What are the rubber circles for on the back of my pc case? Should I just leave them like that if don’t have a need for them? Or are they likely to let I’m dust into the motherboard?

Edit: thanks for all the replies, so just for water cooling I have no need for.

  • @badbytes@lemmy.world
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    710 months ago

    It’s for safety, to protect any unexpected insertions, you first want to wrap parts in rubber. Otherwise you get a virus.

  • kamen
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    610 months ago

    Besides the water cooling that’s already mentioned, those could be used for example for routing an internal device out and into the I/O of the motherboard. An example would be some fan/RGB controllers that are meant to be somewhere inside the case, but are terminated with a standard USB A plug (and very few motherboards have that as an internal connector). Another example is a mini display that you could put inside the case that would need to interface with the GPU (so you’d need to route a DP or HDMI cable out of the case and into the back of the GPU).

  • @Wahots@pawb.social
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    810 months ago

    Watercooling holes. That said, I’ve never seen anyone use them. Mounting external rads is a bitch. They take up space. Most people just buy a watercooling compatible case.

  • Tarquinn2049
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    1210 months ago

    Well, you got the answers you were looking for, here is a different answer. To your other implied question, how to not worry about dust getting in other holes.

    Main thing is to develop positive air pressure. You want more powered intake than powered exhaust.

    Use fans for all your filtered air intakes, ignore powered air exhaust, run it at lower fan speeds if you can. Air will get out fine. If you force the air in where you want it to go in, dust will only go into the easily removable filters, it won’t be on your components. Any extra hole in the case will just be exhausting the already filtered air. Then just remember to actually check and clean your filters. That’s the hard part. But if you clean them when they need to be cleaned, you will never have to actually clean the inside or the fans or components or anything else, just the filters.

  • DontTakeMySky
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    1110 months ago

    Dust will get in pretty much no matter what you do. I wouldn’t worry about it. If you live in an already really dusty environment then get some sections of filter and attach them inside of these holes but honestly I wouldn’t worry.

    It’s for water cooling loops if you want to mount the rad or pump or something outside of the case. I think it was more common in the early days of water cooling when things were less standardized.

    • OsaErisXero
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      510 months ago

      Not less standardized so much as when the only cooling loops were custom ones and not AIO

  • @taiyang@lemmy.world
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    410 months ago

    Is that an NZXT? It looks almost exactly like my old case I just repurposed. (And yes, it’s for water cooling but those cases have exceptional air cooling so it was never that important.)

    • TheSlyFoxOP
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      210 months ago

      Yes it is! Good to know about the air cooling.

      • @taiyang@lemmy.world
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        010 months ago

        The Nocturne did me well, recently got the boxier one though since video cards are getting out of hand. Love NZXT though!

  • @xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    Those look like optional expansion ports cut into the case that were filled with plugs because the configuration didn’t need them. The shape I’d really odd though since the only thing that comes to mind is that they were intended for additional power cables - the shape is weird.

    Edit: Downvotes for attempting to answer the question… awesome.

    • @Wahots@pawb.social
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      210 months ago

      They are for watercooling, but you are right that people don’t need them. OEMs just add some holes or a random reservoir mount and then bill a case as Watercooling Ready™️, even if it has like, space for one 120x15mm rad, lol.

    • FaceDeer
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      1510 months ago

      Downvotes for not getting it right, I presume.

      Which makes me concerned that the “Hole for Pepnis” answer has so many upvotes.

      • @xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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        -210 months ago

        Although it is a gasket for an optional expansion that wasn’t included - it just appears I was wrong about the type of cable.

        • FaceDeer
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          410 months ago

          Being slightly wrong means more of an endorphin rush when people realize they can pounce on the flaw they’ve spotted, I guess.

          Don’t sweat downvotes, they’re especially meaningless on the Fediverse. I happen to like a number of applications for AI technology and cryptocurrency, so I’ve certainly collected quite a few of those and I’m still doing okay. :)

          • warm
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            410 months ago

            I imagine downvoting incorrect answers being pretty useful in this type of community, it’s nothing personal and as you said, it doesn’t mean anything. Though just not upvoting would be sufficient.

              • warm
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                110 months ago

                Only if you care about it. I can see why people do care, but there’s really no need to, especially in this enviroment.