Does anyone use a filter to keep dust out of your case?

[Oifish]

I opened up my case and I was disgusted with all of the dust in there. So I got some compressed air and blew it all out. But I was wondering if there is a way to filter the incoming air. I am experimenting with a Kleenex right now to see if that helps at all. But I didn't know if anyone has done this before.

 

[Shadowknight]

Go to a fabric store and find a gauzy material you can see through. It's cheap and works well as a filter.

 

[JBDan]

My case has a filter that works fairly well (Tsunami). I've heard used dryer sheets (ie. Bounce) and pantyhose work well though.

 

[CheesePoofs]

I use the filter my case came with. It only covers one fan though, and I have three intakes (and one blowing out plus the PSU). HOwever, I dont' insane amounts of dust, which I guess is because of the positive pressure in my case.

 

[Ike0069]

I have the Sonata which comes with a filter, but I added a 120mm fan to the case door. I put one of these on it and it actually works extremely well. About 2 months of 24/7 operating, and no real dust collection inside my case.

 

[BW86]

I use the filter that came with my case (3700AMB), and it works great

 

[Idleuser]

i stop using my filter because it restricts air flow.

 

[CrimsonCutie]

Kleenex is FULL of lint.. have you ever shaken one in a room with the light comeing in LOL..

get fabric matting from a fabric store (the gauze like stuff for quilts) make great filters...

they do cut down on air flow.... if you open your case and blow it out once a month or every two months you should be fine... unless you are like operateing in a saw mill or something and its filling up every day LOL

 

[Bluefront]

You guys are just suggesting ghetto dust filters.....kleenex ? My God man.....

There are plenty of real air filters in use as computer dust filters.....they actually work. But they do require effort to install (it's called modding).

 

[jose]

goto jab-tech or svc they sell filters of all sizes..

 

[Zepper]

. As noted above, Kleenex is very linty and not particularly sturdy - so you'll have a lint problem to replace your dust problem .
Jose beat me to it. I use the two-piece plastic frames with foam filter material (easily replaced with foam air conditioner filter material) from SVC.com on my 120mm intake fans mainly because they are about the cheapest and work well ($1.99 each from SVC - TIP: SVC will ship small items via First Class Mail w/o insurance to save on shipping). I would suggest a less constrictive type of filter for smaller size fans. SVC and Jab-Tech are also the two main places I shop for this type of item.
. Another ghetto method is just to use the foam air conditioner filter material (cut to size) and held in place with some of the hook part of sticky backed Velcro. I just bought a large sheet of foam AC filter material for 88 cents at WalMart which will make many replacements. That method works just fine, particularly where there is not a lot of room with which to work.

.bh.

 

[Banzai042]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
I have the Sonata which comes with a filter, but I added a 120mm fan to the case door. I put one of these on it and it actually works extremely well. About 2 months of 24/7 operating, and no real dust collection inside my case.

That's the same filter i use, though mine is clear. My friends were laughing at me when i put it on, but the stopped pretty quickly when i would show them just how much dust it stopped in a 4 day period.

 

[0roo0roo]

you are going to have to clean it either way. no need to be too anal. filtering doesn't come free, it hurts air flow. the more effective the filter(paper hepa) the more restrictive, the more noise your fans will make at higher rpm to overcome the resistence assuming you control speed to compensate. built in filters are coarse and don't affect flow much and are easy to clean..like the sonata. works well enough to make sure only fine dust makes it in and thus your hs doesn't actually clog for atleast several months. then just use a can of air and vacumn cleaner. stock sonata type filter works well enough.

 

[KF]

>you are going to have to clean it either way.

"Net free area" is the concept used to rate screens and vents for houses. It is important because it tells you what the equivalent size hole for ventilation would be. Contrary to what you might expect, screens that keep out bugs block air flow a lot. Reduction by only a factor of 2 would be good. I doubt if the free square area of anything that filters out dust could be more than one fourth of the physical area. That means your air flow is reduced by a factor of four. Since the amount of dust is proportional to the volume of air passed, the amount of dust would be reduced to one fourth just by the reduction in air flow. As the filter accumulates dust, the free square area goes down, reducing air flow and so dust going into the case. No wonder the case stays clean.

Like 0roo0roo says, don't kid yourself. OTOH, if the exit air is just a couple of degrees warmer than ambient, your flow-through air is probably just fine. The primary function of the case fan is to keep hot air from accumulating inside. Multiple fans can help direct air flow where it is needed. I mean, if the air bypasses the hot stuff, the air going out will be very cool, but it would be pointless.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea..the coarse filters take out the fluff dust. what makes it in anyways is powder dust.

 

[Bluefront]

Take a look at the filter in this case. If you look at the whole album, you'll see another filter the same size on the rear. Two big case filters, one fan drawing through them, blowing out through the fanless PSU.

With sufficient sized filters, there is little restriction, and you can go for six months or more before any maintenance. This case stays clean as a pin....and it's almost silent.

 

[Unkno]

Some cases come with a filter, like the sonata I & II

 

[AznAnarchy99]

the ones that came with my xaserIII works good, but with tornados pulling dust in.. it doesnt block it all fast enough

 

[mdchesne]

a kleenex actually will cause more dust. pluck a kleenex out of the box and watch the lint/dust blow out from it. I'm using the stock filter on my Lian-li pc_60 and that works wonders. Haven't needed to blow it out since i got it (though i need to clean the filter 4x already).

here's an idea to try since you are experimenting at the moment: I've heard of people stretching steel wool across their fain intakes. Stretching it into a paper-thin strip 8x8cm. basically the same concept as the lian-li filter. I dunno how they attached it.

if that's too ghetto, there are plenty of dust cover add-ons at xoxide and newegg for sale on the 8cm and i think 9.2cm now

 

[NatePo717]

Originally posted by: Idleuser
i stop using my filter because it restricts air flow.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Go down to Home Depot and look for a package of about 20 home air-vent filters.

They are about 4 inches by 12 inch rectangles. You can clean them periodically by holding them under the cold tap so that the dusty side faces downward, or you can simply replace them.

They are probably about as restrictive as wire-screen filters ( check frozencpu.com and other online stores).

All of these things restrict airflow, but it pays to keep your computer innards as dust-free as possible. For instance, you will find that your CPU temperature begins to rise as dust clogs the fins of the CPU heatsink. Everything requires periodic cleaning, with or without filtered air.

 

[Bluefront]

Ghetto.....A flat filter like that over a fan is very restrictive, and clogs quickly.

I hope you guys get the fact that it's total surface area of the filter that matters most. Pleated filters have more surface area......which in turn means you can use a better/finer filter, and still allow enough air through it that you don't have to raise fan speeds. This traps smaller dust particles, and can go for much longer periods without cleaning.

My computers all have good filtration......the dust gets trapped on the filters, not on the computer internals.

 

[Diasper]

I just gave up on dust filtering. I have a dust filter that came with my 3700AMb that I've been using for the last two years but now I found out that it has been responsible for the long time clicking of my PSU (due to limiting the incoming air and making the negative pressure worse and increasing temps) and increased temps as the damn thing blocks up so easily.

In short for me at least its simply not worth it (with my case with one intake) because it limits airflow in = higher temps = me having to increase speed of the fan = more noise = more airflow + more dust being caught = vicious cycle.

Instead I'll get rid of the filters, keep my fans spinning lower RPM and thus have less dusty air passing thro my PC and less noise at the same time. Of course, I'll have to clean my PC a little mroe regularlaly and keep my room a little more dust free but I can live with that for the sake of silence, lower temps and my PSU not freaking me out when it randomly starts clicking in the middle of the night.

 

[mindwreck]

Originally posted by: NatePo717

Originally posted by: Idleuser
i stop using my filter because it restricts air flow.

and because i clean my computer about once a month anyways

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I use a wire screen on my front intake dual 120mm fans with my best computer.

Unlike the vent filters, it allows more air through -- and the finer dust DOES REACH the computer innards.

It's a trade-off. You need no filtering on exhaust fans -- only on intake. More and larger fans on the intake side, with a larger area to filter, would reduce the loss of airflow from filtration if that approach outweighs the CFMs on the exhaust side.

I tend to favor cases like the CM STacker, because such cases provide potential for much intake -- several fans -- and still make it feasible to filter.