Quick pc question - sideways tower?

Can I put my pc tower on the side?  

Trying to get it off the floor and away from dust, but it won't fit on the shelf upright.  But there is lots of airflow on the shelf where I want it to go and no air vents on the big sides of he tower.

Any reason it can't be sideways?

The answer is no

When I tipped it lots of things rattled and sounded bad

And the shelf is too small.

Good thing is I found a new place dust gathers.  Bad news, it's over an inch thick dust.

New question.   Can I put my UPS (big battery power thingy surge protector) on the side?

Can I put my UPS (big battery power thingy surge protector) on the side?

No

Manual said not to and the air vents are on the sides

I got to rethink everything

Good thing is I found a new place dust gathers.  Bad news, it's over an inch thick dust.

Dust. . . I think I've seen you are a spinner . . . the first rule of being a spinner is "Thou shall not touch dust"  because if you do, then it will involve a whole lot of unwelcome dusting.
Best of luck with the relocation of the tower stuff.

Yep, dust is a pain.

I keep the computer in a separate room, away from textiles and other dust sources, and yet it still gets dusty.  Dust is weird.

Rddit say it is okay as long as the air vent get air:

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1jl533/can_i_lay_my_computer_on_its_side/

I’ve mounted PCs in all sorts of orientations, it doesn’t normally matter.

If fans start making bad noises when you change the orientation, then the bearings are probably dying and could do with being replaced.

I would start looking at air filters for the computer. Dust is never a good thing for computers. Being able to measure the thickness is really bad, it’s a great insulator and computers don’t like getting hot.

An air filter could be a simple as a muslin bag over the whole tower that just leaves a hole for the exhaust fans.


The ups is a different beast because they’re often passively cooled. It might rely on convection and so the orientation would matter.

If the ups has a fan or you running at 50% load or lower, then I wouldn’t worry and just make sure that all of the vents are clear.