Keeping the dust out.

[Powermoloch]

Where my gaming computer is situated...there is alot of activity going on, resulting a constant amount of dust floating in the air + 3 dogs as well. Will Polyeruthane foam filters be good enough to catch most of the dust and not hinder air flow?

I'll be planning to buy one and cut out each pieces front, side vents and especially under the case.

 

[C1]

Whatever you use, make sure that it is designed for filtering air. The foam used in my Lian Li is quite coarse, but it is thick. It is significantly permeable, but yet does catch dust. Also, it is reuseable.

A possibility is to buy an inexpensive (low end) furnace filter & make/cut what you need from that mesh material.

 

[modestninja]

Another thing you can do, is get positive pressure in your case by having more air coming in than going out. That way dust doesn't just bypass the filters and go in through all the little cracks and holes in your case.

 

[Powermoloch]

I've been looking around the internet and found these:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_78359-1410-F1524_0_?productId=1196229&Ntt=air%20conditioning%20filter&Ntk=i_products&Ns=p_product_price|1&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=air%20conditioning%20filter$y=0$x=0

I can get 'em in my area for a $2 ~ a piece. Sounds like a steal for me.

 

[0roo0roo]

live with the chore of dusting your computer once a month or so with can o air+vac.
solutions that use filters reduce fan efficiency and still require cleaning as the coarse filter is the only thing those weedy fans can handle, so fine dust clogs your computer anyways.

 

[Powermoloch]

I'm fine with having to clean up the dust in the computer regularly. I just want to add another layer to keep off the bigger particles, especially animal fur which floats around constantly.

 

[Schmide]

Best thing to keep the dust down is to raise the computer to mid room level.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea unless you don't vac much theres only so much pet hair that should make it into your case. simple screen door filter grates would work, but even that reduces flow. least worst though.

 

[killster1]

Best thing to keep the dust down is to raise the computer to mid room level.

yup vacuum daily and move your pc off the ground. i havent put a pc on the ground in a longgggggg time.. all mine are so pretty wouldnt want to stuff it away on the ground tho maybe if have ugly pc might do that..

 

[mbevolution]

what i use on mine is the black foam that came with your motherboard, i use a very sharp knife to carefully slice the foam in half (thickness-wise) then just put it with the intake fans. its pretty breathable and should catch the dust particles. you can also use some good toilet paper or nylon.

 

[MagickMan]

used fabric softener sheets work well too.

 

[Powermoloch]

well, so far so good. Temperatures remained the same. I used velcro tape ( the hook side), and taped it on the case with the correct length and all. It works great on the filter, it held nicely.

When it gets a tad dusty, it gets a good washing .

Plus, i'll be getting a data vac later this week to supplement . Saying good buy to can dusters.

 

[potion]

I use polyurethane foam from an air conditioner filter. Catches a lot of dust and airflow within the case is still fine. I did some (very crude) testing involving 12cm tri-cool fans with no filter, with antec case filter, and with foam filter. What I found was that the airflow difference between the antec case filter and the foam filter was not significant. Both filters did cut quite a bit of airflow compared to no filter, but 4 12cm fans and a giant 20cm fan (set to low) still kept good airflow while filtered and were quiet.

 

[tcsenter]

You can compensate for more restrictive filter mediums with larger filtration area.

You may need to custom hack/widen your own filter intake and construct a sort of housing or frame for the filter insert, then use a metal screen or something for cosmetic reasons. e.g. one on the front and another on the side

I don't remember where I saw them, I think it was at Sears or maybe one of the Big Box home improvement chains, but I remember seeing a pretty good assortment of air filters for things like vacuum cleaners that feature an air filter on the intake side. Some of them are quasi-HEPA (very few of them are true HEPA), so they will grab/trap a lot of the fine dust as well.