Dusting my PC: A Project

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My pc componants are in a cooler master haf x tower , 2 front fans , 2 rear , 1 top and 1 side , the cpu cooler is a noctua nh d15s its huge ..... and not forgetting 2 other fans on my gpu , if the rig did not have a few led strips on it you would not know it was turned on. I take the side off every few months just for the hell of it and give it a quick blast with an air duster although i probably dont need to do it that often.

The rig is so heavy when it was delivered i could not lift it out the box , i had to stand the box on its side , push it to where i wanted it then cut the box from around it ....... then the wife goes and says what you gonna do if something is wrong with it and it has to go back ..... no box !!!!!

I used to only buy full tower cases, but weight is a big reason I stopped! That and tons of wasted space.

Take a screenshot of fan temps when they clean could be a useful reference for later on. Don't need to run it all the time, just occasionally enough to be able to see differences. Also helps to know average temp in different seasons, if you don't keep house at same temp all year.

Temp on CPU in summer was 31c, in winter its 21c. Probably as the fan speed on AIO doesn't drop below 913rpm all year and its likely its not really needed to cool PC.
The way the pump in the AIO works is - its speed is regulated by fan speed. At 40% fan speed, the pump is at 100% speed.
So I just set fans to 40% speed as minimum to keep pump running max speed.

Since fans in AIO always at certain speed, I can run my two chassis fans slower. Both only run at between 300 & 400, they not at same speed due to this:
Their lower speed means I can't hear them and tell if they noisy from dust.

I really need to clean my room but there is always something better to do. That will help my PC a lot.


I get that, I am reluctant to pick mine up now... its why I clean it where it is. take filters out back and clean them there.

Good idea, I'll do that whenever I get my new HDD's and open the thing back up again.
 
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Sheesh, you just reminded me that I need to clean my PC too.

Does anyone have tips on how to get rid of such stubborn dust? Compressed air and brushes don't seem to work.
 
It might depend how attached it is.

I find compressed air lacks sustained pressure, might need something like
Best thing about that is its rechargeable and I don't need to buy new air can every few cleans.

what brushes did you use? paint brushes aren't the best, I used to use them myself... until I got above tool.

some people have been known to use vacuum cleaners set to blow.
 
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Essentially what I use, but mine plugs in. It'll get those big, stubborn dust bunnies, but for stuff left over in the case you're going to need to wipe it out with something.

Just yesterday I cleaned the fans with a small brush and paper towel after taking them out of the case.
 
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I probably need to clean my AIO fans. I did the radiator by blowing air through it, but the fans are on the inside where I blew the dust, so could be some on them still. I know I got some through as the GPU backplate was a little dusty afterwards.
I can hear the aio fans which tells me they need it, as when I first got it they were silent. I can drown it out by playing a video. Or increasing speed of another fan so I can just hear it instead.... few minutes later, no... that is more annoying lol.
Compared to one noise that took me over a month to work out, I can live with it. I can just use headphones and not hear it at all. That was reason I started buying headphones, to drown out PC noise. I fixed the noise and kept buying headphones.
 
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It might depend how attached it is.

I find compressed air lacks sustained pressure, might need something like
Best thing about that is its rechargeable and I don't need to buy new air can every few cleans.

what brushes did you use? paint brushes aren't the best, I used to use them myself... until I got above tool.

some people have been known to use vacuum cleaners set to blow.

Those were my girlfriend's makeup brushes 😭 The problem with the brushes isn't which one is more handy, but the fact that they can actually cause static.

Thanks a lot for the Air Duster recommendation. I'll definitely check it out.
 
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i originally had a pack of 8 or so paint brushes in various sizes, their bristles were hard enough not to just bend when pushed against something.... unlike makeup brushes. I think I did get one soft brush but its never really been used for much. They still used now, when I just want to dust outside of case.

90% of the time I think to clean PC it is late at night and I have to just make do with things that don't make a lot of noise. So brushes do have their place still. They just aren't very useful on my Radiator as they tend to just push the dust in, not through. Might use them on my AIO fans though.

I just weakened and cleaned AIO fans, really hard to tell if they are dusty since they are white already. But I got some of them. I should spend more time on it, as I only really cleaned one of the fans well and now the rgb looks odd on the other two as there are probably dusty blades and not so dusty blades and I can see them moving. Guess I should do it again. Maybe in the morning when I can see better and won't wake mum up using the air duster.
 
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Played Yakuza yesterday and did some temp logging in anticipation of the new case. Should have a solid baseline now and when I switch over in a week or two, I'll check it out again and see how my temps are looking with the better cooled case. Maybe I'll pick-up a new air cooler for fun.
 
Ok, well. I finally finished degooping and repainting this case and it came out about as well as I expected. It would have been smoother had I used my airbrush I use for my miniatures, but I instead used a rattlecan.

That said, halfway through the process of cleaning this case up, well before painting, I realized I actually don't want to use this case and there was a reason I sold it in the first place. The cable management sucks and I just generally think the swoopy case design is kind of ugly, even painted in a less garish color. There's also the fact that it's damn old at this point and must have been getting very, very hot at my sister in laws house (I mean, it was totally clogged with dust) or sitting in the sun, because all the plastic is very brittle. I broke numerous clips that shouldn't have broken, but did with minimal pressure.

At any rate, I decided to finish it off just to get all the pieces off my desk and move on. I'm not sure what I'll do with it next, maybe donate it? It's still viable to use as a case, in spite of the issues. That said, I've reclaimed the fans from it and will be putting them in my current PC and that ought to increase airflow.


 
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Brian Boru

King of Munster
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Thanks for the suggestions.

However, I'm already at capacity. I currently have 11 computers and this one makes for my 12th. Only two of my current 11 are not being used at the moment (one will be when I rebuild my Arcade cabinet to use the Raspberry Pi) and I'm trying to get rid of at least one of them with minimal success.

Otherwise, I try very hard to find new uses for old hardware; I'm very into reuse.

So I may donate the case and then see if I can sell the other old components to someone who may want a Sandy Bridge machine.
 
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i get attached to cases and don't want to let them go.

Exhibit A:
8V3hW1H.jpg

Lian li case from approx 2005. I liked case too much and PC inside it had to be retired because motherboard had a graphics slot that had just been replaced. AGP > PCIe swap time.

Exhibit B:
dIkNlFF.jpg

Silverstone FT02 Case from Approx 2010 but the PC inside it is from 2015 - I had always wanted to use the case so bought it anyway.

This one likely to replace Lian Li if it ever leaves my room. I haven't used it in 4 years but due to having too much crap in our garage and no time to clean it out, its likely to stay in my room for a while.

I normally only have one working PC at any time. There are 2 PC in the house but the other is mums.
 

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