Discussion So I just cleaned my computer after 4 years.

[whm1974]

I have having problem with my Display going blank while in use for a few days now and so I decided to evict the dust bunnies living in my system. Unfortunately my counter is completely covered with the remains of said dust bunnies.

The last time I did this was back during the third week of Dec 2015 when I replaced my then 760 with my current 970 dGPU.

So how often do I need to dedust my system? Back when I had the 760 installed, I doing that every few months.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I have having problem with my Display going blank while in use for a few days now and so I decided to evict the dust bunnies living in my system. Unfortunately my counter is completely covered with the remains of said dust bunnies.

The last time I did this was back during the third week of Dec 2015 when I replaced my then 760 with my current 970 dGPU.

So how often do I need to dedust my system? Back when I had the 760 installed, I doing that every few months.

I want to automate the dusting as much as possible too.
I’m thinking clean it every season change.

 

[Gorrillasnot]

I live in an old house that tends to be more dusty than newer homes and my PC case has a lot of mesh so it gets dusty pretty often.
I have a decent air compressor in my garage so about every 3 months I take my PC to the garage and blow it out.
I am careful around fans not to let them freewheel from the air blowing on them as I have ruined a few doing that in the past.
I use my finger to hold the fan blade still while I blow them out.

If I didn't have the air compressor I would probably get 1 of the new cordless mini blowers that Harbor Freight sells. It's a little expensive, but over time would save money in the long run instead of buying cans of compressed air.

20V Cordless 200 MPH Compact Workshop Blower - Tool Only

Amazing deals on this 200Mph Cordless Compact Workshop Blower at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[whm1974]

Well my display still drops into power saving mode with no good reason and I'm wondering if I need to clean my monitor as well. So how do I go about clearing out dust out of this?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I live in an old house that tends to be more dusty than newer homes and my PC case has a lot of mesh so it gets dusty pretty often.
I have a decent air compressor in my garage so about every 3 months I take my PC to the garage and blow it out.
I am careful around fans not to let them freewheel from the air blowing on them as I have ruined a few doing that in the past.
I use my finger to hold the fan blade still while I blow them out.

If I didn't have the air compressor I would probably get 1 of the new cordless mini blowers that Harbor Freight sells. It's a little expensive, but over time would save money in the long run instead of buying cans of compressed air.

20V Cordless 200 MPH Compact Workshop Blower - Tool Only

Amazing deals on this 200Mph Cordless Compact Workshop Blower at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Good
Find!

I may have killed a video card with condensation from a can of compressed air.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeaaaah, four years is a bit of a long time, between PC cleanings. Typically, when I see that, I see an Intel stock heatsink filled so full of dust, cat hair, smoke residue, and crud, that I simply replace the heatsink altogether, rather than attempt to clean it. Sometimes, other stuff stops working too, as you've apparently found out.

Thankfully, this is not much of an issue with my personal machine, as I upgrade far too often for dust to accumulate. ( /s , partially )

 

[VirtualLarry]

To address your "monitor sleep issue", have you checked Win10's Reliability Monitor, and System Event Log, to see if there are power-management events or error events corresponding with the "sleep" instances?

Maybe the video driver is resetting itself, due to crashes (*such as power or temp problems with the GPU, or overall RAM or CPU OC or instability issues).

 

[whm1974]

To address your "monitor sleep issue", have you checked Win10's Reliability Monitor, and System Event Log, to see if there are power-management events or error events corresponding with the "sleep" instances?

Maybe the video driver is resetting itself, due to crashes (*such as power or temp problems with the GPU, or overall RAM or CPU OC or instability issues).

Ah Larry, you do remember that I do not use Windows at all, right?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Ah Larry, you do remember that I do not use Windows at all, right?

No, actually, I forgot. Nevermind, I don't think that I can help you with this.

 

[Charlie98]

I usually hose out the PC case once a year or so. At first it was more often... I was making more upgrades back then, but as I hit a stop on upgrade room, I just pick a time to blow it out. My desktop build is 8 years old... pretty old... and while I can blow the big chunks out, there is still a layer of cruft on everything, particularly the fans and filter, that just doesn't come off. There are so many inaccessible nooks and crannies, I know I'll never get it all out... add to the fact that trying to use a cloth or Swiffer sheet leaves more fuzz and strands than it picks up as it catches on the 3 zillion snags in a PC case.

 

[BoomerD]

Well my display still drops into power saving mode with no good reason and I'm wondering if I need to clean my monitor as well. So how do I go about clearing out dust out of this?

Stick it in the dishwasher...that's guaranteed to solve all your monitor issues.

 

[whm1974]

Stick it in the dishwasher...that's guaranteed to solve all your monitor issues.

So you are to buy me another Dell 30" display if following your advice destroys my monitor?