Hi all,

I have a PC tower that I'd like to shove under the new computer desk I've
just bought.

The only problem is that the small grills for the fans inside the tower are
on the side that will be facing the side of the desk - so they could be
blocked.

I could leave a couple of inches, but I'm worried about the pc overheating.

My question is, how much minimum space can I safely leave without blocking
the grill and thus overheating the PC?

TIA

.. wrote:
Put it beside the desk. Problem solved.

And if you don't like the answer, try the following.

1) Place the computer in a well ventilated area (on top of the desk).
Run Prime95 or some other 100% CPU load for 10 minutes. Record the
computer case air temperature (may be listed as "motherboard temperature"
in your computer's hardware monitor utility). Record the room temp or
estimate it. Say for example, the motherboard temperature is 32C and
the room temp is 25C. The diff is 7C. 7C or less is a well cooled case.
7C to 10C difference is still OK, but a little high. More than 10C,
you should work on improving the case cooling of your computer.

2) Now put the computer under the desk. Run Prime95 or whatever you used
to create a 100% CPU load. Run for 10 minutes (or stop if it looks like
a thermal disaster is about to happen). Did the computer case air temperature
to room temperature differential go over 10C ? Then the computer desk needs
some forced air circulation.

If you cannot easily keep the interior of the computer case cool enough,
in test #2, then placing the PC beside the desk is the next best thing.
If you cannot pass test #1, then either make more room for air intake
on the case, or bump up the fans. There are web sites that sell fans
with a low, medium, high, or ultra rating. Low and medium are bearable
in terms of noise. High and Ultra, you'll need to turn up the stereo.
A prebuilt computer will come with a "low", and you could swap in a
medium. Or buy a high, and a fan controller like a Fanmate II, and
adjust the Fanmate II for the best compromise between noise and
cooling effectiveness. With an Ultra, you have to turn it down too
much, and at a low applied voltage, it may refuse to spin each time
it is powered up. In that sense, when you buy a fan, the fan cannot
cover all classes of operation, so buy a fan a little faster than the
application requires, and then turn it down a bit with a fan controller
(a.k.a rheobus). This is an example of a four channel device.

http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2003...nnel_rheobus/1

Paul