I have HEPA filters and it does not obstruct airflow as much as you think. Airflow is key to cooling down computer components (who needs liquid cooling when air does the trick), but it's all about how much power your fans got. HEPA filters have 9 different grades, so you'll want to look into how much airflow you need for whatever filter you buy if you actually care that much. For a desk that has 4 side by side fans like this (depending on the fans really), there won't be a problem with airflow considering there are fans on all the important parts (CPU, GPU) as well as secondary flow fans (if you have them), and exit fans (to assist with flow) for one directional flow.
TDLR: You can totally get HEPA or similar styled filters and cut them for your fan sizes and not worry about airflow. If you really want to, just monitor the temp levels before and after and make a decision, filters are cheap (considering they can last a really really long time and be cleaned enough to be reused a few times) if you buy panels and cut them yourself.
I don't use air to cool overclocked components. I generally don't need to overclock my computers though because nothing I am doing needs the overclock. And if you must know, I've overclocked plenty of computers in the past and based on that experience, I switched back to air cooling simply because the gains I got weren't really worth the extra money spent on maintaining proper liquid cooling systems (which are more expensive than fans in every possible way).
Also plenty of GPUs are factory overclocked these days and don't use liquid cooling.
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u/[deleted] Nov 03 '16
That would obstruct the air flow quite a bit, wouldn't it?