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How often should I clean my computer?

Post Date: 2014-10-16
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Rockcem View Drop Down
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Posts: 86 		  Quote Rockcem Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: How often should I clean my computer?
    Posted: 16 Oct 2014 at 5:04pm
As the title says I was wondering how often should it be cleaned and how should I go about cleaning it, Currently I only had it for about a month and I was just wondering.
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bprat22 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20391 		  Quote bprat22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Oct 2014 at 5:37pm
I remove the side panels about every 6 months and use canned air to blow out the cpu cooler, radiator or fins, depending on what you have, the fans, graphics card and across the motherboard. You'll normally see early stages of dust as white buildup on the fans and motherboard. Use short bursts, can upright.

Every situation is different. You can use HWMONITOR, a free download, to check your gpu and cpu core temps under stress. Good to keep track every once in awhile. I do it every week, at least.

No vacuum cleaners. Static from it might blow a board.

Hope this helps.
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Arisen View Drop Down
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Posts: 8 		  Quote Arisen Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Oct 2014 at 5:39pm
bprat22 is on fire!
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Posts: 4314 		  Quote ArkansasWoman777 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Oct 2014 at 6:58pm
I dust mine once a month although it doesn't get all that dusty and i use the Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac which you can find on Amazon
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Posts: 9459 		  Quote Snaike Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Oct 2014 at 2:26am
I am with ArkansasWoman's thinking here.  I pull my machine apart once a month and do what I can to remove the little dust bunny critters.  Canned air for the internal fans and heatsinks (as bprat says, can UPRIGHT, short bursts) but for the Vanquish filters (both front fascia and PSU filter underneath) I rinse off with water.  (Thoroughly dried before reinstalling.)  This is also the day that the machine gets 2 full scans MalwareBytes and SuperAntiSpyware, CCLeaner and whatever else I have on hand.
 
Once everything is cleaned, inside and out, I make a restore point.
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Posts: 1627 		  Quote Meller Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Oct 2014 at 4:51pm
Given that I have 2x 480mm Radiators, 1x 240mm radiator, a total of 23ish fans (counting in my head as I'm not home right now), plus all the dust filters and the fact that it sits on the floor (yes I know... sitting your on the ground is absolutely horrible.. -_- My desk gets too clutters to give up space.)

I open it up and remove fans and blow everything out once a month. I have a calendar reminder for the first Saturday of every month.

It really depends on where you live, position of your PC, etc.  If you live in the midwest where it's hot and dusty, and/or it's on the floor, and/or you have pets... you'll want to do it quite often.

If you live on the coast (like me), hardware floors, no pets, sits on a table... etc, you can probably do a cleaning every couple of months.
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ArkansasWoman777 View Drop Down
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Posts: 4314 		  Quote ArkansasWoman777 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Oct 2014 at 4:57pm
Originally posted by Meller

Given that I have 2x 480mm Radiators, 1x 240mm radiator, a total of 23ish fans (counting in my head as I'm not home right now), plus all the dust filters and the fact that it sits on the floor (yes I know... sitting your on the ground is absolutely horrible.. -_- My desk gets too clutters to give up space.)I open it up and remove fans and blow everything out once a month. I have a calendar reminder for the first Saturday of every month.It really depends on where you live, position of your PC, etc.  If you live in the midwest where it's hot and dusty, and/or it's on the floor, and/or you have pets... you'll want to do it quite often.If you live on the coast (like me), hardware floors, no pets, sits on a table... etc, you can probably do a cleaning every couple of months.



23 or so fans....wow
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Meller View Drop Down
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Posts: 1627 		  Quote Meller Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Oct 2014 at 4:59pm
Don't judge me... I have needs.
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Posts: 951 		  Quote Roykirk Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Oct 2014 at 2:19pm
Make sure you hold the fans still while you're blowing them out or you could burn out the bearings.
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Posts: 9459 		  Quote Snaike Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 20 Oct 2014 at 7:24am
Originally posted by Roykirk

Make sure you hold the fans still while you're blowing them out or you could burn out the bearings.



Oh.. this^^   So much this^^

Your compressed air comes out of the can at a really good speed for blowing dust off of things, but can turn the fan blades at a rate they are really not designed for.

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Meller View Drop Down
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Posts: 1627 		  Quote Meller Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 20 Oct 2014 at 8:45am
I don't hold my blades... I like to listen to the whiz sound. *Child at heart*
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Posts: 9459 		  Quote Snaike Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 20 Oct 2014 at 10:10am
Originally posted by Meller

I don't hold my blades... I like to listen to the whiz sound. *Child at heart*


Oh... that explains ~so~ much...   
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Posts: 86 		  Quote Rockcem Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 20 Oct 2014 at 5:48pm
So I have read everything and So far what i understand is take apart most of the computer and use compressed air to clean the parts and fans, Any recommendations for the Canned air?
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Razorback View Drop Down
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Posts: 99 		  Quote Razorback Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 20 Oct 2014 at 6:10pm
Originally posted by Rockcem

So I have read everything and So far what i understand is take apart most of the computer and use compressed air to clean the parts and fans, Any recommendations for the Canned air?


Mine is Office Depot cleaning duster. Not sure if it matters or not. Seems to work just fine for me.

Edited by Razorback - 20 Oct 2014 at 6:10pm
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Posts: 9459 		  Quote Snaike Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 20 Oct 2014 at 7:29pm
Really doesn't matter the brand of air.... all are going to be basically the same thing. The only thing of real importance with ALL brands of canned air is to keep them upright when using. Never tilt or turn the can as the gases will liquidate and you'll get to shoot a high powered stream of ice into your beloved computer parts.

They ain't gonna like it much.   
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