Am I correct to assume that the importance of proper case cooling is to keep the cpu, video card and memory unit cooled, as much as possible? My case came with 3 80mm fans. Two in front at the bottom with a filter, one at the top rear. My power supply as two fans for in and out. My cpu/heatsink has a Volcano 7 cpu cooler. My HDD is mounted on a heat sink using up one of the 5 1/4 bays with 2 small fans and filters. Now, with all of the above, why does my cpu run 6 deg. cooler with one of the side covers off as oppose to the normal use of all covers on? Cpu is an AMD XP 1900+ on a Soyo Dragon Plus mobo. How can I further improve my case cooling with NO covers off? Thanks.

which direction are your case fans pushing? the front fans should blow in and the rear ones should blow out what is your cpu temp at ilde? full load? case temp? room temp?

If you cpu is running at no hotter than about 55-60c you are ok so dont worry about it. Obviously there is more circulation in your case when the sides are off but there is also more noise when the sides are off and why do you pay for a case when you leave 1/2 of it laying on the floor?