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Running naked

H

holli4pirating

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 13, 2005
Messages
1,432
Is there any danger in running a computer naked (ie. no case)? I'm waiting on a custom case that might take over a month to get, but I've already sold my current rig and want to start building the new one.
So first, is it safe to do. If so, anything to be careful about/watch out for?
 
i have ran a pc without a case before and it runs ok. i had the mobo on an anti static mat same with the hd's.

Everything ran fine (if a little dusty) oh and fan placement is fun too. i had to tape a system fan onto the mat to get an airflow where i wanted.

It's upto you really, can you survive without your rig for a month or more??
 
It's relatively safe to build a computer without a case. There are a few things you should watch out for and think about before doing so:

Static: When you build a computer with a case, the case itself can act as a ground for your components and by touching the case before you get to touch components, you reduce the chance of an electro-static shock harming your stuff.

Movement: Part of the reason a case is built the way it is, is to allow your components to be in close proximity, and allow the parts to be moved all at once at the same time. Be sure to remember to unhook anything you are trying to move (think about the times you have tried to pull a comptuer out from under a desk and had all the wires still connected).

Touchable: Make sure you make a 'do not touch' policy for the computer. Don't believe that your friends/spouse/kids will know what they can and cannot touch while the computer is on. Kids are notorious for seeing a fan and trying to make noises by sticking stuff in it, and your friends? Well you just know how they are about stuff that isn't theirs...

Dust: If you are getting ready to build a new case, I assume that you will want it to be clean. If you have your components laying out, especially over a week or more, you would be surprised at the amount of dust that can collect on the system. I know some will claim that fans will cause the same problems, but the fact that you have an exhaust fan will significantly reduce the amount of dust, and that doesn't even account for the fact that most MOBOs are typically mounted vertical as opposed to horizontal in a case (allowing dust to settle on the bottom)
 
I had a computer I used as a router along with some other network stuff, it was too crappy for me to justify buying a case. so I screwed it onto a piece of plywood, the motherboard on one side, the drives and power supply on the other.

it was all fine until one of the capacitors burst and put a big burn mark on my wall (it was actually on fire for a few seconds, I was just stunned, it was a spectacular thing, and a cute little error message came up on screen.

yes, you can do it, but your motherboard might explode ;)
 
Lol... I can see myself standing, slack jawed, stairing at my wall, on fire, while windows is telling me something isn't right.

What'd the error say?
 
over the course of a second or so, all of my programs crashed, one by one. then blue screen, featuring its usual gibberish, but it didn't finish drawing, it got cut off half way through the "beginning memory dump" message. one third blue screen, two thirds black.
 
Interesting.

Every build I make for myself, the case always comes last. I have made many, many computers and I overclock them and stress test them before casing them. I want to find faulty components before install them...

I used to have an AMD 2000+ counter strike server (it is now the desktop I am on now while my main machine waits for an SLI mobo) and it ran like a dream on a piece of plexi hanging off my door. It ran like that for over a year, and is still going strong (though its in a case now).


Bill... please tell me you used standoffs instead of directly mounting that thing :D
 
I made spacers for it, it had run well for a year or so on that board, but it was an old socket 7 mobo, and I think I might have bumped the capacitor that blew by accident a few weeks before it happened. still a good reason to put a case around it.

just be careful, don't move it, and try not to leave it out longer than necessary.
 
I have ran caseless before just for testing purposes only but I don't recommend it though unless you have something to secure the PCI/AGP Cards in place
 
Do you have pets? A naked comp will suck in pet hair, and a curious pet might want to investigate too close.
 
i went caseless for about half a year and used legos for my harddrives and fan holders, worked great





you could always use a box as a temp case ;)

 
I had a naked case for about an hour, before I realised how much of a dumbass my brother and his friends were and rushed out to get a cheap Centurion 5.
If they won`t kill it with static shock, they will:

1) Piss on it
2) Conveniently trip right over your comp, and snap your $300 GPU in half.
3) Piss off my mom, at which point where she will indiscriminately smash the shit out of anything, and everything in sight.
4) You know what dumbass siblings and their cronies are capable of.

For the record, this is what it looked like for the shortest time ever:

DSCN0389.jpg
 
yea, its more or less safe, iv done it before, i just did kinda what that other guy did with the legos. I made a lego stand for the mobo and put the mobo anti-static bag under the mobo, then i made a mount for the HDD to keep it off the table and then i made an attachment on top for the optical drive and just put the PSU on the desk. Its pretty safe just as long as you dont put drink near by or little kids who will be touching it and stuff.
 
Lethal said:
Do you have pets? A naked comp will suck in pet hair, and a curious pet might want to investigate too close.
Click to expand...


My cats walked over (the shelf was on their way to a favorite spot of theirs) 2 naked computers I had running on a shelf for about 4 months without ever getting curious enough to hurt themselves or the computers.
 
Thanks for the replies all. I will be getting the server comp in a bare frame, so I think I'll just tinker with that for a while before I order the parts for my gaming rig. (Those Xeon's are supposed to be wicked OCers.)
As for the concerns you all mentioned, I don't have any pets, siblings, or parents around since I'm a college student living in a single dorm room. And my gf knows I'm kinda anal about my stuff (esp comps), so she wouldn't go near it.
 
^^^

LOL, sounds like me, haha, then you should be perfectly fine, just make sure that mobo, whatever it sits on, doesnt conduct electricity or static electricity more importatnly.
 
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