Off Topic Discussions

[cpurpe91]

Yesterday I noticed that I hadn't cleaned my rig and setup in months. It wasn't as bad as many I have seen, however I did need to bust out the duster and microfiber cloth. 

I am pretty happy that everything turned out to be relatively easy to deal with. I started by unplugging everything from my tower and removing everything from my desk. It only took about 3 minutes in total for me to deal with the desk and the display. From there, I moved on to cleaning everything in my PC starting with the front dust filter, fans, and radiator, and ending with my GPU and exhaust fans. There was only a little bit of dust inside the case. 

I see posts all the time on other platforms about their PC surviving with enough dust to level out a landfill, that I feel are probably trolls. It is funny to see how dirty these particular computers can get over time. 

I haven't had to pull everything out, discounting my GPU from time to time just to blow out all the dust from the shroud and heatsink. 

How often do you clean your PC? How dirty does it have to get to warrant a good cleaning? How in depth do you go when you clean your rig? Do you pull everything out and deep clean all of it, or do you prefer to just blow out all the dust and feel like that is all it needs? 

[jd63636]

During the warm months I use the trusty metro vac monthly due to windows being open and lots of dust. During the cooler months I just keep an eye on it and clean bi-monthly. I am a stickler for my rig remaining spotless lol

[Dusty88barnes]

hey can I barrow your graphics card indefinitely.. my machine jealousy loves a sensible yet powerful build just like my wife...hmmm wonder where.... nah my computer is too important need to day dream about your parts and inserting them into my chasse. 

*Disclamer* Any perceived innuendos are of your own doing and purely coincidental!

[Anonymous]

I clean my PC at least once a month!

[dryden]

It's about time for my main PC to get a bit of TLC in the dust and deep cleaning department. I'm waiting for cooler temps before taking it outside for thorough dusting. 

[johnnyenglish]

Every week. 

I won't give time for dust to start a family&kids on my computer. Once they settle in, its hard to scrub it off. Specialy on the fans.

I have the Opolar air duster so its easy

 

[cpurpe91]

I definitely need to check out alternatives to the old canned air I have been using. I have heard of the Metro Vac, but I keep seeing people who say the product overheats or stops working after a few uses. Then again, every product has bad reviews if you look hard enough.

[johnnyenglish]

Sorry for the "sucky" video.. or is it "blowy"? But I'm not good at it.

Its the thought that counts 😛

[Nagrenol]

I clean/check my PC maybe every 2 months. Depending on how it looks I'll take the gpu out to hand clean the fans and the case/aio fans. 

I used to use compressed air but the price of it and residue it can leave wasn't worth it. I bought this on Amazon a few years ago and it does the job so much better. Works great on the aio vents. Just remember to hold fans in place when using it so they aren't going 100mph. Similar to most of those blowers, they will heat up if you are using them constantly so as long as you are not turning it on and just constantly blowing for like 5 mins straight it should be fine. Just do it in shorter bursts like a min or so which is plenty. 

I also use Isopropanol rubbing alcohol on the blades and other parts when cleaning (such as when I replace the thermal paste). It won't damage your PC parts. Just diluted with some water.

If you want some good tips/suggestions Greg Salazar on youtube does this regulary enough, its where I picked up the isopro tip - This will link directly to his playlist of those videos  

Check the descriptions to see the gear he uses, more than most of us would need as he does it to a lot of pc's but helpful pointers there.

[cpurpe91]

I watch his videos from time to time. He does full breakdowns and disassembles everything down to the GPU when necessary. His PCDC playlist is great. He has a truck load of great tips too. 

[morphinebear]

If I'm honest, I almost never clean my PC. It doesn't get caked in dust nor do I have any cats or am I a smoker. It helps not having too much RGB. I blow it with canned air maybe once a year.

[Dusty88barnes]

I got my 5700xt before the dark dark covid times  so I've cleaned it twice I've just  sadly accepted that for a through cleaning I need to upgrade as it seems more fragile with every month and I'm what you'd refer to as a massive klutz afflicted with the butter fingers and tend to over analyze so ill clean to hard then break it trying to be to carful 

[Wally_AMD]

Yikes, this is my reminder to pop open my PC and bust out the duster. To be fair though, my PC is generally pretty clean. My keyboard on the other hand... let's just say I got into some Doritos the other weekend...

[cpurpe91]

I have yet to pop off my keycaps and give mine a nice cleaning. I tell myself the duster blows it all out. LOL

[elstaci]

I generally clean my PC when I start seeing my CPU temperature running hotter than normal or whenever I need to remove the side panel for any reason.

But to do a really thorough cleaning, I do it when I need to remove my Motherboard. Then I generally tear apart my PC case and remove all the hard to get Air filters and clean all the case fans including the CPU and GPU Fans.

That is about once every 4-5 years. But when I do tear apart my PC case that Air filters and fans are really clogged with oily dust residue. Takes me a good 2-3 hours to clean everything.

The Air filters are located behind or in front of the PC Fans so I would need to remove the fans to reach the air filters or remove a cover to reach the air filter. Some are difficult to do without tearing the PC case apart like the top two 240 MM Fans and air filters.

[OriginalGreyWolf]

You mean we are supposed to clean our PCs???? I thought we just built new ones 🙂 J/K as I do a pretty deep cleaning when I change the fluids out of the custom loop I installed. Other than that I give all the filters a whip down about once a week.

[Axxemann]

I have a cat, and it's been smoky AF from the forest fires all summer. It's pretty nasty. But nowhere near as nasty when I used to smoke at my desk in my old apartment from a few years ago. THAT was gross.

[ritayong]

I generally clean my PC twice a month.

Tutuapp

[BigAl01]

I have over a dozen computers on my LAN, and I generally don't need to clean most of them because they only get turned on a few times a month for doing updates and such.  My main computer is on daily and I use a can of compressed air to blow out the debris that gathers with time.  I tend to clean my keyboard more often though, as in every few weeks.

[jaandoh]

I once vacuumed a pc for a friend and it became a mission to get it to boot up again after cleaning it... 

Since that episode, I only clean inside the pc if have to take the cover off for some reason... 

[cpurpe91]

I have never had this issue, but I'm going to knock on wood just to make sure it doesn't happen. LOL

[mengelag]

My PC fans get and GPU fans all get a qtip alcohol clean every 2 months, as well as a case blow out with the air compressor