In Pictures: 40 Of The Dirtiest PCs We've Ever Seen

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Ever have a system that mysteriously started crashing, and you only figured out why it was choking after popping the cover and cleaning up copious amounts of dirt and grime? Yeah, well, these 40 systems are way past the point of canned air-cleaning.

Compaq

Probably not the best product placement picture Compaq's marketing team has seen.

Green IT

Green IT: camouflage is everything!

Not So Cool

We have to question the effectiveness of a fan blowing through a solid layer of grime.

Coffee Filter

That is not where the coffee grounds go!

Enough Dust To Conduct Electricity

The wrong kind of dust means you have a disaster on your hands!

Have A Break

Is that a heat sink or a brick of clay?

Central Vacuum Cleaning

If the apartment is perfectly clean, that might mean all of your dust is getting sucked into the computer.

Typical Ebay Find

You are only bidding for the dust. The computer comes included.

Spinning Fans?

Something is spinning, alright. But it probably had eight legs.

This Is Not A Toilet Seat

Is this a ventilation flap on what looks to be a Dell computer?

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Igor Wallossek
109 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dogman_1234
    Excellent. I was wondering when Tom's would do an article on this. Good job.
    Reply
  • pcgamer2097
    lol you guys should see the inside of my old pentium 4 rig
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    Since I work at a computer shop in the tech room, none of these are suprising. I have even seen computers with what seems to be little cities growing in them.
    Reply
  • Efrayim
    Notice that none of these look like gaming machines... We PC gamers take care our our Stuff!
    Reply
  • neoverdugo
    My god!! Where the hell those people put their desktops? In a desert storm? Mud puddles??
    Reply
  • dinlalaith
    1) At least the fans are doing their jobs
    2) People need to clean their disgusting houses more often
    3) HOW DOES SOMEONE WITH A MODULAR PSU NOT KNOW HOW TO CLEAN THE CASE!?(#6)
    Reply
  • dragonsqrrl
    lolz... taking a peak inside the average users computer is always an adventure, dare I say it's strikingly similar to opening up a box of chocolates. You guys should've seen the inside of my roommates tower. No dust filters and it hadn't been opened once in basically 5 years of continuous operation (probably sitting idle about 98% of the time).

    Sounded like a vacuum was constantly running, and I honestly don't know how that Prescott never managed to burn the whole place down. I couldn't help but laugh when he started complaining about the noise. Had my first look at the internal components which hadn't been gazed upon by human eyes since the case was closed at the factory. Sadly, she was past her prime...
    Reply
  • cpy
    When will you fix your images? I mean i cant open multiple images, and to see one i have to click like 999x to click through useless garbage.
    Also when there are image quality comparisons you have no chance in f***ing hell to open 2 images to actually compare side by side.
    Reply
  • iam2thecrowe
    i wish i still had a pic of the cockroach infested pc i was fixing, opened up the cover and cockroaches spilled out over the desk and floor. Also just this week found a mouse shorted out over a printer's power supply.....ewww. you definitely see some interesting things.
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    Some people just dont know how to take care of their stuff, or just dont care. Personally, I go all OCD if there is even a small amount of dust in the inside of my case. Id probably have an aneurysm if I opened my case and saw something similar to these horror stories...
    Reply