General pc maintenance

**1cooldude** · April 2nd, 2009, 10:59 AM

Lately i have been fixing a few of friend's pc's and seen a lot of people never bother to "dust" the inside of the mobo and psu vents.
I had found one where both the fan and the cpu heatsink was completely covered with about 3/4 of an inch of thick crap. The cpu had suffered irrevocable death. It was an AMD cpu and not sure why the over-temp never kicked in.
Liquid cooled systems are far superior to the air cooled but I still believe in some type of basic cleaning program (especially when it comes to fans and power supply vents).
I am wondering if you guys submit to a regular cleaning of your pc's and how often?

**drtoker** · April 2nd, 2009, 11:22 AM

Once a month I clean my air cooled system out with compressed air. I have animals and an open case, so it gets hair and dust buildup if I dont keep it clean, resulting in loud fans and high heat.

I've also solved random hardware issues on others machines by removing the ram and blowing out those slots, cleaning the contacts, and putting the ram back in. Dust can build up there as well causing blue screens and memory errors.

**mountain_rage** · April 2nd, 2009, 01:36 PM

I only usually dust it when I need to add or change a hardware component. Usually when I open it, generally 6 months to a year between cleaning, it is almost pristine on the inside. The reason I have so little dust is that my case comes with a dust filter on the intake fans. It may limit the air flow but it does wonders for keeping the dust out.

**1cooldude** · April 2nd, 2009, 01:50 PM

very good point. I have found if one keeps the pc actually about 2-3 feet above the floor, it greatly reduces the amount the dust.

**mountain_rage** · April 2nd, 2009, 01:54 PM

That reminds me, I should probably take out the filter and clean it.

**w31n3r** · April 3rd, 2009, 03:21 AM

Originally Posted by drtoker

I've also solved random hardware issues on others machines by removing the ram and blowing out those slots, cleaning the contacts, and putting the ram back in. Dust can build up there as well causing blue screens and memory errors.

ditto. i've seen about 95% of no post no video issues because of this, usually a result of the PC being moved around.

all my PCs have open cases and i regularly blow air using the vacume so no issues there. this reminds me of one of the dumbest things i've ever seen was when i came across someone who had her tower completely covered with plastic, even small holes to let the leads through. i didn't say anything, even though i had a hundred condom wisecracks lined up.