Your PC, and dust when it stops being dust.

This is a short note, just a bit of a warning, more to the newer computer users among us, (I know you're there) on the danger of dust.

As you know, your PC has fans, usually if you are using it for gaming, you will have several. Despite all and any filters, your PC is a dust trap, and will fill itself up with evil nasty dust in next to no time. Doubly so if you don't keep the area around it clean, or if you just live in a generally dusty place, like say, Australia.

Anyway. The problem of dust in your PC is not merely that it's dust, the real problem with dust is a silent killer. Humidity.

If your PC is full of dust, and it for any reason suddenly becomes overly humid, or the room your PC is in suddenly changes temperature, or both (Air-Con), then dust can become mud. Mud bridges circuits, gives hold to rust and other corrosion, causes rapid heat build-up, and in the worst scenario's: fire and personal loss and/or deaths.

The solution is simple. Even if you are the rawest PC noob can do it. Take off a side cover, and blast any and all dust out of your PC's case at least once a month. You can do this in a number of ways, the most common is compressed air from either a can which you can buy at most hardware and even computer stores, and there's the poor man's way (I call it poor, but really, I'm a miserly bastard ) which is the blower attachment on most vacuum cleaners. ( NOTE: Make sure you empty and brush out your vacuum cleaner before you attempt this.) Using the blower, and a 1/2-1" paintbrush, very carefully loosen and blow out the dust. Also remove all case fans (Not mainboard, CPU or graphics card fans!!) and use the brush to clean all dust off, as just like your house fan, dust buildup destroys the airfoil section of your case fans, reducing airflow and causing overheating and failure due to excessive drag. You can also carefully wipe the inside of your case with a very slightly damp cloth, to remove any dust that may settle as you clean, or any that has become muddy and attached.

Note 2: Avoid blowing dust into heat sinks. Sometimes you will notice that they appear to have a fibrous pad of dust built up on them, this should be carefully removed. Remember, slow and steady wins the race!

By following a simple monthly housekeeping plan on a monthly basis, you can, outright hardware fault aside, avoid all of the pitfalls which I mentioned, and also, enjoy a nice stability boost due to lower overall running temperatures.

Turbo.

*Mods* Please move this if it's in the wrong section.

Ok, so another small note for people looking to clean there computers. Vacuum cleaners cause static electricity. This can short out your computer. If you are going to use a vacuum then you need to buy a special non static vacuum which are expensive and would def not be the cheap mans way to do it. The cheap mans way would be to take the case off and blow with your mouth.

Yep, dust is your PC performance killer.I used to have my graphic card error awhile ago.And even replace that graphic cards but the problem wasn't solved until I notice a carpet of dust around CPU heat sink.
I use a camera lens cleaning brush wipe those carpet off and use its blower off. And Finish the job with vacuum .

i want to see how to keep labtops clean for us labtop users

Lots of things cause static electricity. If you don't like the idea of using a vacuum because of possible ESD damage, then use a small handheld device, lens cleaner, whatever. don't ever blow into a PC case with your mouth though. Might seem safe, but random globs of spittoplasm, which is even more dangerous to a PC's electrics than just plain water, say otherwise.

On the subject of vacuum cleaners and your PC, ultimately it's the users call, not mine. All I can say is that I've been following the same method for over 15 years without a single case of static-damaged ESD device ever.

Turbo.

I've always found pledge grab-its work very well at removing dust. You can thread the corners through fans to clean hard-to-reach places.

1. I know several folks who've toasted a PC with static discharge. Vacuums are a bad idea.

2. I used to work for a place that manufactured some of its own custom circuit boards. We put them in a fricking dishwasher to clean off the excess flux. As long as you don't run current through it, it's pretty damn hard to hurt your PC components with liquids. Just wait till they dry.

3. In case anyone hadn't figured it out for themselves, always have your PC all the way unpowered (meaning unplugged, cut off from the outlet by an intermediate switch, or switched off by the PSU) and ground yourself (grab a metal doorknob) before opening the case.

Why exactly? >.>

I've been leaving my case open, because I've been having problems with overheating, but I put the side on every night, and take it off again every morning, so I'm kind of curious why this is such a bad thing

anything for laptops? I see my computer with dust on it all the time, and now I'm worried that it's getting inside D:

To prevent yourself from frying.
Touching your case won´t give you any shocks though (normally)

Capacitors hold a charge long after you unplug you computer so just unplugging it doesn't avoid frying a motherboard or yourself. That is why you are supposed to use grounding mats/bands when working on them.

As a side note. I wasn't being serious about blowing into your computer with your mouth. It was a total joke about being cheap.

If you are cheap with a computer it will just die sooner. Stop being cheap and invest time/money into proper maintenance for it. You get an oil change for your car every 3-5k miles. A computer is the same thing. Every so often you gotta open the hood and do some maintenance.


Edit: O and leaving your case open isn't going to help with over heating issues. You have a fan that pulls cool air into the computer. You also have a fan pushing hot air out. If the case is open then the cool air being pushed in will never make it to the front of your computer. It will just go out the side. The hot air will also stay over top of the stuff in the front of your computer. The vid card and ram is usually placed near the front. The vid card imo needs the air flow 2nd most inside of your computer. 1st obv. being the processor.

What my friend did. Which I won't suggest cause he is retarded. He found a window fan(box fan) about the size of his computer case. Then he modified his case a little so that now 1 side of his case is a huge fan that he always has running. It is stupid looking but, it gets the job done.

If you are having over heating issues try replaces the fans. Cleaning the dust out. If you are looking in your BIOS and it is saying the processor is overheating in particular you could try applying a new layer of thermal paste. It is pretty easy to do however read how to do it first. You need to clean it off then apply the right about. Just read how to do it first.

Are you suggesting we use the vaccuum to blow air into the PC to get rid of dust, or suck it out?

If it's the former, how much power is too much? The reason I ask is because I once set my compy down in the middle of the driveway and pulled out my family's leafblower to clean the fans off.

Buy an anti static wrist band - costs less then $5 and unless you build computers several times a week it will likely last your entire life. Even if you have one it's still a good idea to ground yourself on the metal case prior to reaching in and messing around with components. I use canned air, since it's quite cheap, and very effective. Another good option is an air compressor with a difusor (obviously not something all of us have). If you have really nasty fans you can always take them out and use a toothbrush and some warm water/cleaner on them. Just make sure they are 100% dry before putting them back in your case. I personally would never run any kind of brush over the delicate areas of my PC. Canned Air is the best and it's available at Wal Mart for a few bucks so why not get it? Also, a can of it should last you at least 2-3 cleanings - which for the avg person is enough in one year.

Or just be like me and get a new Fermi workstation that is air sealed with full liquid cooling in 2U racks. ^_^

*goes off to grade silly DiffyQ quizzes*

I'd recommend locking the fan blades before you blast air into the case. Those fans aren't designed to spin that fast, and you're likely to damage them.

A vacuum will suck it out. It sucks in into the vacuum where it stays. The reason an anti static vacuum works so well is because it takes the dust out of the environment. Compressed air works well but it just blows the dust in the air for it to resettle.

I would not suggest a leaf blower because of the fact the force of the air would be very high and could potentially damage parts in the computer.

Damn... and heres thinking I should go to the nearest airport and hold my opened PC case infront of a Turboprop or a Jumbo Fusiage.... how about a Military jet engine then?

That sounds like a terrific idea! Don't worry about letting go; the spinning blades of the turbines and the powerful suction will gently clean all the parts of your circuit boards and other PC components. Some assembly may be required after using this method of removing dust.

Yeah, then you'll have to put your PC back together as well.. :P

Let me rephrase that: Make sure it's completely disconnected from the power and that you are grounded before you open the case and touch the components.

Leaving the case open for cooling purposes is fine.

This is dead wrong. It certainly helps with heat. It just makes dust and ugliness bigger problems.

1. The possibility of YOU discharging into the machine is a much bigger problem than the possibility of the machine discharging into you. There's not enough juice in there to cause you any real harm. (Unless you're Dick Cheney. But then I'd wish you real harm....)

2. The silly mats and wristbands serve the same purpose as simply touching a doorknob -- to ground yourself. The only differences are (1) they're a hell of a lot more expensive, and (2) they continuously dissipate any charge you manage to build up as you work. That might be valuable to you if you like to work on your PC on a shag carpet and take frequent breaks to wrap a piece of styrofoam around your cat, but, generally, grounding once before you start is adequate.

The best cooling scenario involves a closed case with proper airflow - the sad part is that most people have no clue how to get proper airflow. The areas of concern are going to be the CPU and the GPU; a good setup with cool air being directed to those 2 spots and with a strong exhaust setup for the hot air from those areas and you will actually have lower temps in the "critical" areas then if you have just take the side panel off (not to mention the increased dust etc...). The avg overall temp of the inside of the case may be less with the side panel off, but your CPU and GPU will not run as cool as if they had the proper airflow setup within a closed case.

A nice little article here on PC Cleaning:

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