Desk Top Case fans and Filters

[Frank Jr.]

I am about to buy a new desk top computer and have been wondering about putting an air filter on the case to filter the air being pulled into the computer. However most desk tops I have used and seen the case fan blows out rendering a filter useless. Can this fan be reversed or even be advisable to do so. The reason for a filter in the first place is because of one hairy cat. His hair gets into everything. We brush him and vacuum often but........

 

[Jared Twomey]

a lot of times there are two fans, one near the front of the case to pull the air in, and one in the back blowing the air out. If there is no intake fan, there's gotta be some sort of air inlet system, otherwise the air wouldn't flow very well through the case.

 

[avg1joe]

I was wondering about filtering as well. I had a computer case which I used for a couple years. I just pulled everything out, cleaned it and put new components in. The case and fans were filthy. The air intake was in the lower front of the case and it gets blown out the back fan or the power supply fan. Could you put cloth or a filter over the intake?

 

[gbjbany]

The only issue you might have is you are reducing the airflow by adding a filter, thus you are reducing the cooling. That may or may not be an issue for you.

There are tools out there that can tell you how hot your computer is "coretemp" for example. so you may want to see how hot your system is before you add the filter, then add the filter and see if goes up by much. If you want more info you could also look at the overclocking forums as OCing is critical to kepe the temperature down so you dont fry the chip.

 

[Pepper]

I highly recommend one of these.
Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

No dust problems so far, though I do occasionally wipe the front grills where the fans are. This is without a doubt the best computer case I have ever seen. The massive amount of airflow would negate any disadvantage filters might cause, if I were to decide to add some.

 

[mike123abc]

I gave up on filters, I forget to clean them regularly. Just have a bunch of air blast through, keeps the dust at bay. Of course I do not have pets, so perhaps you might need additional measures. After a few systems without filters, opening them up and seeing no big accumulations of dust (motherboard mounted vertically anyways so dust would be at bottom of case not on MB), I decided the filters were not doing anything really useful. I just vacuum out the case when I go in it.

 

[navychop]

I highly recommend one of these.
Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

No dust problems so far, though I do occasionally wipe the front grills where the fans are. This is without a doubt the best computer case I have ever seen. The massive amount of airflow would negate any disadvantage filters might cause, if I were to decide to add some.

I like the design of that case. But the price!

Might have to get it, or something similar for my next one. Controls/ports on top make sense.

 

[nsafreak]

I like the design of that case. But the price!

Might have to get it, or something similar for my next one. Controls/ports on top make sense.

You think that's expensive for a case? You haven't shopped the premium models yet have you? Take a look at this puppy: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1010 ESA RC-1010-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

The Cooler Master Cosmos. It's one heck of a case and incidentally it has all of its fans filtered.

 

[navychop]

You're right. The days of the $60 case are gone, at least for those of us building the nicer machines.