cleaning your pc

[40oz]

I read something a few years ago, I can't remember the source, that said you need to clean your PC to rid it from dust on a regular basis to keep it performing its best. This means unscrewing the back panel and physically wiping the cooling fan and circuit boards and stuff with a paper towel once a month if your PC is on the floor and near carpet, and once every two or three months if its on top of a desk. This keeps your computer running as fast as it was when you first got it.

is the performance of a PC that's dusty compared to one that's not even noticeable? I feel like the differences would be pretty negligible, but I've owned the same computers for years and I'm not sure they are as fast as when I first got them, but id doubt their cleanliness has much to do with id think. Does anyone clean their pcs regularly? Has it given results?

[Mithral_Demon]

Dusting does nothing to performance, dusting prevents the computer from overheating.
Performance increase comes from cleaning files on the computer, via disc cleaner, disc defragmenter, anti mal/spy ware and such.
I use Kingsoft PC Doctor for the deeper stuff.

For dusting, those time are correct. Also determined location and weather, Fall/Winter = less dust, Summer/Spring = more.
It's main performance helping is keeping the parts from overheating and letting the fans spin.

[SYS]

You want to dust your heatsink, and gpu heatsink if you're not running integrated GFX. Compressed air and dust vac is best the way to go.

I use a metro datavac to get rid of dust.

[Stupid Bunny]

I thoroughly cleaned the dust out of my desktop computer last week and it runs way quieter now. Not sure about faster, necessarily.

[Jodwin]

Mithral_Demon said:

Dusting does nothing to performance, dusting prevents the computer from overheating.

...which can mean the same thing. Most modern components throttle their performance if the computer is getting too hot to avoid overheating, so in theory dusting your computer could improve performance.

Of course that only applies if you're hitting those temperature caps. You can also avoid cleaning your box if you've got a case with some filters in it: My case is next to my bed on the floor, and it had virtually no dust inside after a year of use.

[Maes]

In the various PC shops I worked, we always had one of these babies handy:



When you had to dust several PCs a day, and when you had to remove 10 years' worth of dust, hair and other debris in under 3 minutes, it was a Godsend.

Cheaper than buying compressed air cans, and more efficient than compressed air in general for removing bulk dust, while standing a fair distance away from the cases being blown.

In one shop we had both a blower and an air compressor, but the jet from the air compressor was too thin and required manually "waving" it inside of the cases to clean all spots, as it only cleaned a small portion at a time and needed to be used practically at "point blank". The blower did the same job much faster, and standing 3 feet away from the machine to blow. No appreciable difference when blowing fans or PSUs either.

[Olroda]

40oz said:

...is the performance of a PC that's dusty compared to one that's not even noticeable?

Does anyone clean their pcs regularly? Has it given results?

My PC's have had overheating issues ("Blue Screens", etc) which could be directly attributed to the accumulation of dust. I use a program to monitor the heat levels inside the computer, and the temperature can certainly differ by twenty-five degrees when comparing between a (very) dusty computer and one that has just been cleaned.

I'd say that it's pretty important to clean the insides of your computer once in a while. Especially where the fans (and thus, heatsinks) are located.

[Waffenak]

I use my compressor for cleaning. I got corsair obsidian case with easy to remove side panel so need for unscrewing. I usually clean up my pc about once a year. Dont use vacuum cleaner because it causes static electricity which is bad for electronics

[Maes]

Waffenak said:

Dont use vacuum cleaner because it causes static electricity which is bad for electronics

I've heard this warning a lot, even comparing vacuum cleaners to a Van der Graaf generator. But unless your vacuum cleaner's entire body and sucking tubes are made out of metal (with no plastic inserts whatsoever) it's impossible for any charge separation of this kind to occur, and be transferred to your PC, even if you touch the motherboard. If that was the case, then housewifes would get electrostatic shocks everytime they used one!

I've used vacuum cleaners for detail work on PCs I couldn't/didn't want to carry outside or when I simply didn't have a blower handy. However, I always used a plastic insert of the tube's business end, and I used a (clean) scrubbing brush on the dusty parts, letting the vacuum suck up the dust.

[Waffenak]

Maes said:

I've heard this warning a lot, even comparing vacuum cleaners to a Van der Graaf generator. But unless your vacuum cleaner's entire body and sucking tubes are made out of metal (with no plastic inserts whatsoever) it's impossible for any charge separation of this kind to occur, and be transferred to your PC, even if you touch the motherboard. If that was the case, then housewifes would get electrostatic shocks everytime they used one!

Might be true, but better be safe than sorry, because quality pc components are not cheap and I'm not in any hurry when cleaning up

[Olroda]

Waffenak said:

better be safe than sorry

I agree. But just to let you know:

I've cleaned my PC's for years with a vacuum cleaner without any problems, so the risk is probably slight.

[RTC_Marine]

I have a vacuum with a "turbo dust interceptor" module, these things in the right conditions can build up MASSIVE amounts of static electricity.

I found that when I went to empty it one day after cleaning my house, my hand was around half an inch away from the module when visible sparks started jumping between my hand and the modules dust collector pod

So I would recommend removing this before vacuuming your PC :P

[Superluigieth1]

Sorry, I can't clean my PC.