08-20-2003, 05:39 PM
im not saying you have to push it out. The key is air flow. If you have fans in the front sucking air in and you have fans in the rear sucking air out...then you have a good airflow pattern...getting airflow over the heatsinks and getting the hot air out the back. Same thing if you had a side fan in your case. You have a side fan sucking air in and you have fans pulling this air out some other exit...but the whole time you have flow OVER the heatsinks and the cooling process commences. Now if you have the whole side of your case open. Then your installed fans don't do squat. Your front fan sucks in air but it is dispersed out the side that is open. You are not condensing the airflow over the right parts. If you open up a new Dell or Compaq PC these days, you will see neatly fitted air panels that direct air to the exact places that need it almost like air ducts. Now if you placed a big ass shop fan RIGHT in front of the open side of your case then you probably would get good cooling...be it will make a hella noise.