I've got some spare time and I'm thinking of cleaning my fairly old self built computer. It's managed to pick up a lot of dust and the intake/exhaust vents are essentially clogged full of dust and fur balls. I figure I should probably also crack open the case and try to dust inside as well.
Specifications:
CPU: Intel Core2Due E6600 (Conroe) running at stock speeds
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
RAM: 4Gb
MB: ASUS P5N32 SLi SE Deluxe
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4850, ATI Radeon HD 4650 (not Crossfired)
HD: Western Digital 2500KS
SSD: OCZ Core 60GB (fairly rubbish/stuttery first gen SSD)
I'm wondering whether it's worth completely rebuilding it- as in taking it all apart dusting off the individual components and then putting it all back together again? Or whether I should play it safe (and lazy) and just try to dust off the exposed bits as best I can? Wondering if anyone has any opinions either way?
I'm pretty sure the CPU heatsink/fan will be caked with dust as well, but I'm quite scared of removing this and then trying to reseat it- I know I'll probably have to reapply the thermal compound stuff as well if I do.
My main motivation for doing all this (apart from basic hygiene) is that I've noticed the computer has started to run a little warm. I used coretemp to watch temperatures while running Prime95. I have idle core temps of 65 C, but after 15 minutes of the Prime95 torture test these spike to 80-83 C, at which point I stopped the test. Coretemp indicates that 85 C is the Intel mandated maximum for my CPU.
I'd be curious to hear how others maintain/clean their PCs and what sort of temperature improvements this results in? Also if anyone has any tips or advice it would be much appreciated.


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