Cleaning of insides of PC with a friggin 90 mph blower. What could go wrong?

[RAGNES7]

my motherboard is a X470 Gigabyte AUG and maybe it is most that matters.

So, what im planning to do is, clean the PC case with a 80+ mile per hour blower. call it a mini leaf blower but, i wanna know is this a smart idea?

there are no debris. i clean my PC every 40-60 days or so. but i can clean GPU, CPU fans and fins and the front pane fans and the crevices. for that purpose i am planning to use a air blower to clean it properly.

Any tips and sugestions? im open to idea of "dont do it please" too 

[Flying Sausages]

Don't point the blower close to the case.  Point it at like 10 feet away. Remove all the fans, cpu cooler and gpu.

[Damascus]

Don't, one guy on here killed his mobo by doing this exact thing.  If you want an alternative to compressed air, setups like this guy will cost less than canned after about 6-9 months, and then continue to be convenient and cheap looong after

 

https://www.amazon.com/XPOWER-Multi-Use-Electric-Computer-Replacement/dp/B00V8S9XU6?ref_=Oct_CATRatedC_3012916011_1&pf_rd_r=WWPB6DCHEK5VS2JMR98F&pf_rd_p=815eee4a-c7f4-5fd7-869f-628582123739&pf_rd_s=mobile-hybrid-6&pf_rd_t=30901&pf_rd_i=3012916011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[YohanSeals]

It can literally blow away the dust and some weak solderings. I must confess I use our vacuum cleaner/blower to clean my pc before. Not just compressed air cleaner even though it is expensive.

[RAGNES7]

one aditional thing. my Pc was built on 19/1/19. how long will the thermal paste last? i use the preapplied thermal paste on AMD warith prism cooler. I do live in a extremtly dusty area cuz many constructions going on nearby. When Linus did a 1 year dust buildup test, i was like, wooow thats 2-3 weeks worth of dust in my case(no pun).

 referring to that.

[Flying Sausages]

13 minutes ago, RAGNES7 said:

one aditional thing. my Pc was built on 19/1/19. how long will the thermal paste last? i use the preapplied thermal paste on AMD warith prism cooler. I do live in a extremtly dusty area cuz many constructions going on nearby. When Linus did a 1 year dust buildup test, i was like, wooow thats 2-3 weeks worth of dust in my case(no pun).

 referring to that.

More than 2 years.

[Mark Kaine]

Also please post video of doing this so I know how it works next time I want to destroy clean my PC. 

 

Thanks in advance! 

[RAGNES7]

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

Also please post video of doing this so I know how it works next time I want to destroy clean my PC. 

 

Thanks in advance! 

Okie, i will make a video only becuse you asked.

[Kisai]

10 hours ago, RAGNES7 said:

my motherboard is a X470 Gigabyte AUG and maybe it is most that matters.

So, what im planning to do is, clean the PC case with a 80+ mile per hour blower. call it a mini leaf blower but, i wanna know is this a smart idea?

there are no debris. i clean my PC every 40-60 days or so. but i can clean GPU, CPU fans and fins and the front pane fans and the crevices. for that purpose i am planning to use a air blower to clean it properly.

Any tips and sugestions? im open to idea of "dont do it please" too 

 

I'd recommend not doing it because two things will happen:

1) air pressure will "lift" things off the PCB's, the air pressure should be not enough to force your hand to movement if air is pushed at it. 

 

Solve this by keeping some distance, or if you have some kind of diffuser in front (eg think hair dryer attachments that spread the air into multiple nozzles/line) that will make the air less concentrated.

 

2) It will move moving parts in the wrong direction and create currents back fed through the electronics.

 

Now this is a little easier to prevent damage. If you can remove the fans, remove the fans before using the air pressure on heat sinks. If you can not remove the fans (eg MB chips, GPU) then make sure the fan can not spin before using air pressure on it.

 

If the fans spin while air pressure is being applied, it will damage the fan, and likely the PCB where it's attached.

[RAGNES7]

What if i use a vacuum instead of a blower?

 

[Kisai]

3 hours ago, RAGNES7 said:

What if i use a vacuum instead of a blower?

 

A vacuum with a plastic crevice tool (no brush) on the end will be ok as long as you don't physically touch anything in the PC. Mainly because if you accidently "form a seal" it's the same issue as point 1. A dust-buster sized vacuum is usually okay, like this:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Keyboard-Handheld-Portin-Li-Battery-Rechargeable/dp/B07VL15YWN

 

 

These are not too powerful, but typically enough to remove dust from keyboards, PCB's, heat sinks, etc.

 

Heatsinks you are better off using just waiting for the PC to cool down for 20 minutes and use compressed air.

 

From experience, air compressors and shop vacs are the worst to use on a computer. You basically should only ever use compressed air (in short bursts, because it will freeze computer parts otherwise), or small vacuums with plastic ends. Your average cylinder vacuum is too powerful