Project Reality Forums

Hey guys,

I have a question; What's the best way to clean my PC?

I'm thinking of cleaning my PC once a Month, it sort of get's dusty. (But it's on wood floor). So, I think once a month or once every 2 months would be fine.

What shall I use? I wouldn't mind it being not expensive and not that time consuming. (Like, less than 1 hour and less than $100). Thanks! All is appreciated.

A plastic ended vacuum cleaner when PC is switched off and unplugged and capacitors discharged (when unplugged hold down power button for 5-10 seconds).

If that's not enough use whatever dry compressed air you've got to blow the dust out of the CPU heatsink - cans are expensive and if you tilt them off the vertical all the water like propellant comes out that terrifies me.

I'd lovethisplus for other tasks.

If that's not enough remove heatsinks re apply thermal paste.

Take the side of the case off and use this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FM58A7I/

My favorite thing to do: and this works for keyboards / computer cases / ceiling fans / isolated corners

What you do is this
You take a perfectly-clean Splatmaster (the old olive-green one made in the 1980s)
One with no dirt or paint residue on the inside -- must be 100% clean and like new
Load up a 12 gram CO2 powerlet
**** the hammer
WHAP! WHAP WHAP!
The dust disappears! And your electronics are shiny and neat

I absolutely MUST emphasize that the gun be 100% clean and like new before doing this
Otherwise you might get paint specks and other **** shot out
And let the people in your house know what you're doing, because it sounds like a gun
Just tell them its a "concentrated air blower" or something

Compressed air has always done the trick for me.

Will I damage anything using compressed air?

And do you guys think I could just put a filter in front by my intake fan to make life easier?

No but as I said before keep the cans vertical.

My case has a mesh front filter which seems to stop a lot of dust. You can buy filters for fans from Newegg and probably other PC shops.

Warning: you can't forget to turn off the computer or else you might ruin it.

PLODDITHANLEY wrote:CPU heatsink - cans are expensive and if you tilt them off the vertical all the water like propellant comes out that terrifies me.

I spilled that shit all over a motherboard once, didn't turn out too well.

PLODDITHANLEY wrote:If that's not enough remove heatsinks re apply thermal paste.

Remember to remove the current thermal paste first though, apparently air pockets are bad for cooling.

if you tilt them off the vertical all the water like propellant comes out

I poured syrup directly on the PCB of my graphic card and the shit is still working !

I often clean electronic circuit with ethanol and deminaralised water, no problem..

Blow it up and buy a new computer anytime it needs cleaned out.

If I used compressed air, do I just blow around the components and not directly on the MOBO? I called up my friend who lend me a compressed air can. (well, it's mine now). He said to just spray the air on the motherboard to get the dust off that, but I can't trust him for ****.

DooOoOoood Quit being a scaredycat

I shot straight CO2 onto my motherboard multiple times
I used my own lungs to blow dust off a motherboard (a mix of water vapor and whatever else human beings exhale)

My cat farted on a motherboard
That killed it

Just kidding it's still working fine

matty1053 wrote:If I used compressed air, do I just blow around the components and not directly on the MOBO? I called up my friend who lend me a compressed air can. (well, it's mine now). He said to just spray the air on the motherboard to get the dust off that, but I can't trust him for ****.

You can use it directly on the motherboard as long as you keep the can vertical. That being said I'm assuming there's a lot more dust to remove around the fans.

the most important bit to clean are the heatsinks on the CPU/processor and maybe on the graphics card sometimes it's hard to see as the dust is under the fan like this.