Cleaning ?

[dennisjai215]

how often am i suppose to clean all the dust and crap? when i use the air compressor to spray my PSU i see alot of dust but i dont see them coming out so i think they are trapped in there =x

also what do i use to clean the thermal compound that was on the processor? and how shoud i clean it so i dont wanna mess up that little black thing in the center whatever that is.. =X thanks!

 

[wkwong]

i try to clean at least once every 2 weeks to prevent major buildup of dust. the longer you wait, the harder it'll be to clean. i mean i get lazy too and not clean for months and its not pretty.

for the psu, you should stick the straw of the compressed air inside the vent holes and blow. and do it from both sides. if it's realllly stuck, yo ucan take your psu apart and blow it our with the cover off, but that voids the warranty if you still have one. not a big deal unless you just bought it IMHO (most psu's have really short warranties anywyas)

if the psu gets too clogged the system can easily crash because of overheating. long, long ago my psu was soo dirty that the fan couldnt spin anymore, my computer crashed like every 5-10mins.

the black crap must be the thermal compound from your stock p4 heatsink. why are u cleaning it anyways? if you are, you'll need some rubbing alcohol and some elbow grease to get that stuff off. if you are taking it off, make sure to get both the cpu and the heatsink completely clean and put on a nice, thin, even coat of some other thermal compound, artic silver is very popular.

 

[dennisjai215]

thanks for the feedback, actually i have a amd xp mobile and my friend has a a64 ... we used cheap thermal grease and he recently bought artic silver and want to replace it.. but i dont know which way to clean a chip i dont wanna damage it by accident... you know the processor chip.. the middle has a little square peice where u apply the thermal at.. i dont know what to use to clean that... also it the thermal grease dripped off a bit to the green part of the chip can i just clean that too or leave it alone? ty ty

 

[Yoster227]

this might seem funny but, about once a month or so i'll remove the fan from the heatsink and use a toothbrush to clean the fins on the heatsink and vacuum out the case good. i also installed two fans one for input and one for output. i bought some air conditioner filter (the blue fiber type) don't know the name of it but, cut into shape for filters really works well.

 

[Mem]

. i dont know what to use to clean that... also it the thermal grease dripped off a bit to the green part of the chip can i just clean that too or leave it alone? ty ty

Arctic Silver instructions guide. .

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: dennisjai215
... you know the processor chip.. the middle has a little square peice where u apply the thermal at.. i dont know what to use to clean that... also it the thermal grease dripped off a bit to the green part of the chip can i just clean that too or leave it alone? ty ty

Use Isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth to clean up the grease. Wait until it drys then follow the link Mem provided to properly apply the Arctic Silver.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: PanzerIV

Originally posted by: dennisjai215
... you know the processor chip.. the middle has a little square peice where u apply the thermal at.. i dont know what to use to clean that... also it the thermal grease dripped off a bit to the green part of the chip can i just clean that too or leave it alone? ty ty

Use Isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth to clean up the grease. Wait until it drys then follow the link Mem provided to properly apply the Arctic Silver.

isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip works really well for this.

 

[dennisjai215]

ok thank you all for your feedbacks!

 

[wkwong]

u should wipe off the excess compound that dripped onto the "green part" of the chip. thermal compound does get on there from time to time but it's best to keep it to a minimum. so dont squirt the whole tube on the tiny processor