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Dust loving gaming computer. Can a small room air purifier or an air filter work magic ??
kara25
no relation Registered User regular
no relation Registered User regular
Hi guys !!
As a preface I am supposed to be doing game design and development for a living but right now I am stuck at entry level crappy testing . I sleep,eat and dream games and use my gaming computer for more than 72 hours a week .
Last week my system was shutting down without warning and heating up like crazy . It went bonkers and I had to get a computer technician take a look .After staying away from my beloved PC for 2 days I was told there was so much of dust build up that they had to physically scrape off the clumps of yellow dust from each component. I use a carpet, have pets and more than occasionally smoke so they tell me all this added up to the problem. They suggest I do an external cleaning and internal cleaning of the system . I guess the external cleaning sounded simple ..just use a damp cloth and clean the equipment not a big deal at all but for internal cleaning they gave me this compressed can with a nozzle ... I have no idea how to use this :x
I am thinking instead of waiting for all this dust to build up and embark on an exhaustive cleaning routine which my schedule does not permit is there any preventive measure ?I checked online and found that few guys out there use magnetic air filters and room air purifiers . I have neither. I was wondering whether I can use this small room air purifier go-clair.com/ which my sister uses for her allergies. Will this suffice ? what about magnetic filters ? Do they help to prevent dust build up ? Does this compressed can thingy really work ? I have no idea how to use that though...
As a preface I am supposed to be doing game design and development for a living but right now I am stuck at entry level crappy testing . I sleep,eat and dream games and use my gaming computer for more than 72 hours a week .
Last week my system was shutting down without warning and heating up like crazy . It went bonkers and I had to get a computer technician take a look .After staying away from my beloved PC for 2 days I was told there was so much of dust build up that they had to physically scrape off the clumps of yellow dust from each component. I use a carpet, have pets and more than occasionally smoke so they tell me all this added up to the problem. They suggest I do an external cleaning and internal cleaning of the system . I guess the external cleaning sounded simple ..just use a damp cloth and clean the equipment not a big deal at all but for internal cleaning they gave me this compressed can with a nozzle ... I have no idea how to use this :x
I am thinking instead of waiting for all this dust to build up and embark on an exhaustive cleaning routine which my schedule does not permit is there any preventive measure ?I checked online and found that few guys out there use magnetic air filters and room air purifiers . I have neither. I was wondering whether I can use this small room air purifier go-clair.com/ which my sister uses for her allergies. Will this suffice ? what about magnetic filters ? Do they help to prevent dust build up ? Does this compressed can thingy really work ? I have no idea how to use that though...
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You could put some dust filters over the air intakes on your machine, these will slow down air flow and potentially make the system prone to overheating in the future, but they'll help keep some dust out of the system.
If you keep your machine on the carpet, stop doing that. The carpet is a dust magnet, and the computer will pull in more dust/lint/pet hair from it. Setting the PC on a couple square feet of plywood, or even a couple of floor tiles from your nearest home depot type store will help to separate it from the carpet.
The air purifiers may work, but you're not really going to save time that way (you'll be spending it cleaning out the air purifier filters rather than your PC).
Really, the best bet is to find 15 minutes a month to drag your PC outside (you really do not want to do this inside), open the case (should only take a screw or two), and go after any dust bunnies you see with a can of compressed air. Focus on the heatsink, any fans and the power supply. And yes, this helps. More than any other single piece of hardware advice I can give, keeping the heat sinks and fans clean of dust will keep your computer alive.
This may not be something you want to hear, but I'd also recommend not smoking near the computer. The smoke is actually worse than the pet hair, as it will get through any filters and is pretty much impossible to remove once it gets somewhere like the ball bearings of the fans.
Cleaning the computer isn't that hard. Unplug everything that is connected externally, remove the case wall, and use the compressed air can to blow out as much dust as possible from as many crevices as you can. Just make sure to keep the can held upright the whole time and use it in short bursts, unless you want to blow freezing air everywhere and add condensation to the mix of terrible things inside your computer (water + electronics = dead electronics). You don't necessarily need to take your computer outside, but it helps. If you do the cleaning indoors, just be sure to have your vacuum handy to suck up all the crap that comes out, or it will just end up back in your computer.
It's possible that the bearings on all of your fans are shot as well, given the description you gave of the computer pre-cleaning. Case fans are generally cheap and easy to replace, but if your CPU or GPU fans are borked, they can be replaced but you should look up videos, etc. before attempting to do so on your own.
This is huge. I used to detail cars when I was younger, and the layer that would come of the interior glass of a smokers vehicle was THICK. It gets everywhere. There is no good way to clean this stuff out of the fins of your heat sink either, short of following Skeith's advice and removing them for a proper soak in an alcohol bath (not the drinking kind either, sadly).
My advice would follow these steps:
1: Limit smoking near the PC, as there is NO magic answer to keeping the contaminants out of your PC.
2: Magnetic filters will be your first line of defense against most dust and pet hair contaminants. Invest in a few, because they are typically inexpensive, easy to inspect / clean, and will not leave you with a lot of computer down time.
3: Get the computer off the carpet if possible. You don't HAVE to do this, but it will decrease your cleaning frequency.
4: Consider ensuring that your PC case has a "positive airflow set-up". Follow this link to learn what that means, but essentially it means blowing more air in than out. This will improve the effectiveness of your new magnetic filters.
If I think of anything else, I'll edit this post. Best of luck, the war against heat in your PC is an uphill battle, but I have confidence in your success.
I would start by trying out some filters; they're cheap and easy to install, and if you're handy you can even go buy some floor vent filters and cut them to fit your case's fan housing. They have to be changed occasionally but should help a lot. In the long run improving the air flow in your case will also help a lot.
other preventative things include not smoking at your desk, removing the carpet from the room where the PC is, and not letting your cat sleep on top of your tower if it's like mine and acquired that habit one winter.
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Thermal paste on hand ?? I quite didn't get that . ..removing the heat sink ?? nobody has told me that .. could you elaborate if you don't mind
I wonder how you knew that I tend to more than often smoke near my PC ? To be honest I never thought that smoking would harm my PC because I have a very good case and presumed it would be very effective to prevent dust .Now I'm never gonna do that . 48 hours without my PC was more than I could endure !! The air purifier which my sister uses needs cleaning using a vacuum cleaner just once a month so I guess it shouldn't be a hassle . Wondering if there is something like that for PC's as well some quick fix solution to clean which isn't a tedious process?
I was going through how to clean with compressed air videos on you tube. I hope I manage to do it correctly . I cannot always give it to a technician it gets pretty heavy on the pocket .
There's this big thing with a fan on it that sits on top of the processor to keep the temperature down (how big depends on the computer, aftermarket ones tend to be pretty bulky and there are hundreds of different models). Instead of just having it be metal touching metal (heat sink straight on the processor), there's a thermal paste that you apply so that the heat is conducted better. If you take the thing off (there's a few screws that need to be undone) you need to reapply the paste before you put it back on, like this:
I can't really go into more detail without seeing the inside of the case. But cleaning the heat sink is going to do the most to keep your computer from shutting down because of overheating.
I think that may be going a bit farther than you need. But more information follows:
Inside your case, on top of your processor, there's a heatsink.
It should look something like this:
It may be slightly different in design, but it should have a fan on top of it and lots of surface area to disperse heat.
As you can imagine, dust absolutely loves to get in there, and that dust acts as an insulator so the heatsink can't move heat to the fan as efficiently.
So, what Skeith is suggesting you do is open the case and remove the heatsink to give it a really thorough cleaning (beyond what you could do if the heatsink is attached to the motherboard) so it can be more efficient at it's job.
Once you remove the heatsink, you'll notice that it has some goo between it and the actual processor chip. This is Thermal Paste. Its job is to fill all the microscopic nooks and crannies between the processor and the heatsink to allow heat to pass from the processor to the heatsink. Given enough time (and heat) the thermal paste wears out, or dries out or (in rare cases) gets cooked out so it can't do what it's supposed to. If you're removing the heatsink, this is as good a time as any to clean off the old paste and apply a new layer.
If you decide to pull the heatsink out to clean it, you'll want to be careful not to apply too much. Here's a video that explains it pretty well and shows how to apply it.
I'd guess it's because you said you did entry level testing and wanted to work in game design and that you smoked.
Show me the smoker doing QA testing (or programming or game design) that doesn't have a full ashtray next to their keyboard, and I'll show you someone who's really good at disguising their ashtray.
As for quick fix cleaning for PCs, that can of air is about as quick as you can get. It shouldn't take more then 10-15 minutes to disconnect your PC tower from everything, pop the side off and blow the dust out. And in most environments you shouldn't need to do that more than once a month.
Wow, that pic has way too much paste for a Core 2. Grain of rice is more than enough. Pea-size for i3 i5 or i7. (Say this after many experiments applying paste to my own Core 2 duo.)
@kara25, my advice is to keep it simple, and I think you're on the right track with not smoking, and making an effort to blow some air through the heat sink every few week / months (depending on how dirty it gets). I still think some magnetic filters are a good idea, but they aren't difficult / expensive to use. Don't get too bogged down with the technical stuff, if you need to cross that bridge in the future we'd be more than happy to help.
You're already going to be miles ahead of where you were before your PC was overheating last time.
I was so confused because I'm not very good at troubleshooting and I've never attempted cleaning the inside of the PC on my own .I went through the video but I guess I'm still not very confident to attempt this on my own .Also I wanted to know whether anybody has tried placing an air purifier beside the pc. Like I mentioned I contemplating using a small portable one. I'm thinking if it can clean the air it should aid clean the PC as well right ?
To be honest, now that I got my PC fixed and it looks in better shape I'm looking for an easy way to prevent the dust from accumulating.
The short answer is that you won't. Cleaning out your PC should be done regularly. As long as air can get in there, dust and other pollutants can get in there as well. It's just like having to dust a bookshelf every once in a while, except the problem will only get worse and worse the more dust that gets in there. You can blow off the dust from a book and it will be good as new. You can't do the same for computer parts.
I think you will be unhappy with the results from a dollar:dust ratio standpoint on an air purifier, SOLELY in regards to how much dust it will prevent from your PC accumulating. Maybe you'll be super impressed with the air purifier itself, but I don't think it will help with keeping your PC appreciably cleaner.
EDIT: Though if you do go with this option, and it does work out in your favor, keep us updated. I'm interested to know.
I have such erratic working hours and barely anytime or patience to embark on a cleaning mission every now and then .I agree you have a point there I'll need to somehow try and clean my PC on a regular basis its an easier task for guys who are used to all dismantling stuff and troubleshooting but for a novice like me even using a screwdriver in itself is a daunting task
At present I am using an anti static cloth and a small dust vac to clean the PC from outside. I'll go ahead with this air purifier idea if i get a go ahead signal from this friend of mine who is a gadget lover. He said he'll go through the specs of the Clair air purifier and give me feedback whether I can go ahead with it for PC dust.
I shall keep you posted with an update if I go ahead and it works.
Smoke, dust, pet dander, off the carpet, why all of these making me think about air purifier?
I check your Clair, but it looks tiny. Your sister has allergies and survives with that? Really?
STOP VACUUMING YOUR PC. Vacuums build up a large static charge and can short out your PC.
That's why they gave you a can of air. You don't suck it all up, you blow it all away. Unplug all the cables, take it outside and blow away. Depending on how quickly it builds up, you can do this every month / 3 months / 6 months. I wouldn't worry about disassembling much more than that.
That's also why more expensive cases have filters. You should clean/check them monthly (or more often) to clean them.
Just make sure you never vacuum the inside of it. That's likely to break the whole thing.
C'mon I know that I shouldn't be vacuuming the inside. I use the vacuum cleaner only to clean the external dust. I just had a friend suggest magnetic filters. I'm also checking for it online . When I look online I see I'm not the only person facing this problem but the solutions are all so tedious and cumbersome :bigfrown:
Well.. my sister has dust mite allergy and keeps sneezing and having red eyes and usually she avoids coming over to my place which according to her is a dust haven.She carries that tiny air purifier wherever she goes. Uses it in her car as well. Last week she stayed overnight at my place and brought that along. When I quizzed her about her new obsession with it she tells me it was recommended by her allergy specialist and helps her with allergies. That's when I thought just maybe I could use it to my advantage just in case it was good for getting rid of dust.
I got myself one of these and have been getting good use out of it: http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED500-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW
I have no idea why they call it a vacuum because it's not. It's an electric blower meant for blowing out electronic components. I have one and it'll get dust out of places you didn't even know existed in your equipment. I'm pretty sure it's also blowing dust out of alternate dimensions that occupy the same space as the equipment because damn.
Hmm Thanks for the suggestion. I am using the Clair BF2025 air purifier now. Just experimenting with it and keeping it running all round the clock for the time being and using a dust vac as well. I'll check how it turns out in a month's time. I hope it proves out to be a easy solution for the dust problem (fingers crossed).
btw I eventually got a set of magnetic filters and used that Clair air purifier and its been over a month. There is noticeable difference. I forgot to vacuum the air purifier filters and just took them out yesterday. I just saw so much of dust inside the filter (you can notice it here in the attached picture). So I guess I won't have to clean my PC that often right ?
For sure the dust picked up by the purifier can't get in your PC so will certainly help (also the dirt won't get in your lungs which is much more important).
Have you noticed if running the purifier means less dust on your thing in general ie. less need for dusting?
I wonder how long you had your PC before you ran into the overheating problem in the first place?
I would expect your PC to be safe for many months, but if it only took like say 6 months for it to need it's first cleaning then checking now to see how it looks mat be a good thing just to be on the safe side.
Once you know things are good then I have a suggestion for an easier way to know if it all good than taking the machine apart. What you can do is simply to run a hardware monitor program on your machine that reads the sensors which are in the hardware and tells you what they are saying. Take a note of the temperatures then you can easily recheck once in a while to see if cooling is becoming an issue (remember to account for room temperature and also if your computer is at idle or doing hard work).
Often computers do come with hardware monitor programs, but they tend to be a little limited in function and take up a lot of screen space with fancy silly graphics so here is the one I prefer openhardwaremonitor.org/ and how it looks on my screen:
You can configure the program to your liking and fx. just have it display the numbers you choose in the notification area so it doesn't take up any space. It then looks like this:
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check that program . How do you know the optimal temperature ?
My PC is just over 2 years old and it was 8 months after the last cleaning routine that it ran into serious overheating problem. You are right I notice less dust ever since I started using the air purifier. In particular the fine dust which used to be there on all electronic equipment in my room including my PC has virtually disappeared. I haven't opened my PC but will do that this coming weekend. Looking at the color of my air purifier filter I'm expecting there won't be any dust inside the PC. I heard its not only the dust but virus and all such nasty stuff also get trapped inside the air purifier filter so I have nothing to complain about .
You're welcome.
On the optimal temperature thing you could go and look up the different components, like say your CPU, at the company that made it, but I'd say it is too much effort to put into it. My suggestion is to simply get a baseline by taking note of how hot it gets in say a normal situation where you're just surfing the web and also when you have had the thing working really hard for maybe ½ an hour. Withe he baseline you'll know how hot it gets under normal condition and then if your start seeing numbers go like 20-30% higher or more there might be reason to investigate if dust has build up or a fan has stopped working.
In principle the cooler your computer runs the longer the components will last, but in general computer get obsolete long before they die. More than sufficient cooling to ensure a computer doesn't overheat only really means extra cost to set up the cooling and likely also more noise from fans. As long as your system is stable I suggest not worrying more about the heat thing except checking the temperatures once in a while.
All CPU's are unique, and some will run hotter or cooler than others. If you know what CPU you have, you can find out with some quick google-fu what other people's temperatures are like and use those numbers as a rule of thumb.
If you want to get really into the temperature game, you can monitor your CPU temps doing different activities (idle, web surfing, video streaming, hardcore gaming) and make note of your temperatures. THEN, when you make changes to your set-up (recent cleaning, different fans / new orientation, etc) you can see what difference has been made on your temperatures.
Glad to hear the purifier has made an improvement!
Best of luck!
Ah yes ! even I had no clue this air purifier would work ..just happy its working and saving me some time (and money).
Hmm.. I don't know if I'll find the time to do the analysis. I got the standard values online. I looked on Cnet downloads and there is this software speedfan which can control temperature as well as fan speed but few user reviews say its a daunting task for new users to set up though .. thinking of giving it a shot.
I guess the optical mouse is famous for exactly this sort of erratic behavior. You'll have to blow out the hair using compressed air and once it is clean, and is functioning properly use a clear scotch tape and place it just on the hole over the optical eye . I used to do this prevent hair and other particles from getting inside the mouse. If you have an air purifier at home you can try using it near your PC. On the Clair website I remember reading about air purifier and pet dander.
Just looked up the article it's this one go-clair.com/blogs/news/18313219-best-air-purifier-for-pets