mods Does anyone care about DUST?

[winston1234]

Am I just a fanatic?  Over the years I opened up many cases and found them clogged with dust.  Fans & heat sinks are dust magnets because of their airflow needs. Connectors aren't as bad but I give my connectors a good blow from the CO2 duster can before reseating RAM or cards. 

 

So I finally broke down and built a proper dust filter. Two photos attached. Warning:  It's not pretty.  I'm an engineer and developer, not a gamer. And I don't give a flying $##% about LEDs on my fans or case or ANYWHERE. My computer case hides in a closet. I also want my computer to work for me, not vice versa.  The most significant example of this is I don't want to invest time money and heartache in a water cooled system. And since I'm not a gamer with a ginormous graphics card my cooling needs are quite modest.

 

I care about noise, dust and proper cooling. To that end there my case has two main mods.

1. Furnace filter (why reinvent the wheel) provides all the clean air my system needs.

2. Wood frame for my HDDs to reduce noise and because my case ran out of space. I made a small, simple, ugly wood frame for my HDDs.  No more HDD vibration noise resonating through my case. In the past I used rubber HDD mounts.  Now that I switched I'm finding the wood mount much easier to use.

 

Alright, back to my BFF (Big Furnace Filter).  Simple enough from the outside, lets open 'er up and see the guts. Underneath the BFF I have a bank of generic fans.  Instead of buying an expensive low noise fan, I just run a bank of them at low speed.  Currently I only need two. When building it I didn't know how much air I'd need so the frame has 4 fans.  Two are blocked off.

 

Instead of 12V, the fans are driven at 5V with a standard variable voltage wall wart. And since I'm paranoid I hooked up a separate battery supplied warning LED in case the fliter-fans lose power.

 

And that's almost it. The red buttons are a bank of power switches for my backup HDDs.  Those HDDs only get turned on when I'm running the backup cycle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hinjima]

3 minutes ago, winston1234 said:

Am I just a fanatic?  Over the years I opened up many cases and found them clogged with dust.  Fans & heat sinks are dust magnets because of their airflow needs. Connectors aren't as bad but I give my connectors a good blow from the CO2 duster can before reseating RAM or cards. 

 

So I finally broke down and built a proper dust filter. Two photos attached. Warning:  It's not pretty.  I'm an engineer and developer, not a gamer. And I don't give a flying $##% about LEDs on my fans or case or ANYWHERE. My computer case hides in a closet. I also want my computer to work for me, not vice versa.  The most significant example of this is I don't want to invest time money and heartache in a water cooled system. And since I'm not a gamer with a ginormous graphics card my cooling needs are quite modest.

 

I care about noise, dust and proper cooling. To that end there my case has two main mods.

1. Furnace filter (why reinvent the wheel) provides all the clean air my system needs.

2. Wood frame for my HDDs to reduce noise and because my case ran out of space. I made a small, simple, ugly wood frame for my HDDs.  No more HDD vibration noise resonating through my case. In the past I used rubber HDD mounts.  Now that I switched I'm finding the wood mount much easier to use.

 

Alright, back to my BFF (Big Furnace Filter).  Simple enough from the outside, lets open 'er up and see the guts. Underneath the BFF I have a bank of generic fans.  Instead of buying an expensive low noise fan, I just run a bank of them at low speed.  Currently I only need two. When building it I didn't know how much air I'd need so the frame has 4 fans.  Two are blocked off.

 

Instead of 12V, the fans are driven at 5V with a standard variable voltage wall wart. And since I'm paranoid I hooked up a separate battery supplied warning LED in case the fliter-fans lose power.

 

And that's almost it. The red buttons are a bank of power switches for my backup HDDs.  Those HDDs only get turned on when I'm running the backup cycle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Modern cases usually come with pretty good dust filters.

Even my Corsair Graphite 760T from 2014 has excellent filters.

 

I was going to buy the new Antec Flux Pro but it has no dust filters ( I could manually add some )

But I am going with the Fractal North XL, mainly due to a great front dust filter.

[Guest]

Dust can cause a number of issues in computers, it can cause slower performance, overheating, sometimes it can even cause a short by creating conductive paths between electrical components which could damage your computer.

TL;DR: People do care about dust.

Sources: https://lfo.com.au/the-impact-of-dust-on-computer-performance-and-how-to-address-it/

[freeagent]

...

 

[flibberdipper]

I give minimal thought to dust. My desktop doesn't have dust filters, nor does it really need them to be quite honest with you (simply because of how it is lol). I vacuum the dust filter of my Define 7-based server once every few months as we have long haired cats and it lives on carpet. My laptop, which is on 24/7, gets attention when it gets it as it doesn't get that bad. My Mac Mini, which is also on 24/7, gets absolutely no love whatsoever even though it sucks in a comical amount of dust since it doesn't impact it enough for me to care.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

the pics look like theyre from a mid 2000s forum post =p

 

that aside this seems like massive overkill, why not just have fans that can spin really fast? just have em run full blast from time to time when the dust builds up and no more dust atleast on the fans and the heatsink

[Average Nerd]

I don't really care about dust in my PCs, only my external radiator has dust filters so the fan blades are protected from cables and fingers.

Rig 1 has server fans that basically just blast any dust that gets in right back out, Rig 2 doesn't take in a lot of air since it only needs to supply the GPU with fresh air, Rig 3 has a mesh integrated into the front panel that catches most of the dust, what does get in doesn't impact the machine.

 

[TPCEA]

I care about dust but I don't have a lot of problems with dust now that I no longer have a cat and carpeting.

[freeagent]

We have 5 humans, 2 cats, a dog, carpet.. 

 

Filters.. you still have to clean them, and you still have to blow it out after awhile.

 

I just go bareback.

[Tridefender]

Don't care, had a 2.3L itx with 47mm lp cooler, no space.

[Mark Kaine]

i gotta say i have no idea how this Frankenstein setup works, but i see no dust so i guess its working...!

 

 

On 11/6/2024 at 3:51 AM, freeagent said:

...

btw, dumb question since we're proud owners of the same case... can you wash the front filter... err, unit? would the filter need to be remove first? (because there are some metal parts in weird places lol)

 

 

just asking because i *did* shower (only with water) my INWIN dust filters and backpanel! regularly... no problem even the dampening stripes didn't come off...

[freeagent]

6 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

i gotta say i have no idea how this Frankenstein setup works, but i see no dust so i guess its working...!

 

 

btw, dumb question since we're proud owners of the same case... can you wash the front filter... err, unit? would the filter need to be remove first? (because there are some metal parts in weird places lol)

 

 

just asking because i *did* shower (only with water) my INWIN dust filters and backpanel! regularly... no problem even the dampening stripes didn't come off...

Sure you can, just wipe it off. If you are deeply concerned, you can spay a lil WD40 on a paper towel and wipe the metal down

[freeagent]

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

would the filter need to be remove first?

Sorry, I took my filters out pretty much right away.

 

But yeah, I would rather get the filter wet that the whole front unit..

[Mark Kaine]

Just now, freeagent said:

Sorry, I took my filters out pretty much right away.

 

But yeah, I would rather get the filter wet that the whole front unit..

yeah... i guess those screws are to remove the filter... i dunno gotta check that... 

[TPCEA]

7 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

i gotta say i have no idea how this Frankenstein setup works, but i see no dust so i guess its working...!

 

 

btw, dumb question since we're proud owners of the same case... can you wash the front filter... err, unit? would the filter need to be remove first? (because there are some metal parts in weird places lol)

 

 

just asking because i *did* shower (only with water) my INWIN dust filters and backpanel! regularly... no problem even the dampening stripes didn't come off...

And....Were you in the shower with them?

 

7 hours ago, freeagent said:

Sure you can, just wipe it off. If you are deeply concerned, you can spay a lil WD40 on a paper towel and wipe the metal down

Poor WD40 - what did it ever do to make you spay it?

 

4 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

yeah... i guess those screws are to remove the filter... i dunno gotta check that... 

Don't forget to check for loose screws!

 

[winston1234]

11 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

btw, dumb question since we're proud owners of the same case... can you wash the front filter... err, unit? would the filter need to be remove first? (because there are some metal parts in weird places lol)

Nope. The filter is sealed in place with packing tape. Lasted upwards of 5 years. I recently cut it off and tape on a new one. The kind of thing only Red Green could love.  And yes, there are loose screws hiding in the corners of my workshop. Which point out two reasons for the filter system:

It's hard to avoid dust if you ever do any wood cutting.

I typically keep a computer for upwards of 10 years.

[freeagent]

12 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

yeah... i guess those screws are to remove the filter... i dunno gotta check that... 

What?

 

No tools needed, it just pops off. My filters have less than a days use, they are still mint haha

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, freeagent said:

What?

 

No tools needed, it just pops off. My filters have less than a days use, they are still mint haha

oh, its the plastic latches...(?) they look pretty fragile though lol.

 

and what are all these screws for then, i don't understand  

 

 

EITHER WAY IT GOES INTO THE SHOWER TONIGHT! 

[Mark Kaine]

8 hours ago, TPCEA said:

And....Were you in the shower with them?

can't tell!

[freeagent]

2 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

can't tell!

Hopefully you give it the loofa treatment  

[TPCEA]

38 minutes ago, freeagent said:

Hopefully you give it the loofa treatment  

That's only if it's playing hard to get. You know...coy...aloof! Lol  

[freeagent]

This post was made in poor taste.

[Mark Kaine]

@TPCEA @freeagent

 

funky fresh!

 

Spoiler

 

[freeagent]

I forgot you had the white one, looks good!

 

What is going on with the lights on the bottom fan?

 

Edit:

 

Heres mine.. kinda boring..

 

[Mark Kaine]

2 minutes ago, freeagent said:

I forgot you had the white one, looks good!

 

What is going on with the lights on the bottom fan?

yeah i really like the white case (or white cases in general)  thanks

 

The rgb ain't connected, that's just my funky Gskill RAM!

 

Spoiler