Side Panelling?

Why is it that fans on the side panel have gone out of fashion in the past so many years? Do they actually suck at cooling or do people just want to stare at their RGB guts all day through their case window?

They don't do a lot for cooling unless you have multiple expansion cards. A front intake and top/rear exhaust work fine for most setups.

They just don't make a big cooling difference.

I have a 140mm side panel fan and honestly it maybe drops the GPU temp under load by like 2C is all.

Would be a good idea for me , look how close my rear fan is to my desk.

cannot fit inside the case because of cpu cooler

I used to have an NZXT Zero (the first version) with 4 120mm side intake fans. It didn't make more than a couple degrees of difference in temp whether I plugged them in or not.

Beyond two or three fans the benefit drops off really quickly. An intake at the front, an exhaust at the back and one at the top and you're golden.

Why would you put the machine you love and spend so much time on under your desk where it'll get hotter and eat more dust? Case on desk, man.

Smooth funneled air of windtunnels carry heat out more efficiently than having turbulent localized air.

They do make clear side panel with fan mounts.

Ive done that. I love that im not the only one.

Because side panels, especially clear acryllic, are cheap, thin, and rattle. Then there is the move to minimal aesthetics and a big glowing fan in the sude ckuttered the visual appeal of your guts.

A better question is why are ducts virtually absent from gaymen pcs?

Is it because they block the view through clear side panels?

>Case on desk
Half of my desk is used up by the monitor, keyboard and mouse the other half I use for studying and doing everything else. Where the hell should the huge case that makes a lot of noise fit?

There's nothing wrong with keeping it under your desk if you clean it regularly

If you have a raid controller card or two, unless they have active cooling (a fan) on their heat sinks, a side mounted fan may be the only thing that keeps them from overheating if you have crappy airflow from the front (like a bunch of drive bays). I have one that went off if I pulled the side fan panel off, unless I pointed a small clip on desk fan at it while it was off. Wired a 40mm Noctua to the heat sink to act as insurance in case the side fan failed.

They look like shit dude

>desklets
When will they ever learn

>A better question is why are ducts virtually absent from gaymen pcs?

My first case had an air duct that went over my 3500+ and it worked well despite being a bit off center. Haven't seen one since.

I've been thinking about doing my own DIY compartmentalization and ducting, don't see why it's never talked about really, the effects should be great

There was some test done a long ass time ago and sidepanel fans had the biggest effect on cooling because the fan is blowing straight on to the GPU and CPU its right next to. Even my cheap as shit case has two side panel fan mounts.

Windowed cases are nothing but rice.

>not having a small cupboard specifically for your PC to sit on.

1) They're big, it's hard to find a replacement for them.
2) It's a niche solution, most people are satisfied with 2 fans at a front panel or no fans except CPU fan.

On a scale of 1-10 how ugly do you guys think exterior mounted fans/radiators are?