How often do you clean your PC?

[DoctorNick]

1-2 mounths - I blast it with my Datavac ED500

[TetraSky]

I remove the dust filter, clean it, put it back in....

Once a year or so I dust off the inside as well with a Datavac ED500 duster, while preventing the fans from spinning.

[NineEyeRon]

I open it up, take out the dust filters and blast it all with my datavac every couple of months. Temps drop a touch after usually.

 

My Fractal case is superb and most dust is captured by the filters so inside really doesn’t get dusty. I’m also on a positive pressure setup so that helps.

 

I have a large fabric mouse mat which I put in the bath and clean with a fabric handwash soap when I feel it’s dirty. 

 

I also use a high quality dry microfibre cloth to clean the surfaces of dust plus the screens.

 

I also use the datavac to blast out the keyboard and mouse, I also have a soft brush to get in crevices on them if needed.

 

I find cleaning my PC quite relaxing and enjoyable, but I don’t do it too often so that it would become a chore.

[matus570]

35 minutes ago, NineEyeRon said:

I open it up, take out the dust filters and blast it all with my datavac every couple of months. Temps drop a touch after usually.

 

My Fractal case is superb and most dust is captured by the filters so inside really doesn’t get dusty. I’m also on a positive pressure setup so that helps.

 

I have a large fabric mouse mat which I put in the bath and clean with a fabric handwash soap when I feel it’s dirty. 

 

I also use a high quality dry microfibre cloth to clean the surfaces of dust plus the screens.

 

I also use the datavac to blast out the keyboard and mouse, I also have a soft brush to get in crevices on them if needed.

 

I find cleaning my PC quite relaxing and enjoyable, but I don’t do it too often so that it would become a chore.

Yeah my room has all furniture and stuff built from dust and I have a negative air pressure inside my case so yeah I should clean my PC more

[Automobili3XF]

I clean the filter every week and the internal components every 3 months or so.

[Velcade]

usually every 6 months

[OnionFromOrion]

Whenever it looks dusty from the side window

[PCturbobutton]

The outside I used to do constantly when my system was on the floor as It would always get marks and some stuff on it. 

 

The inside would be done once or twice a year fully and the filters/fans whenever I noticed them getting a bit too dusty. 

 

I did a 90% at the weekend (excluding hard to reach corners,and non important areas) only because I was installing new parts in my case so needed it clean. I'd have went for a 100% clean if I wasn't so excited at building my new system. 

[Mitko_DSV]

6 hours ago, matus570 said:

Not related to this topic but why do you have so many pc but none of them is even older high end? Except for that 2600 that is kind of at the edge of high end

Well my main PC was bought as a prebuilt Acer PC in May 2012 and I upgraded it over the years (doesn't support 3rd gen, so i7 2600 it is). The secondary PC I have was built from spare parts and I only bought the motherboard for $20. The HTPC I bought since it had the i7 2600s that is currently in my main PC and the Celeron curently in it is fine for just ocasionally watching movies (max HD quality). The others were free or pretty cheap, that's why I have so many. I've never actually used very high end PCs. I don't have enough money to spend for such things.

[SenKa]

I have 3 dogs and a bird in my house, so dust accumulates very quickly. I would say I clean my PC out every 2 or 3 months.

[Boomwebsearch]

Personally, I only really dust out my computer when its around time to change out the thermal paste along with it because of a noticeable performance reduction or the fans spinning up during idle. Dust filters on my case help out a lot to prevent to much dust from entering the case and when you notice that you are not getting much airflow since the dust restricting it significantly would be a sign that it is appropriate to dust out your computer. Some laptops do not need to be dusted out internally due to dust and sometimes also water resistant casing. Really depends on the environment that the computer is subjected to and there are a lot of factors associated with that and for the average user I do not think that it would be practical to calculate exactly when it would be time to clean the computer, so just make sure that you are cleaning it out once a year or every few years if you have a dust filter. I would like to see case manufacturers make it a feature showing the dust level in your case and showing when it would be a good time to clean your case.

[Anomnomnomaly]

I run the hoover over the outside filters every week or so, pull the front intake off and clean the inside filter every month and give the insides a quick dust/clean every 3-4 months.

 

My house can get rather dusty, especially att he moment as I'm slowly decorating a few rooms and it involves a lot of patching a filling walls... which creates a lot of very fine dust particles... Dust sheets on floors and covering doors just don't stop it all.

[PianoPlayer88Key]

On 6/26/2019 at 10:27 PM, fluxdeity said:

At least quarterly, sometimes sooner. I highly recommend going to Walmart and getting a $50-60 air compressor. 2 cans of air is like $6-8 and I use at least two every time. So for me it pays itself back within 3 years.

 

On 6/26/2019 at 10:29 PM, fluxdeity said:

Not to mention it's VASTLY superior in pressure. I can blow dust bunnies away from 3ft. With ~50psi

 

Just make sure not to tilt the nozzle down too much or you risk dripping water unless you have an air compressor moisture filter.

You mean, something like this?

(I didn't actually have the compressor plugged in though, it was just set up for the photo.)

 

 

I clean mine at pretty much random times.  I haven't powered on my desktop in almost a year, and I can see some dust caked on the Hyper 212 Evo heatsink.  (I should probably put the side panels and unused 5.25" bay covers back on my FD Define R5.)

 

My laptop is currently my daily driver, and now and then I take it apart and clean it with canned compressed air.

Sometimes when I come to my laptop I find this.

Some of my keyboard keys have gotten flaky, so l recently took the keyboard apart and cleaned under the keys.  Guess I should have done it sooner.

   

I managed to pop off the little rubber dome piece on the left shift (in the 1st pic) so that key no longer works.  I still have the piece, any ideas how to reattach it?  Also even after cleaning, the I, O, L and ? keys often still require pressing VERY hard to activate, like I'm flexing the board itself.  (OTOH the left Ctrl is fine now, it used to require mega-hard presses.)

 

I live east of San Diego, CA, almost in the foothills of the mountains.  We don't have A/C here, and it pretty much always reaches 82-86°F (28-30°C) in the house in summer.  Outdoors it can reach high 90s to mid 100s F (35-42°C) or so quite frequently.

My cousin's house in La Mesa (a few miles west of me) has actually reached 104°F (40°C) indoors!  Hey I'm curious, @jonnyGURU, how well would an older Corsair CX, or VS, or maybe an older non-80+ PSU that's not rated over 25°C (like ones that had a <1.5 score in reviews on your site) hold up in an environment like that? Or would even an RMx or AXi struggle a bit?

 

[Ja Krispie]

Not that often. Once a year is all I do. It's not that serious

[Guest]

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