question

[ralphandmike]

I was wondering can the memory slots not used in a build if you only have two or one populated cause a problem if dust gets into the other ones.? like for example I am going to use 32 gigs of memory and have two more open slots to put memory in. what my concern is will the open slots have issues with dust or something?  I was wondering about this as all the time anymore I hear about people using 16 or so for memory and not all the slots are used so I was curious on that issue.

[Slottr]

You'll be fine. Dust won't hurt it

[ralphandmike]

1 minute ago, Slottr said:

You'll be fine. Dust won't hurt it

there is a reason why I asked this because dust can get into the case even if its with airflow and enclosed on the sides or something. 

[Lurick]

No, unless you have dust made of a conductive metal and blow it into the memory slot it will not cause any issues. Maybe in 5 to 10 years if you want to add new memory you'll need to blow out the slots with some air but that's about it.

[ralphandmike]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

No, unless you have dust made of a conductive metal and blow it into the memory slot it will not cause any issues. Maybe in 5 to 10 years if you want to add new memory you'll need to blow out the slots with some air but that's about it.

are you sure? I mean I was always told heat and dust are the two most common problems with computer hardware

[Lurick]

25 minutes ago, ralphandmike said:

are you sure? I mean I was always told heat and dust are the two most common problems with computer hardware

dust that clogs up fans and filters is what causes problems because it prevents airflow and prevents heat from leaving the case as a result but so long as you clean things out every few months then that won't be an issue.

[ralphandmike]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

dust that clogs up fans and filters is what causes problems because it prevents airflow and prevents heat from leaving the case as a result but so long as you clean things out every few months then that won't be an issue.

ok sounds good. just wanted to be sure.

[papajo]

1 hour ago, ralphandmike said:

I was wondering can the memory slots not used in a build if you only have two or one populated cause a problem if dust gets into the other ones.? like for example I am going to use 32 gigs of memory and have two more open slots to put memory in. what my concern is will the open slots have issues with dust or something?  I was wondering about this as all the time anymore I hear about people using 16 or so for memory and not all the slots are used so I was curious on that issue.

Well I am pretty sure that the engineering conglomerates that are responsible for designing the standard (not an individual slot but the books that guide the engineers employed by big manufacturers to implement this stuff in their products)  would have made a change if there was a reasonable risk for that but since I remember computers (decades) there are open slots either memory slots or PCI/PCIe/AGP/ISA/EISA you name it.. and nothing noticeable has happened because of letting them for years and years unpopulated and thus exposed. 

 

If you are interested as to why nothing happens well those ports are essentially an open circuit for example (and do NOT try this at home because you may gonna miss something or get confused or what not and end up killing yourself) if you switch your light off then put your finger inside the light bulb slot nothing will happen because you touched an open circuit no electricity goes there. 

 

Same to those slots in order to get power there you have to close it (by connecting it to the ram stick and thus creating an uninterrupted power loop that goes through that RAM stick) 

 

On top of that dust is usually not conductive especially in a house environment (because ok conductivity of dust depends on what its made off dust in your home is usually a product of dead cells,glass,wood,wool fibers etc if it has metallic particles then yes it would be conductive but its highly unlikely to find a great consecration of those in a home because there are not many points of attrition between metal surfaces to create fine metallic dust) 

 

and even if it has a small amount of conductivity (again depending on what it is made of) the current in those slots is small 1 to 1,8 volts (so like a battery cell) which would not be strong enough to render the dust's conductivity properties. 

 

 

[ralphandmike]

1 hour ago, papajo said:

Well I am pretty sure that the engineering conglomerates that are responsible for designing the standard (not an individual slot but the books that guide the engineers employed by big manufacturers to implement this stuff in their products)  would have made a change if there was a reasonable risk for that but since I remember computers (decades) there are open slots either memory slots or PCI/PCIe/AGP/ISA/EISA you name it.. and nothing noticeable has happened because of letting them for years and years unpopulated and thus exposed. 

 

If you are interested as to why nothing happens well those ports are essentially an open circuit for example (and do NOT try this at home because you may gonna miss something or get confused or what not and end up killing yourself) if you switch your light off then put your finger inside the light bulb slot nothing will happen because you touched an open circuit no electricity goes there. 

 

Same to those slots in order to get power there you have to close it (by connecting it to the ram stick and thus creating an uninterrupted power loop that goes through that RAM stick) 

 

On top of that dust is usually not conductive especially in a house environment (because ok conductivity of dust depends on what its made off dust in your home is usually a product of dead cells,glass,wood,wool fibers etc if it has metallic particles then yes it would be conductive but its highly unlikely to find a great consecration of those in a home because there are not many points of attrition between metal surfaces to create fine metallic dust) 

 

and even if it has a small amount of conductivity (again depending on what it is made of) the current in those slots is small 1 to 1,8 volts (so like a battery cell) which would not be strong enough to render the dust's conductivity properties. 

 

 

sounds good. I just wanted to be sure I mean that has always concerned me even when I started building computers back in 05 or earlier

[papajo]

6 minutes ago, ralphandmike said:

sounds good. I just wanted to be sure I mean that has always concerned me even when I started building computers back in 05 or earlier

wise people are behind those designs if you notice the slot has two rails and each individual pin is isolated. 

 

Further more connections (pins) are put in such a way that they are not directly in front or next to each other so even if something conductive gets in it still could do no damage since it would have to touch two particular pins (and thus close their loop)that are not even close to each other.  

 

unless you fill the entire slot with water or what not. 

[ralphandmike]

1 minute ago, papajo said:

wise people are behind those designs if you notice the slot has two rails and each individual pin is isolated. 

 

Further more connections (pins) are put in such a way that they are not directly in front or next to each other so even if something conductive gets in it still could do no damage since it would have to touch two particular pins that are not even close to each other.  

I see so its like using a header to short out the pins for resetting the bios kind of thing. its only conductive if the piece connects them together cool I like that safety measure.