How often do you clean out your computer (physically, wrt dust)?

[mikeymikec]

I hardly needed to do it with my old Athlon XP setup at all, just if I happened to be doing something inside it every other year or less often, I'd vacuum-clean it out whether it needed it or not, and it didn't seem to desperately need doing IIRC.

With my current setup, it seems to need doing a lot more often, about every six months, and today I had the suspicion it needed doing because of summertime CPU temperatures even though outside it is autumn going on winter. Sure enough, the air vents on the side panel had a carpet of dust on them, and the CPU HSF was about 25-50% dusty. Since vacuuming it, the temp seems to be settling at around 10C lower than before, and the fan speed is about 500rpm less.

So, how often do you need to clean yours?

I'm considering blocking the lower side vent as it doesn't even vaguely match up with the position of the graphics card (on mine the card has to be right at the bottom in order to get 16x link) and putting a filter on the CPU vent, but how can a filter attach to the side of a case?

 

[ericloewe]

Every few months. For a year or so, I forgot to open up the top panel on my HAF X, where the fans are/radiator would be. That spot was a real mess.

My front intake fan doesn't need much cleaning (though the panel in front of it does), same for the exhaust near the CPU. What gets really dirty is the CPU heatsink, the 120mm fan right next to the SLI'd 460s and the aforementioned spot.

About every year and a half, I remove everything except the motherboard and clean everything I can. It's probably fear of having my desktop look like my first one after a few years of heavy use...

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I have a crappy dell that has one fan in the front, heatsink is passively cooled.

I cleaned it for the first time in 4 years (well I've never cleaned it till then) about a couple of months ago

 

[WiseUp216]

Every 60 days or so I like to check on it and wipe the filters.

I have a positive pressure case (Corsair 400r) and it has proven to stay much, much cleaner than anything I've ever had.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Every 3 months or so I carry my 2 PCs out to the garage and blow them out with compressed air from my air compressor. Canned air is expensive and it's too weak to properly blow all the dust out.

 

[dkm777]

Vacuum the outside every week and the inside every few weeks. Once a year I take it to the garage and blow stubborn dust with an air compressor.

 

[NickelPlate]

Once a month I use an air compressor to blow it out. But it's on almost all the time, I don't have filters and a 250mm side intake fan so it accumulates quickly.

 

[dma0991]

I dust my case on irregular intervals or whenever I feel like it, usually a month give or take. Since my case is made with positive pressure in mind, there isn't much dust accumulation in the case itself but on the filter that I've placed on the intake fans. The filters work a little too well and I'll be cleaning them every 2 weeks or so with a brush which usually takes me less than 5 minutes to clean 4 filters.

Much finer particulate does get through the filter eventually and settle on some of the surface of the components but with monthly(sort of) dusting of the internals, it is as clean as it was on day 1. Having filters does impede airflow slightly but I'll be happier with a cleaner case than ~3C lower temps without the filters.

 

[chin311]

now that i have a fan controller on my intake fans, every few months or so.

 

[videogames101]

about every 6 months

 

[Zap]

I hardly needed to do it with my old Athlon XP setup at all, just if I happened to be doing something inside it every other year or less often, I'd vacuum-clean it out whether it needed it or not, and it didn't seem to desperately need doing IIRC.

With my current setup, it seems to need doing a lot more often, about every six months

It may be because newer computers use more power, thus creating more heat, thus requiring more case airflow (more and bigger fans). More air getting in means more dust getting in.

I clean my fan filters monthly. Thanks, Lian Li. I think I've cleaned the inside (mostly just CPU heatsink) one time in the past 1½ years, when I swapped CPUs.

 

[paul878]

Every 3 months or so, I take it outside and blow it out with an Air Compressor.

 

[Maximilian]

Never :$

 

[danjw]

I clean the intake fan filters on mine every 2 weeks or so. I don't really feel like cleaning inside is necessary since I have the filters on the intakes and it is a positive airflow case.

 

[mikeymikec]

Never :$

Well, watch out for the family of raccoons when you decide to

 

[blastingcap]

Every 60 days or so I like to check on it and wipe the filters.

I have a positive pressure case (Corsair 400r) and it has proven to stay much, much cleaner than anything I've ever had.

+1

I have at least one filter for every entrance, sometimes two.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Maybe once a year or so, though I probably should do it more often.

For some reason my new computer doubles as an air purifier and collects dust I did not even know I had.

When I'm vacuuming the office I do vacuum the surface of the pc to get the worse of it though.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Every 3 months or so I carry my 2 PCs out to the garage and blow them out with compressed air from my air compressor. Canned air is expensive and it's too weak to properly blow all the dust out.

This is just my opinion, but I would NEVER use an air compressor to clean my computer.

Too much moisture from compressed air. Far to much. I wouldn't risk damaging anything in my computer using an air compressor.

 

[fffblackmage]

I try to vacuum the dust off the front filters in my P183 every month.

For my 900... whenever I actually feel like doing it.

I have a friend who didn't vacuum out his Dell computer at all for 3-4 years. He has pets too. So the dust and pet hair ended up suffocating his 8600GT to death, but at least that gave him an excuse to upgrade it.

 

[dma0991]

Threads like this always reminds me of NSFW.

 

[mikeymikec]

Threads like this always reminds me of NSFW.

Some of those pictures remind me of the Great Owl's home in The Secret of NIMH

 

[ZimZum]

Whenever I am doing something that I have to open the case. I never specifically go in with the sole intent of cleaning.

 

[Red Squirrel]

This is just my opinion, but I would NEVER use an air compressor to clean my computer.

Too much moisture from compressed air. Far to much. I wouldn't risk damaging anything in my computer using an air compressor.

The moisture is so "micro" that it's not really a huge deal. I stop when I see that my hand starts getting wet. The moisture is a very fine mist. By the time you put away the compressor, bring the computer back and plug it in, the water has evaporated.

Though you can also get a filter that goes on the compressor outlet and it filters out the moisture, this is even better.

Compressed air cans are only good for office thermostat pranks in summer. Otherwise they are a huge waste of money and resources for air cleaning.

I usually also use the shop vac with the compressor, put the tube near the PC and let it suck in the dust that gets blown around. I also use it to clean the fans instead of pointing the compressed air directly at them. Hold them so they don't spin out of control as it's not good for the bearings.

 

[hoorah]

I also use my air compressor with a water filter on the end of it. If I didn't have the water filter, I'd still use the air compressor without worry. I'm usually just clearing out the CPU fan and the power supply, I'm not spraying 1/2" away from the motherboard traces.

 

[kleinkinstein]

Every 3 months or so I carry my 2 PCs out to the garage and blow them out with compressed air from my air compressor. Canned air is expensive and it's too weak to properly blow all the dust out.

Same here.