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.

  • Godnroc@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    They are external ports for water cooling. They allow you to run the pipes to an exterior location, and I have never seen anyone use them ever. I would leave the rubber grommet as it generally looks nicer than the hole.

    • fhqwgads@possumpat.io
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      5 months ago

      This is the correct answer - I know because I was there 10000 years ago and had to decide between this and buying a special case from koolance. Amusingly they still sell one for the outside.

      They can also be handy if you have to do anything weird like route display cables from the GPU to the motherboard like for a thunderbolt display.

        • Sheldan@mander.xyz
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          5 months ago

          I built a PC recently, and when researching it still seemed a large chunk went with water cooling still. AIO in particular.

        • DarkSirrush@lemmy.ca
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          5 months ago

          Air cooling and closed loop coolers have gotten better, and honestly no one can afford to spend $3000 to get 3° lower temps any more.