Leosghost - 7:58 pm on May 3, 2012 (gmt 0)

If

The case grills are a bit dusty, but not much.

The CPU heat sink fins and or the Graphics card fan etc will be even dustier..and you'll have to open it anyway to mount the fan that you linked to in your OP..

Personally I open the cases of any machines I buy ( if I don't buy all the parts separately and build from components into cases *) on the first day..

Usually it is to add a lot more RAM ..or extra HDs or high end graphics cards..at which point one usually has to upgrade the power supply too..

For really specialised use, it's better to "self build" and get exactly what you want with each component having it's own guarantee..

( *But sometimes the "special offers" can get you a nice "ready built" quiet tower and good Mobo,CPU,graphics,sound combo..to use as a"base" for "projects" :)

But as there is never enough RAM..;-) I order more RAM at the same time, and open them anyway..

When I lived in the South of France,( 15 years in total ) I had regular summertime air temps of 30°C /35°C..and it was dusty..but never had machines overheat, kept them clean ( still do ) by blowing them out with compressed air every 2 or 3 months..

We had a thread about this ( how to keep them running cool ) in foo about 5 or 6 or maybe 7 years back maybe..

re the fan..bigger and slower is better..bigger fans move more air over the same time frame..and are quieter..a 200 mm fan or bigger fixed to the grill side of the machine will do more good than an 80 mm in back , although normally you want the total "air remover" diameter to be bigger or the same as "the putting the air in" total diameter larger total ..more "suck" than "blow"..;-)

You can even run with no fan pulling in, as long as you have fan(s) taking the hot air out faster than it is being created..it is all about the air flow across the heat surfaces and the evacuation of the hot air being as efficient as possible..

Or you could go water cooled :))...serious money though, and unless you are spending all day trans-coding or rendering, not really necessary..

HDs also get hotter than you would think ..they too need air flow..so if you have the sort of case where they are "stacked" towards the front with an intake behind the facia panel, put them in the bays towards the bottom( they'll get better airflow )..If you have a full stack ( all bays full ), and a "blanking plug" at the front for an auxiliary BR/CD emplacement etc..remove the "plug" and put a cut block of foam in the place..it will help air flow..and trap dust..

We could have a huge thread on "cooling" and "cooling mods", but I'm about to start cooking dinner ..so ..cheers ;-)..

maybe you or someone else can dig up that old thread we had on cooling and cleaning and temperatures ..