A Friendly Dusting Reminder

jed · Dec 4, 2012

This is a public service announcement...

Clean out those internal case organs! I just qualified for a terrible case of "component neglect". I hadn't cleaned my case in months, and just went through a whole can of compressed air. Filled my whole room up with dust, and covered everything outside of my case with a nice sheet of it!

My CPU fan/radiator was completely clogged with dust - after a thorough blowout my CPU idle temps dropped from 42 to 34 C... Thats 8 degrees just from dust! If you haven't taken the time to clean out your case lately, be sure to do so.

Don't be an arrogant, thoughtless, neglectful owner like me. Be sure to clean out those fans, grilles, nooks/crannys and components!

This message brought to you by the Consortium for Computer Component Abuse Awareness!

:toast:

Binge · Dec 4, 2012

If there was ever a service reminder to be had... this would be it! :laugh:

Frick · Dec 4, 2012

If you leave it long enough the dust will cake and that makes it easier to remove.

jed · Dec 4, 2012

Absolutely... Can't believe the difference it made. I also switched my fans from two outs to one in, one out, like logic would have it. But I'm not even bothering to put that in the message, I think I'm the only one stupid enough to not make sure this was happening in the first place!

TheMailMan78 · Dec 4, 2012

I do it once a month.

natr0n · Dec 4, 2012

I always clean/dust comps outside.

jed · Dec 4, 2012

natr0n said:
I always clean/dust comps outside.

There's a fine idea... Y'all are too smart.

Frag_Maniac · Dec 5, 2012

Also, be careful not to force dust and/or grit into components or sockets when using forced air of any kind. You could create buildup in spots that's hard to remove it from.

And when using canned air, keep in mind it's Co2 delivered and can therefore quickly chill any parts you spray it on. If those parts are hot when you use it, it could cause immediate and drastic temperature changes.

I always let my PC cool down after turning it off completely before I used canned air, and let the parts warm back up before turning it back on after using it. Of course now I have a compressor, but for those whom still use canned air, use with caution. It can also leave a film of residue on your parts.

Peter1986C · Dec 5, 2012

I only use canned air in case of emergency, preferring cut-to-size kitchen paper to the firstmentioned stuff.

SaltyFish · Dec 5, 2012

Frag Maniac said:
Also, be careful not to force dust and/or grit into components or sockets when using forced air of any kind. You could create buildup in spots that's hard to remove it from.

Building on this, refrain from blasting air into headphone and microphone ports for a long period of time. You could push the internal pins down causing them to always be shorted. Which means your computer will mute your speakers because it thinks you have headphones plugged in even you don't. Fixing this is a wonderful mess.

System Name	REAPER
Processor	AMD FX-8350 x8 @ 4.64 GHz (20x232, 1.4625v)
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
Cooling	Corsair Liquid H60. 2 front in, 1 side in, 1 rear out (H60), 1 top out.
Memory	G.Skill Sniper 2x4 GB DDR3 1333 @ 1546
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD 7950 3GB @ 1095/1395
Storage	Crucial M500 240 GB SSD and Western Digital Green 1TB 7200 RPM
Display(s)	Acer H223H 22.5"
Case	Antec 300 Black Steel
Audio Device(s)	N/A
Power Supply	Corsair CX-600 Watt 80 Bronze
Mouse	Corsair Sabre RGB Optical
Keyboard	Logitech G610 Mechanical
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	3dMark 2011 - 8965 15210 3dMark06 (old system)

System Name	Molly
Processor	i5 3570K
Motherboard	Z77 ASRock
Cooling	CooliT Eco
Memory	2x4GB Mushkin Redline Ridgebacks
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GTX 680
Case	Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced
Power Supply	Corsair HX-1000

System Name	Black MC in Tokyo
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard	Asrock B450M-HDV
Cooling	Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2
Memory	2 x 16GB Kingston Fury 3400mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319
Storage	Kingston A400 240GB \| WD Black SN750 2TB \|WD Blue 1TB x 2 \| Toshiba P300 2TB \| Seagate Expansion 8TB
Display(s)	Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p
Case	Fractal Design Define R4
Audio Device(s)	Line6 UX1 + some headphones, Nektar SE61 keyboard
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x v3
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Cherry MX Board 1.0 TKL Brown
VR HMD	Acer Mixed Reality Headset
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Rimworld 4K ready!

System Name	REAPER
Processor	AMD FX-8350 x8 @ 4.64 GHz (20x232, 1.4625v)
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
Cooling	Corsair Liquid H60. 2 front in, 1 side in, 1 rear out (H60), 1 top out.
Memory	G.Skill Sniper 2x4 GB DDR3 1333 @ 1546
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD 7950 3GB @ 1095/1395
Storage	Crucial M500 240 GB SSD and Western Digital Green 1TB 7200 RPM
Display(s)	Acer H223H 22.5"
Case	Antec 300 Black Steel
Audio Device(s)	N/A
Power Supply	Corsair CX-600 Watt 80 Bronze
Mouse	Corsair Sabre RGB Optical
Keyboard	Logitech G610 Mechanical
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	3dMark 2011 - 8965 15210 3dMark06 (old system)

System Name	TheMailbox 5.0 / The Mailbox 4.5
Processor	RYZEN 1700X / Intel i7 2600k @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard	Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 / Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Intel LGA 1155
Cooling	MasterLiquid PRO 280 / Scythe Katana 4
Memory	ADATA RGB 16GB DDR4 2666 16-16-16-39 / G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB DDR3 1866: 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s)	MSI 1080 "Duke" with 8Gb of RAM. Boost Clock 1847 MHz / ASUS 780ti
Storage	256Gb M4 SSD / 128Gb Agelity 4 SSD , 500Gb WD (7200)
Display(s)	LG 29" Class 21:9 UltraWide® IPS LED Monitor 2560 x 1080 / Dell 27"
Case	Cooler Master MASTERBOX 5t / Cooler Master 922 HAF
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec / SupremeFX X-Fi with Bose Companion 2 speakers.
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-750PX 750W Platinum / SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Mouse	SteelSeries Sensei (RAW) / Logitech G5
Keyboard	Razer BlackWidow / Logitech (Unknown)
Software	Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Benchmark Scores	Benching is for bitches.

A Friendly Dusting Reminder

jed

Binge

Overclocking Surrealism

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

jed

TheMailMan78

Big Member

natr0n

jed

Frag_Maniac

Peter1986C

SaltyFish

System Name	natr0n-PC
Processor	Ryzen 5950x/5600x
Motherboard	B450 AORUS M
Cooling	EK AIO 360 - 6 fan action
Memory	Patriot - Viper Steel DDR4 (B-Die)(4x8GB)
Video Card(s)	EVGA 3070ti FTW
Storage	Various
Display(s)	PIXIO IPS 240Hz 1080P
Case	Thermaltake Level 20 VT
Audio Device(s)	LOXJIE D10 + Kinter Amp + 6 Bookshelf Speakers Sony+JVC+Sony
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III ARGB 80+ Gold 650W
Software	XP/7/8.1/10
Benchmark Scores	http://valid.x86.fr/79kuh6

System Name	Space Station
Processor	Intel 13700K
Motherboard	ASRock Z790 PG Riptide
Cooling	Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420
Memory	Corsair Vengeance 6400 2x16GB @ CL34
Video Card(s)	PNY RTX 4080
Storage	SSDs - Nextorage 4TB, Samsung EVO 970 500GB, Plextor M5Pro 128GB, HDDs - WD Black 6TB, 2x 1TB
Display(s)	LG C3 OLED 42"
Case	Corsair 7000D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha RX-V371
Power Supply	SeaSonic Vertex 1200w Gold
Mouse	Razer Basilisk V3
Keyboard	Bloody B840-LK
Software	Windows 11 Pro 23H2

System Name	desktop \| Odroid N2+ \|
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 \| Amlogic S922X \|
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550M DS3H \|Odroid N2+ \|
Cooling	Inter-Tech Argus SU-200, 3x Arctic P12 case fans \| stock heatsink + fan \|
Memory	Gskill Aegis DDR4 32GB \| 4 GB DDR4 \|
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX 6600 (8GB) \| Arm Mali G52 \|
Storage	SK Hynix SSD 240GB, Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB, Toshiba DT01ACA100 1T \| Samsung 850 Evo 500GB \|
Display(s)	AOC G2260VWQ6 \| LG 24MT57D \|
Case	Asus Prime 201 \| Stock case (black version) \|
Audio Device(s)	integrated
Power Supply	BeQuiet! Pure Power 11 400W \| 12v barrel jack \|
Mouse	Logitech G500 \|Steelseries Rival 300
Keyboard	Qpad MK-50 (Cherry MX brown)\| Blaze Keyboard
Software	Windows 10, Various Linux distros \| Gentoo Linux

Processor	Intel Core 2 QX6850
Motherboard	ABIT AB9 Pro
Cooling	Zalman CNPS-9900 MAX-R
Memory	Patriot PDC24G6400LLK (4x 2 GB)
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Light Turbo
Storage	Not Enough!
Display(s)	Samsung T240HD
Case	NZXT Zero
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro
Power Supply	Thortech Thunderbolt Plus TTBPK00G 1000W
Mouse	Elecom M-DUX70BK
Keyboard	CM Storm Trigger (Cherry MX Brown)
Software	NOT Windows 10