Dust.

I've looked at numerous posts across the internet, watched a half dozen videos, and read every story it seems crossing every spectrum from horrific to benign on the virtues and trials of cleaning the inside of your computer, particularly concerning dust.

I got my computer about two to three months ago now, level 3 Apollo and made some adjustments like I'm sure all of us have. I decided to not OC the processor and to go for the CPU copper pipe cooler instead of the water cooler as I was not overclocking the CPU and saw this as uneeded. I went in for the six upgraded chassis fans as well on the recommendation of a CSA.

Now my home has a long hair cat. The room it's in has carpet. It is four feet off the floor on a desk, and while the inside of the case is pretty clean(dust) the CPU heat sink is getting pretty gnarly. The fans have their share of dust on the inside of the fans too but probably no more than anyone else.

Now I don't like to take things apart. I don't like messing with the inner workings of a machine that I really don't know anymore than a basic understanding of. So my questions are these; is it really necessary to clean out the inside of your computer? I've had a Xbox 360 for years that still works fine, never had to clean the inside of that to continue to work. Have another computer and the only time I ever dusted it out was when I put in a new GPU. That computer is six years old, still runs fine, haven't turned it off in the past five months.(a couple of restarts here and there for updates) I know overheating can occur, but how likely is this due to the nature of the case?(six fans, a big ole CPU heat sink, hardly any exposed wires to allow max air flow) If it is ABSOULUTELY crucial that I do clean it out, do I have to remove the heat sink/GPU/HDD? Is it really necessary? A lot of these guides I read and watch, I understand that's a part of it. I would really not want to screw around with that. And finally, how much dust quantifies a cleaning? I understand too much is probably when I can't see through the heat sink but what quantifies maintenance then?

TL;DR Do I really need to ever clean out the dust from the inside of my computer?

Originally posted by ArkansasWoman777 Every so often you will need to dust out the inside of your computer. I dust mine out every month even if it isn't dusty

Thanks for you reply! Do you do this because it looks better on the inside? Or is this a maintenance thing? I just guess I don't understand the need for it as other electronic devices(including computers) with lots of vents and dust intake work just fine without this measure. I would understand if your computer is expected of overheating that this would be a thing to check to make sure it can "breathe." I've had a PC for most my life from 1996-present and this would be my fourth one. I never had an issue with overheating and never dusted out any of those.

Edited by Progenitor - 03 Dec 2014 at 10:11am

You don't have to remove the cpu cooler and graphics card, although some do remove the card.   I don't.  Blowing canned air through the card's fan and through the small fins behind the cpu cooler fan does help over time.  Dust can start to clog up where the air needs to go to cool things off. 

You can use HWmonitor, a free download, to monitor your cpu core and gpu temps every couple of weeks.   Temps in the 70's C, not F,  and lower is great.   Even low 80's is good.    If temps start to climb, then a good cleaning is usually the fix. 

Hi Progenitor,

You don't have to mess with anything inside of the computer to keep it working clean. Following bprat22's advise and get some can air and blow the fans and I also blow over the electronics. As you blow around the case have a vacuum running and hold it close to the area you are blowing. I keep a brush attachment on the end of the vacuum incase I accidently touch some of the electronics. With out the vacuum some of the dust you blow up will settle in the computer again. This is not hard. Just open the side door and blow around and collect the air born dust with the vacuum.

Frank

Edited by FrankW - 04 Dec 2014 at 2:32am