Periodic Maintenance: The Dangers of Dust

[velusip]

Recently I spent some time at a friends place fixing his computer while explaining the importance of tearing it apart to clear dust away. Ensuring I covered my tracks and wasn't just playing the hypocrite I then enacted said advice myself. Lo and behold temperatures went down by (brace for epic) 23 degrees Celsius at full load.

So as a friendly reminder to all and for the sake of computer longevity, fire prevention, and most importantly sustained performance; cleaning and re-seating your sink every so often is worth the effort!

 

[Deleted member 184142]

Dust mine every week, so I never forget, having an air compressor does come in handy. I also had a friend ask me for some help, because his PC was "Soooo slow when I play any games" It's an older PC and all but I thought I would give it a look...This is what I find:

 

[sirmonkey1985]

Dust mine every week, so I never forget, having an air compressor does come in handy. I also had a friend ask me for some help, because his PC was "Soooo slow when I play any games" It's an older PC and all but I thought I would give it a look...This is what I find:

*snip*

dang that looks as bad as my cpu fan on my file server.. but since its a file server and gets almost no use i dont bother going through all the trouble of taking it out of my closet to dust the thing out.. but my main system gets dusted at the least once a week sometimes twice a week.. sucks living in the boonies with sand as dirt.. makes dust even worse because its such fine particles..

 

[Lanx]

I have the metrovac 50$ blower, much has been said about this bad boy already. It is basically a hand held leaf blower. If you use compressed cans buy this, because, unlike cans that last 2minutes and cost 4$ this one just uses electricity and is 20x the power(really i kid you not).

Just b/c i know i don't have to buy cans every month i dust more reguarly, not to mention i dust my molding and my ceiling and blinds with this thing too(just point the vacuum clean hose along w/ it like a double barrel shotgun and it picks up all the dust that spreads out) good for ppl who have allergies, (like my gf who is allertic to dust)>

 

[and713]

I have the metrovac 50$ blower, much has been said about this bad boy already. It is basically a hand held leaf blower. If you use compressed cans buy this, because, unlike cans that last 2minutes and cost 4$ this one just uses electricity and is 20x the power(really i kid you not).

Just b/c i know i don't have to buy cans every month i dust more reguarly, not to mention i dust my molding and my ceiling and blinds with this thing too(just point the vacuum clean hose along w/ it like a double barrel shotgun and it picks up all the dust that spreads out) good for ppl who have allergies, (like my gf who is allertic to dust)>

Do you know a good place to buy the metrovac, I'm REALLY sick of buying overpriced compressed air. I live in Seattle now and places try to charge over $5 for compressed air.

 

[Markdek]

Go to Home Depot/Lowes/etc., and buy a small air compressor w/ a small tank, add an inline water/oil knockout, and you are set for years. I think mine cost ~$40 on sale. Blowing out dust has always worked better for me cause you can get in some small places, including blowing out the inside of those loooonnngg Video Cards.

.

 

[lodingi]

I use my leaf blower to clean my cases. I use plastic straws to lock the fan blades before blasting away. I might grab one of the hand helds though.

 

[and713]

Yeah, I'd like to get a handheld one, that'd be better than having a having to have an air compressor in my room all the time.

 

[Keno]

Yeah, word of caution using air compressors, I was blowing the dust out of my old laptop, and thought it was fun to see the fan spin ridiculously fast until two of the blades flew off. I ended up breaking another blade off just to balance the fan a little better. The fan still works, its just a little noisier.

 

[Deleted member 184142]

sucks living in the boonies with sand as dirt.. makes dust even worse because its such fine particles..

Indeed, I live on a dirt road, and I have filters on every part of my case, and it's still dirty when I dust it out every week.

Yeah, word of caution using air compressors, I was blowing the dust out of my old laptop, and thought it was fun to see the fan spin ridiculously fast until two of the blades flew off. I ended up breaking another blade off just to balance the fan a little better. The fan still works, its just a little noisier.

Your lucky you only broke the blades, doing that it is VERY easy to ruin the bearing in the fan also, they don't have the highest speed ratings on them, and using an air compressor it's easy to shoot that speed up to 10k+.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

Yeah, word of caution using air compressors, I was blowing the dust out of my old laptop, and thought it was fun to see the fan spin ridiculously fast until two of the blades flew off. I ended up breaking another blade off just to balance the fan a little better. The fan still works, its just a little noisier.

this is why when cleaning fans you use short bursts of air but yeah ive done that before though on purpose on a dead laptop and the fan basically disintegrated..

 

[Hornet]

I always use a vacuum cleaner to clean my PC, it works well, except for the GeForce 9800GTX+ card (I think most of you guys should know those kind of cooling found on nvidia cards

I'm thinking of taking the whole cooler apart to clean the heatsink inside, and reapply the thermal paste, but I'm worry about those "white pads" use to contact the RAM chips, I'm afraid I might damage those pads.

BTW, in what direction do you guys blow the air to clean such graphic card cooler? From the fan or the exhaust outlet?

I notice the dust collects at the edge of the heat sink beside the fan, I'm afraid that trying the blow them out through the exhaust will end up having the dust stuck in the middle of the heatsink instead

 

[sirmonkey1985]

i blow in the direction the fans suppose to move.. also using a vacuum isnt the greatest idea since it can create static electricity.. as long as the dust isnt on the fan blades or the heatsinks fins inside it you should be fine..

 

[StoneTZ]

I had my laptop over in Afghanistan for two years and it slowed down so bad I could hardly use it. I took the whole thing apart cleaned about 2lbs of dirt out of it and it ran like new. I learned and never made that mistake again.

Official sources say not to use an air compressor. I think it's fine, the group agrees right?

 

[Deleted member 184142]

I had my laptop over in Afghanistan for two years and it slowed down so bad I could hardly use it. I took the whole thing apart cleaned about 2lbs of dirt out of it and it ran like new. I learned and never made that mistake again.

Official sources say not to use an air compressor. I think it's fine, the group agrees right?

So long as it has a "dryer" or water separator, and you don't go to crazy and stay away or hold fans from spinning, I think it's just fine.

 

[Elios]

I always use a vacuum cleaner to clean my PC, it works well, except for the GeForce 9800GTX+ card (I think most of you guys should know those kind of cooling found on nvidia cards

I'm thinking of taking the whole cooler apart to clean the heatsink inside, and reapply the thermal paste, but I'm worry about those "white pads" use to contact the RAM chips, I'm afraid I might damage those pads.

BTW, in what direction do you guys blow the air to clean such graphic card cooler? From the fan or the exhaust outlet?

I notice the dust collects at the edge of the heat sink beside the fan, I'm afraid that trying the blow them out through the exhaust will end up having the dust stuck in the middle of the heatsink instead

vacuums are bad juju on pcs becouse they can create ton of static id say way from that and go with compressed air

 

[Spare-Flair]

I've done the panty hose filter to my PC and I've tried to create some good positive air pressure in the case so dust doesn't wander into the vents because air is escaping through every opening.

A small air compressor would be nice to have though. I'm paying $10 for cans of compressed air here!!!

 

[4BwlNvvHufcy]

I have the metrovac 50$ blower, much has been said about this bad boy already. It is basically a hand held leaf blower. If you use compressed cans buy this, because, unlike cans that last 2minutes and cost 4$ this one just uses electricity and is 20x the power(really i kid you not).

Just b/c i know i don't have to buy cans every month i dust more reguarly, not to mention i dust my molding and my ceiling and blinds with this thing too(just point the vacuum clean hose along w/ it like a double barrel shotgun and it picks up all the dust that spreads out) good for ppl who have allergies, (like my gf who is allertic to dust)>

This one? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=186ZP71JEFSVVR0GEHSR


If anyone has used one of these, feedback please!

 

[Lanx]

yup thats the one, amazon has about the best price, others are -+5 bucks or so? but they are from tiger direct and whatever.

 

[Copyright]

damn, im gonna pick up one of those. So does it vacume and blow?

 

[tsfroggy]

I remember having an old Compaq whose CPU bottlenecked constantly. Before I knew anything about computers, I called them to replace the whole PC. They replaced everything inside it and the guy told me that all the dust in my cooler was the issue. Go figure.

 

[4BwlNvvHufcy]

damn, im gonna pick up one of those. So does it vacume and blow?

That one I posted, the link to Amazon, does not vacuum. They have models that do.... I wish I knew if those had as powerful a blower as this one meant for our purposes....

 

[Mav451]

After years in the dorm/home with a case on the floor, I moved it up to the desk and the difference is how much dust gets in is huge. Kind of sad, but the Lian Li I got last year represents the first case I've had with filters. My first 8 years was in my trusty AX-01BLD case, with no filters and tin-snipped fan openings haha. Anyway, with the filters + case on the desk, I check every few months, but there's basically no dust in there.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

After years in the dorm/home with a case on the floor, I moved it up to the desk and the difference is how much dust gets in is huge. Kind of sad, but the Lian Li I got last year represents the first case I've had with filters. My first 8 years was in my trusty AX-01BLD case, with no filters and tin-snipped fan openings haha. Anyway, with the filters + case on the desk, I check every few months, but there's basically no dust in there.

yeah it is amazing in the difference.. but id rather have my computer on the floor dusting it out every 2 weeks then on desk.. guess im just to use to having it on the floor after all these years to change..