How often do you de-dust your PC inside?

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
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I'm bit of a clean freak. I built my system mere 10 months ago.

Why is it that new PCs are super quiet (you can't even tell if it's on), then they get much louder within a year?

That got me curious to open my case. The inside was still quite clean, but the case & PSU fan built up a bit of dust. I also noticed my GPU (HD6870), and case fans virtually made no noise, while the stock CPU fan (i3-2120) was the single biggest offender of the noise. And the heatsink had surprisngly lots of dust stuck between them.

I got my vacuum and put the brush handle on it. I sucked the crap out of them all. Squeaky clean.

I also ended up unseating my CPU heatsink & fan and cleaned it. Because the heatsink was hard to reach due to the fan blades, I also separated them both and cleaned them. This could've caused far more trouble than it's worth, but it was a mission for me.

The PC is cooler now.. about 6-7 degrees. And it SEEMS quieter too.

Idles at 33-35 (previously 40~, amazing)
Regular after being on couple hours is 40-45
Haven't seen it go above 50

I have to do this again in 10 months? Blech.
 
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radhak

Senior member
Aug 10, 2011
843
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81
I think I must have cleaned my Dell desktop a few years ago when I added a PCI card, but nothing deep :rolleyes:.

I think cleaning must help with the heat, and hence with the fans, so overall the noise must reduce.

But while my existing machine did not inspire me to provide it TLC, I'm pretty sure with the new one I'm in the process of building, I'll be more inclined. Now that you said 10 months made it louder, I think 6 months is a decently long stretch to do a deep clean. How much time did it take you overall? I'd think an hour every 6 months is not too bad.
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
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Filtration is your friend.

My HAF922 sucks dust like a vacuum cleaner... this is the fan on the 212+ CPU cooler after just 2 months.

CPUfandust_zps3fe1a3e5.jpg


I bought some magnetic filters that go on the outside of the case... they immediately cut down on the dust inside. Furthermore, I covered the unused ports on my case (the huge side vent and closed up gaps around the other intakes/exits) which not only helped with dust, it helped with temps. The upside is I can just give the front filter a snort with some compressed air and it's good to go for another couple weeks.

It doesn't stop it all, I still pull the side panel off about every 6 months and blow out the interior, but it sure helps.
 

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,395
1,187
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I think I must have cleaned my Dell desktop a few years ago when I added a PCI card, but nothing deep :rolleyes:.

I think cleaning must help with the heat, and hence with the fans, so overall the noise must reduce.

But while my existing machine did not inspire me to provide it TLC, I'm pretty sure with the new one I'm in the process of building, I'll be more inclined. Now that you said 10 months made it louder, I think 6 months is a decently long stretch to do a deep clean. How much time did it take you overall? I'd think an hour every 6 months is not too bad.

20-25 mins. It took this long because I had to figure out how to unseat my CPU fan and the heatsink.

Now I know in my head, it should be much quicker next time. I guess 15 mins a year isn't too bad.
 

Insert_Nickname

Diamond Member
May 6, 2012
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The upside is I can just give the front filter a snort with some compressed air and it's good to go for another couple weeks.

It doesn't stop it all, I still pull the side panel off about every 6 months and blow out the interior, but it sure helps.

I pop the side panel off about once every 6 months or so. Intakes get cleaned with compressed air about once a month.
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
62
91
My old Dell desktop... I had to pull the side panel off after about 3 years to install a new RAM card (the first time I ever pulled the side panel off a PC... life would never be the same!) and was amazed at the amount of crap that was in there (dust, not hardware. I was actually surprised at how empty the case was!) After that, I was pretty consistently hosing it out every 6 months.
 

radhak

Senior member
Aug 10, 2011
843
14
81
Filtration is your friend.



I bought some magnetic filters that go on the outside of the case... they immediately cut down on the dust inside. Furthermore, I covered the unused ports on my case (the huge side vent and closed up gaps around the other intakes/exits) which not only helped with dust, it helped with temps.

Which filters do you use?

How did covering the ports/gaps help with temp? Oh, you meant because of avoiding the dust?
 

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,395
1,187
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Which filters do you use?

How did covering the ports/gaps help with temp? Oh, you meant because of avoiding the dust?

Because it focuses his airflow rather than the little vents/slits disrupting/diffusing the flow.

But I'd like to see more scientific test on this.

My old case with 0 holes was very hot and stuffy, with similar fan set up.

My new case has big vent holes on the side and my whole front is just a metal mesh. It runs very very cool.
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
62
91
Which filters do you use?

How did covering the ports/gaps help with temp? Oh, you meant because of avoiding the dust?

Well, two things (at least with my swiss-cheese case, the HAF922.) First, it's a very open case, no positive case pressure. I don't think having a wide open case is necessarily good for proper air flow. After I covered the vents that were not in use, not only did the dust go down (even before I installed the magnetic vents) but temps were better (if only by 1-2C.)

Second, dust is the enemy of airflow. On my pic above, all that dust on the leading edges of the fan blades reduces the efficiency of the fan itself, let alone the dust packed into the heat exchanger fins behind it.

I got my dust filters from FrozenCPU...
 

sm625

Diamond Member
May 6, 2011
8,172
137
106
I wash pc boards all the time. But you gotta be certifiably nuts to take a hose to an entire pc! Water will get stuck in all the cracks and crevices and will take weeks to fully dry out. And got know what it would do those those drives lol.
 

jaedaliu

Platinum Member
Feb 25, 2005
2,670
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20-25 mins. It took this long because I had to figure out how to unseat my CPU fan and the heatsink.

Now I know in my head, it should be much quicker next time. I guess 15 mins a year isn't too bad.

compressed air will save you a lot of time.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
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I wipe it out whenever I have occasion to open the case. Fitration on all air inputs is easy and worthwhile. I simply tape Swiffer sheets over the input areas. They are expendable and easily changed. They are also excellent for mopping inside the case.