Cleaning my PC

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
D

_danielpwils01

Reputable
Feb 18, 2017
131
0
4,690
Ok. Simple quick question here. I have had my PC since January of this year now. I feel like I should clean it of dust soon but I want to prolong this task as long as possible, because it seems like quite a hassle unplugging my PC as well as all of the peripherals and taking it outside to clean. Does anyone have any advice as to how often I should clean my PC? If someone could post a picture of what a PC should look like right before it needs to be cleaned that would be nice. Thanks. There is just a very thin layer of dust in my PC, but I'm just paranoid.
 
Solution
R
It's really only a problem when it clogs the heatsyncs on your CPU, GPU or gets clogged up in your PSU. Obviously if it's covering everything then it can cause problems with VRMs and capacitors, but by that stage it should be totally easy to see.

Have a look in your heatsyncs, are any of the fins starting to get clogged with dust? Is your PSU looking dusty inside?

No one can really give you generic advice as to how long, because different climates and house-surface covers can have a big effect on dust. As well as dust filtering, case pressure, airflow, etc. There's no hard-and-fast rules around time. It becomes a problem when it starts to obstruct airflow to temperature sensitive components.
Sort by date Sort by votes
R

rhysiam

Splendid
Mar 24, 2013
4,366
29
26,990
It's really only a problem when it clogs the heatsyncs on your CPU, GPU or gets clogged up in your PSU. Obviously if it's covering everything then it can cause problems with VRMs and capacitors, but by that stage it should be totally easy to see.

Have a look in your heatsyncs, are any of the fins starting to get clogged with dust? Is your PSU looking dusty inside?

No one can really give you generic advice as to how long, because different climates and house-surface covers can have a big effect on dust. As well as dust filtering, case pressure, airflow, etc. There's no hard-and-fast rules around time. It becomes a problem when it starts to obstruct airflow to temperature sensitive components.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
D

_danielpwils01

Reputable
Feb 18, 2017
131
0
4,690


Well I just now noticed something as well. About a month ago my CPU (an i5-6600k) ran around 26c at idle in the BIOS (My CPU Cooler is the Hyper 212 EVO). I just went into my BIOS again and my CPU was sitting at around 43c. Woah. Im a little freaked out. Could dust alone have that big of an impact after just a month or two or could it be something else? Maybe I will just take a can of compressed air to the heatsink quickly and see if that makes any differences?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
T

TechUnited

Prominent
Apr 16, 2017
126
0
690
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjgx-ap3ZbUAhVBziYKHdCICbkQjhwIBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0ZvWkHPon1U&psig=AFQjCNFuSQlqK7Lel3mhwCpEDO1l_5rVdw&ust=1496203172449922

dust is basically gonna clog about.... well everything
would you like this pc?
http://i57.tinypic.com/15alfm.jpg

or this pc

https://www.pcper.com/images/reviews/962/04.jpg

make sure you remover the heatsink whn cleaning it, or the dust might just go into the crevices, but you can just clean it without doing so, but it aint advised.

quote"Depending on your environment, you may need to clean your computer more often (or less often) than others. Computer placement is important to consider; keeping your computer on the floor allows for dust, hair, skin cells, and carpet particles to get inside easier. But if you keep your computer above the floor, like on your desk, particles are less prone to gaining access inside your computer."

-https://www.howtogeek.com/72716/how-to-thoroughly-clean-your-dirty-desktop-computer/

quote"Use your compressed air can to blow out any loose dust particles. You can also use a cotton swab to clean the fan by rubbing the swab against the blades to stick the dust particles. It's a little tedious, but it makes for a nice, clean fan in the end. The bottom of your case will undoubtedly have dust buildup"
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
R

rhysiam

Splendid
Mar 24, 2013
4,366
29
26,990

Yes, it absolutely could. If it accumulated a bunch of dust in that time it's certainly possible. However...

Measuring idle temps is a little tricky, particularly on Skylake and Kabylake CPUs. Windows is often doing things in the background causing little spikes in CPU load. Skylake (and Kabylake) CPUs temperature can change very quickly, so getting a real baseline idle measurement is a little luck of the draw. In any case, idle temps don't really matter much. You need to know whether your temps are under control at load. That's when you need to worry.

It's a good idea to get a can of compressed air and clean it out. You can use it multiple times, and you can see how much dust comes out of your system when you clean it. Over time you can get a sense of how quickly your particular computer needs to be cleaned out. Having said that, if the load CPU and GPU temps are fine, and you can't physically see large amounts of dust around the PSU and VRMs on the motherboard, then there's no problem.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

_danielpwils01

Reputable
Feb 18, 2017
131
0
4,690


Just took a can of compressed air to it. A little dust came out of the heatsink but not much. My CPU temp already dropped to around 33-35 degrees, so yes, even a little dust can cause components to heat up. As for the Windows doing things in the background, it makes sense. Thanks for your answers. They have definitely helped a lot.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
slyverine

slyverine

Reputable
Mar 4, 2016
789
0
5,360
i clean my pc every 2 weeks and i would suggest anyone to do so as well, because if you leave the dust it sticks on the fan fins and in hard to reach surfaces and then it won't be removed easily. I like my pc nice and clean.It is a minute work, blow air with a blower(not more than 500w one) and then use a paint brush for the fans and tricky places, then blow a bit again and ready.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom