this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/46256923

why don't they just do this? are they stupid?

Centurii-chan | Bluesky | XCancel

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[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 53 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Also, as a bonus, put a cheap 4-inch AC filter on that box fan.

Now you have:

  • Zero dust in your PC

  • Noise dampening

  • A high CFM air purifier, right in your room.

[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 33 points 2 days ago

Get a 20x20x4" filter, and the fan will suck it right to itself. Don't even need mounting materials.

I do that with my tower fan and it’s incredible. Just zip tied the filter on and let er blast.

[–] Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world 39 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I had to do this with a PC once. I upgraded the GPU in an old HP, and then it would overheat playing Modern Warfare 2. Finally just took off the side of the case and pointed a box fan at it. Never overheated again.

Damn, came to comment the same thing, and it also was an HP.

[–] zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 2 days ago

It can and has been done, but this doesn't work as well as people think in most cases. You need high static pressure fans for some of the good, dense fin heat sinks. There used to be some decent large, more open heat sinks that this worked well with.

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 30 points 2 days ago (1 children)

But people actually do do this, if for some reason a PC is overheating or the built-in fans are making too much noise. A big fan running slowly moves more air more quietly than a bunch of little fans. I even wired an external DC fan into the PC's power supply once so that I wouldn't have to plug them in separately.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 18 points 2 days ago (3 children)

My experience is that this also builds up a pretty spectacular amount of dust inside the case, so regular vacuum cleaning is called for.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

that's why you use a custom water cooling loop connected to a car radiator outside.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 4 points 2 days ago

Or better, connected straight into your pool!

Wait.

[–] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Whole home hepa hvac filter on the intake side?

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago

Yes, something like that!

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Point the fan outwards and pull heat out instead of pushing cool air in. Problem solved.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 6 points 2 days ago

Problem not solved. You'll still collect dust wherever there's intake.

The filter is probably the best solution IME.

[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I did that once in one build.

It was a shitty PC that I kept upgrading, but for some reason kept the case. so when it kept overheating,I just put a box fan just like that

[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

100%

of course it did.

it looked like shit, but it worked.

[–] YellowParenti@lemmy.wtf 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Did you put an air filter or did you clean all the dust every month or two like I did?

[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

lol, were do you live? it got a wee dusty after a year but not even close to that,

[–] YellowParenti@lemmy.wtf 2 points 21 hours ago

Lol, I just found the pic online. I basically just used canned air every 2 months and gave it a quick pass on the heat sinks and any possible dust bunnies. Nothing near as bad as the pic.

[–] HyonoKo@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 days ago

I did this before discovering one could change the CPU’s thermal paste.

[–] real_squids@sopuli.xyz 15 points 2 days ago

Hook an industrial chiller to that mf

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

I'll stick with my $700 pc fan, thanks.

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

For $700, that little fan better be able to blow, if you know what I mean...

[–] Davel23@fedia.io 6 points 2 days ago
[–] BakedCatboy@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago

And then there's me with a 9800x3d with a low profile cooler in a fractal ridge. It only throttles under synthetic tests so I just say fuck it and let it run at whatever temp it wants to run at.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This doesnt work with dense fin stacks though, because there is not enough pressure to push the air in between the fins. This would only work with very low power systems or heatsinks specifically designed for this kind of fan.

[–] Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I have to disagree, i have worked around overheating pc components in gaming machines with taking off the case wall and pointing a room fan at it more times than i went to admit. This works fine, even if it's an ugly solution and literally a "hotfix"

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Oh yeah for sure it improves things over a closed case, but its not gonna replace your CPU fan is what i meant. The big fan just removes the hot ambient air and allows the cpu/gpu fans to get access to cooler air.

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This isn't meant to replace internal fans, just case fans like in the picture

Not really clear as you cant see inside case but fair enough.

[–] purrtastic@lemmy.nz 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 4 points 2 days ago

Apples cooling solution has always been to let the device overheat and avoid trying to cool it. All their laptops before the arm series had major thermal issues.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 3 points 2 days ago

I can't say I haven't ever used a desk fan blowing into an open case, but it was during a heatwave and I was being overly cautious with the internal temperatures. It would probably have been fine without it. Probably.

As a bonus I was able to get some of the blowback from the case, which wasn't too warm and meant that I didn't completely sacrifice my own cooling.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I have done this. Heat in Australian summer and high end games requires more cooling then the stock Intel fan.

[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

Sure its a joke, but have you not seen the lengths people have gone to cool machines?

Submerged in mineral oil baths, liquid cooling from diy to expensitivo pro systems, fanless 100lbs copper heatsinks.

Stupid? Almost certainly, but not because of our innability to use big fans.

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

Yeah I did this in university.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Or better yet: ducts.

I have zero case fans in my PC.

[–] Klear@quokk.au 5 points 2 days ago

I have only fans in my PC.

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world -4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

A single picture isn't really a comic strip.

what if the artist strips while drawing it?

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

The rules are simple:

The post can be a single image, an image gallery, or a link to a specific comic hosted on another site (the author’s website, for instance).

Emphasis mine

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world -1 points 2 days ago

Still not really a comic strip.