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General discussion

Poll: How often do you clean the inside of your desktop?

May 30, 2014 7:48AM PDT
How often do you physically clean the inside of your desktop?

-- Once a month.
-- Every other month.
-- Every six months.
-- Once a year.
-- Every other year.
-- Whenever the bugs start building a home inside.
-- Whenever I see fit.
-- I never have.
-- I never knew you had to clean inside your computer.
-- I don't own a desktop computer.

Place your poll votes here

Discussion is locked

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Clean the Desktop?
May 30, 2014 9:30AM PDT

I have HEPA filters in my Heat Pump System, so the computer doesn't get too dirty. Most of the time when I open up the case, it is pretty clean inside and I haven't had to bother cleaning. The case always feels pretty cool, and there is not a smell of dust coming from the fans. How often you have to clean it is probably determined by how dusty your house is. If you can't smell anything burning, you are probably OK.

My Vote was, I clean it whenever I see fit!

Ron

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If you can smell something burning.
May 30, 2014 9:34AM PDT

It's too late. Every six months for me.

Dafydd.

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How & when to clean inside computer
May 31, 2014 3:45AM PDT

My H/A System is super clean since I have just replaced all the ducts after two decades of original ducts. Beside a yearly contract for service maintenance, I also have the System cleaned and sanitized professionally every three years to prevent molds development that can cause allergy & health problem.

For cleaning inside computer, every six months is great to do a cleaning but at least once a year MUST clean the static accumulated dust or it can cause a slow down and inefficiency performance

I use a good hair blower that can be set on COOL or a lawn blower to blow the dust off. Keep a proper distance if use a lawn blower or other strong air blower. DO NOT use house vacuum because it can suck off certain components.

For outside surface there is dust static fabric which can pick up dust well. Do it weekly.

Cleaning inside your computer makes a great difference in its speed & performance.

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How I clean my PC
May 30, 2014 9:41AM PDT

Taking care not to touch something with static on me, and taking care not to overspeed or reverse-spin any fans, I just blast the sucker out (from the inside) with a compressor air hose (creating plenty of static while doing so).
But it's only worked well since about 1980.

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Whenever it needs to be serviced
May 30, 2014 11:49AM PDT

Whenever I need to fix something, replace or upgrade parts, I check all the fans, cable connections, and look for overheated components. I keep a ground strap handy to prevent any static issues. I disconnect all power and blow out any dust and use a small vacuum to clear vents and hard to reach or fragile places.

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Whenever I see dust
May 30, 2014 12:49PM PDT

At present the side covers on my desktop machine are off, and have been for a few months. Even though I smoke cigars at my computer desk, the interior of the computer is completely clean -- which amazes me. It probably helps that the computer case has filters over the air intakes, and it sits on a small table that keeps it away from the carpet.

I may inspect more carefully and use canned air on the cooling fans and the case's bottom panel (just to make sure) before I put the side panels back; and of course I'll pull, clean and replace the filters although they seldom collect much dust.

With previous computers I would remove the left-side panel every six months or so and dust with canned air, or more often if I was performing an upgrade. Never found more than a slight amount of dust, as long as they stayed off the floor. Some of my friends' computers (like many of us, I'm "tech support") are another story entirely; I've been known to move their computers to other locations, and sometimes leave off a side panel so they can see the dust that collects.

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Dust inside my PC
May 31, 2014 1:25AM PDT

My PC case has major fans to keep things cool and therefore used to get filthy in a week. It got to be very tiresome. I bought some this filter material at the hardware store and fashioned filters for every fan. Now I only need to clean it every 6 months or so. Since I usually have the side open in that amount of time or less, I ordinarily just do it then. I have an app that monitors the temperature at many points inside and if I see the temp climb 5c I clean it. I use a small hand vac to get much of it out. Then a soft brush and vac again. Then I finish by a good cleaning with canned air. I ALWAYS, hold all fans from rotating with a finger or pencil eraser when doing so. I then give it another quick vacuuming and am done. The power cord is unplugged and I hold a portion of the case with my left hand to act as ground to help prevent any static build up at all times while cleaning. As you might imagine, I'm quite comfortable inside a PC. I built my desktop and am inside upgrading things or replacing problematic parts. FYI, I'm am now doing so without the benefit of sight. I am now legally blind. How blind? I can see a city transit bus at 15'.

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How I stopped most dust intrusion
May 31, 2014 1:55AM PDT

I moved down from high temp Phenom processor for my main use to a low temp, low power Sempron 145 (45w), removed the case fan which wasn't needed. I have an Antec 80% PSU with a temp controlled fan. I turned on Cool and Quiet and have the CPU fan hooked to motherboard plug for it. Since the PSU fan rarely comes on, less air through the case means less dust entering the case. The CPU, measured with properly adjusted temp ratings rarely goes above 125F. It runs all youtube videos up to 1080p without a problem. The Phenom sits off most times in the other box unless I need to use it for something more power intensive.I don't do action games.

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How and when I clean my big Dell desktop
May 31, 2014 5:36AM PDT

I inherited a great big heavy (metal case) gaming Dell XPS from my Brother-in-law two Thanksgivings ago. I clean it out about once a year. I tried the small compressed air cans at first, but this PC is so big it only goes so far. So this spring, when I opened it, there was so much dust everywhere inside, I knew it would take many cans to clean. So I took it outside and used our electric leaf blower to blow out all the dust. This worked great and PC is cleanest its been since it was new!