Better to leave case open?

[Guest]

I noticed that when taking my computer case off, Asus Prob reports a few degrees (3-5 F) cooler for both CPU & mobo. And up to 10-15 F cooler if I turn on my fan and point directly to it (heheh). So, is it better to leave the case off?
Also, how accurate are those temperature monitoring software? Is 54 degree C/113 F ok for a AMD 1.2 GHZ? 32 C/89 F ok for mainboard (AVA266)?
Thanks in advance

 

[peteb]

Hi,

54degrees C is 129F

54 is a little warm, your would be better off below 50C, but if you are not worried about shaving a few years off your cpu life (very subjective mtbf anyway) it's okay.

Same for mobo, typically try and get below 30, but 32 isn't going to hurt significantly, if at all.

What you'll find though is that you don't have any room to over-clock. With good cooling that CPU is okay for 1.4 - 1.5Ghz... If this doesn't bother you, no problem.

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[Guest]

It's actually 45 C, typo, sorry

 

[Guest]

I used the "side off, box fan blowing in" method while I was planning my airflow. After I put two 120mm a/c fans in the case (1 over the hsf blowing in, 1 at the top blowing out) I get the same temps on the cpu as I did with the side off! The mb is a few degrees warmer, but the cpu is what really matters and it looks a whole lot better with the case assembled.

"I've been called worse by better people. You can do better..."