Rant: Stop putting intake fans behind solid glass panels

I keep seeing builds on here where people mount 3 intake fans behind a solid piece of tempered glass. There's no mesh or gap for air to get through. It's just for the RGB glow. I tore down a buddy's build last week and his CPU was hitting 85 degrees under load. The fans were spinning, sure, but they were just recycling hot air inside the case. Has anyone else had to talk someone out of this setup?

2 comments

2 Comments

quinn_nguyen2d ago

Oh man, "just recycling hot air inside the case" - that's exactly what's happening. I've seen this so many times. Tell your buddy to flip those fans to exhaust or get a case with proper mesh intake, even if it means losing some of the RGB glow. A simple trick I use is the paper test - hold a piece of paper near the intake fans, if it doesn't get pulled tight against the glass, the airflow is basically zero. The GPU and CPU will thank you, and honestly, a functional build with decent temps looks way better than a hot one with pretty lights.

amygonzalez2d ago

Wait, your buddy was hitting 85 degrees and still thought that setup was okay? That's wild, I would have panic paused everything at like 75.