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Or be honest, do you ever?
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Or be honest, do you ever?
With effective dust filters and a positive air pressure fan setup, it's something I need do only very rarely.
Once every month.
Unplug everything, lug it down to the workshop, fire up the compressor and dust that mother out like it owes me money!!!
Dust filters never do anything for me except restrict airflow, which I really don't need any more of!
about every 2 months with one of those blowers and a vacuum
Every now and then, with an electric air blower. Works quite well.
I'm a clean freak. You won't find any dust in my house, let alone my computers :P
I use a blower every couple of years. I made a magnetic dust filter for the front of my HAF XB that needs cleaning every 2-3 weeks, which adds around 3C to temperatures, but keeps the internals dust free.
I only got my PC in April, so it's not had too long to build up much grime, but since then, I've opened it up and had a little dust around inside at least three times. I vacuum the filters, which are removable, weekly though.
Roughly once a year, keeps it nice a clean. But I would like too use some compressed air never done that. I use baby wipes and cotton buds to clean it at the moment, wiping all the fan blades free of dust.
I dont really clean it inside unless I am changing a part then I just give it a quick brush and thats that.
What? Theres an inside to a PC???
I'm an inveterate tinkerer and strip down my PCs several times a year, so they get a regular cleaning. I also set up most of my rigs with positive pressure ventilation so there's very little dust build up - just the fan filters need regular brushing down.
Every 6 months or so. Got a decent blower and give the insides a good clean out. My office thus computer are currently in my converted garage, which is still a garage, so dust is a constant threat
With my US build, this week is the first time since building it 5 months ago. Mainly as I was adding extra RAM & storage, and finally bothered to cable manage the rig. I clean the outside more regularly as the dust filters tend to get clogged with cat hair (we have 3 runing around), but they do at least do a great job of preventing dust from entering the system despite running a slightly negative pressure system (1x 200mm intake, 2x 120mm & 1x 140mm exhaust).
My UK build not so much, maybe every 6-12 months. The Antec 1200, while nice, has dust filters that are a pain to get at. Each one is part of a drive bay - there's 4x thumbscrews each side that need to be removed and the cables are pretty well managed but to the point that there's not enough play for me to pull the bay out from the front (as is by design) without disconnecting all of the HDDs (there's 3 per bay). It takes some time to clean just those filters.
Once a month. But it's rarely too bad!
The internals are every eighteen months (ish). Unless I buy new internal hardware in which case out comes the air can and the hoover.
I have to clean the front of the case every week as the fan that draws the air in creates a dust layer there.
I clean the external filters about once a month & about twice a year I take it out to the garage & blow out the dust with my air line. It needs doing now.
Every couple of months. Doesn't get that dirty mostly. Just the videocard does get clogged with lint and dust.
I wait until I either have an overheating problem or I notice it looking dirty!
There was a time I did it about every 6 months, now I'm really not sure, it's been about an year since I've last cleaned it. It still looks very clean! Positive pressure and dust filters are really helping me here. I just need to clean the filters every month
Only when I cannot see the flashing LEDs inside, is it time to clean the dust.
Not too often, but maybe between 1-2 years for compressed air and a fair amount of months for a brief filter "clean".
Dust filters once a month but only got an air compressor which cleaned the inside of my PC for the first time since buying it 8 years ago.
Once a month for a clean (Air blower, wipe down etc), every 6-12 months (depending on use) I strip them down and re-paste etc.
When i upgrade every 3-5 years. I might fill up the water once a year if she's lucky.
Whenever I get around to it. Last time, I found several cobwebs, a few spider bodies, a bird's nest and a family of hobbits that had fallen on hard times.
Oh, okay, I might be exaggerating a smidge. I actually clean it regularly .... once per system rebuild, or per decade, whichever comes later.
My new PC sits on top of the old one to reduce dust intake and no regular cleaning routine.
However I do have constant temperature displays, so am quickly aware of a problem.
rarely - more a clean of the outside and the dust filters :-)
My previous Zalman HD501 Home Cinema case needed doing monthly given it was desktop form factor and a lot of open vents on the top allowed dust and dog hair to get in.
My new Fractal Design Focus G has sponge like filters on the different grates on the front and underside so very little gets in. Since April haven't had to open it once for cleaning and it is still looking spotless so at a rough guess will probably need doing every 6-8 months to remove light surface dust
every 6 months clean all the dust filters and fans and the dust filters really help
so don't take long A clean pc means heathy pc in my book
Once every couple of weeks, I want it to look nice and clean :)
Once a month.
Damn, hangs head in shame at nearly 2yrs since last clean. Have however just got a can of compressed air to give the old girl a clean. Given the length of time it has been, its not actually that bad.
Every 6 months or so, the filter on my case are quite good and they get hoovered once a month.
About once a year inside carefully; I've got a special wand with lens cleaning hairs which is perfect for dislodging dust. Case has an 8"inch fan inside on the side and the hoover gets run over the outside of the case when the living room gets hoovered.
ps. My case is positive air and that does keep dust out well. Would never use compressed air as can easily push dust into areas it doesn't need to go.