great filter and it won't reduce your airlow. Just make sure you keep them clean.

 

[aburntrose]

Thanks for the info Boyo, i'll check'em out =D

 

[Zepper]

I always use filters on intake fans and intake vents. The fans I use make the little extra drag caused by an effective filter irrelevant.

.bh.

 

[keldog7]

You might find that the filters make quite a difference, even if they are perfectly clean. I have some older posts somewhere in these forums, where I benchmarked my CPU temps with a variety of filters / doors in either open/removed/closed state. In my P180, just last wek, I cleaned the filter and left it OUT of the machine, then dual-primed the machine. I was astounded that the filter and grating, when removed, allowed the CPU to run a full 4 degrees C cooler !! In otherwords, I doubt that dust bunnies will affect flow and temps much, but clog up a filter with even small amounts of dust, and I'm sure you'll be able to measure the difference.

 

[Boyo]

I keep my filters clean all the time and you wouldn't believe the amount of dust the Filter Right filters trap. To me, it's worth keeping the dust out. Even with my OC my CPU idles at 36C, so I doubt that my filters are causing any heat problems.

 

[scriggles]

I love em but I hate em, I get about 52c load with filters, without i get 49c
my front door blocks a hell of a lot of air, when i open the door revieling the fan, i getan oalmost instant drop in temps on my video card, from 46c idle to 40.

 

[Old Hippie]

Thanks Boyo. I remember you pointing those out before, but I couldn't find 'um again.:thumbsup:

 

[bjp999]

I read that women's hose (black recommended) make good filters. Put the fan into a leg and snip off the unused. People swear by them. This works even if the case has no room for normal filters.

No guarantees - never tried it myself. I use no filtering and deal with the dust every month or two.

 

[0roo0roo]

use a screen door/mesh filter. minimal air restriction. there is no good solution really because case type fans are no good at pushing air through obstructions. don't buy cheap addon foam filters, those really block flow. best you can hope for is to filter out the biggest particles because those are worst for modern tightly packed heatsinks. the stuff that will get through is powder dust, that takes much longer to build up to clog a heatsink. it just buys you a little time between cleanings. you could try to build a massive intake box and use a buncha big furnace filters so you'd have enough filter area not to restrict those fans too bad with very good filtering and stuff for an intake, but its not a real solution heh. the only real solution is to buy a room air filter and get rid of the problem at the source. its garranteed you will lose airflow, but its probably a hit you can take if your setup is decent. i prefer cases that have their built in filters, more convenient, like with antecs sonata/p180 etc.

 

[aburntrose]

Thanks for all the advise guys. It is much appreciated. I think i might buy an room air filter 0roo0roo suggested. Seems like a win/win situation that way. Thanks once again!!!

 

[jrwalte]

You can always custom install a 120mm fan or two on the side of your case to blow room air directly on your VGA/CPU/NB/SB. This way the restricted airflow from filters won't effect your temperatures. In fact, you'll probably see an improvement over your current temps and you'll be able to run your fans at a quieter speed.

 

[Boyo]

Originally posted by: jrwalte
You can always custom install a 120mm fan or two on the side of your case to blow room air directly on your VGA/CPU/NB/SB. This way the restricted airflow from filters won't effect your temperatures. In fact, you'll probably see an improvement over your current temps and you'll be able to run your fans at a quieter speed.

Exactly. If you are that worried about air flow, adding another fan such as a side intake will really help with cooling. Again, you won't be sorry using Filter Right fan filters. They just make sense.

 

[Boyo]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie
Thanks Boyo. I remember you pointing those out before, but I couldn't find 'um again.:thumbsup:

NP, Hippie....glad to help out