Regarding PC cleaning

[MURFING]

So I remember the dude who built my PC once told me that to preserve the lifespan of the components, the best thing to do when cleaning is not to remove any parts and to use the blower without taking anything out, unless the PC hasn’t been cleaned for a very long time. Is it true ??

 

Also if my GPU is installed horizontally, I don’t need to move or flip the case or anything I just need to hold the GPU fans from below and clean it with the blower, and that’s it, right?

[cmndr]

Condensed air works reasonably well. So do blowers. 
If you're aiming at a fan, lightly hold the fan with your finger to prevent it from spinning.

 

Ideally you keep your computer off the ground, you have slightly more intake pressure than outtake pressure from your fans and your intake fans are behind filters and you just clean the filters. 

Also computers last FOREVER these days. It's not the end of the world if they get a little dusty. 

 

One extra trick that I do before cleaning a computer... run an air filter nearby. 

[strange13930]

18 minutes ago, cmndr said:

Also computers last FOREVER these days. It's not the end of the world if they get a little dusty.

Yeah, the main concern I’d have is heat because the dust blocks cooling.

[cmndr]

8 minutes ago, strange13930 said:

Yeah, the main concern I’d have is heat because the dust blocks cooling.

Thermal throttling is pretty much automatic. 

The medium base case scenario is drastically reduced performance. 

Even then, in a lot of cases if you take a computer and run parts with half the electricity going to them... performance is about the same these days. 

People don't really clean laptops and laptops aren't dying left and right. 

[strange13930]

1 minute ago, cmndr said:

People don't really clean laptops and laptops aren't dying left and right. 

Yeah because the laptop usually breaks in other ways first.

[Timme]

Use the duster can in a vertical position only.

[MURFING]

2 hours ago, cmndr said:

Condensed air works reasonably well. So do blowers. 
If you're aiming at a fan, lightly hold the fan with your finger to prevent it from spinning.

 

Ideally you keep your computer off the ground, you have slightly more intake pressure than outtake pressure from your fans and your intake fans are behind filters and you just clean the filters. 

Also computers last FOREVER these days. It's not the end of the world if they get a little dusty. 

 

One extra trick that I do before cleaning a computer... run an air filter nearby. 

What about GPU fans? Do I have to hold them lightly too before aiming the air blower on em? Are they just se much of a big deal as case fans? I mwan if I aim the air blower from.a bit of a distance still gotta hold them?

[cmndr]

22 minutes ago, MURFING said:

What about GPU fans? Do I have to hold them lightly too before aiming the air blower on em? Are they just se much of a big deal as case fans? I mwan if I aim the air blower from.a bit of a distance still gotta hold them?

basically make sure they don't spin up way past their design speed which can cause bearing damage. This also prevents "back spin" where the fan blades work as a dynamo of sorts and "power" other parts of the system (i.e. creates electricity going in the other way by spinning vs the norm where they take in power and spin)

 

Realistically if your fan is designed to spin at 2000RPM and it ends up spinning at 100 RPM not much will happen. If it ends up at 3000 or 4000 RPM then there might be a minor issue.

It's best practice to hold the fan in place while cleaning the area, it's not a law with legal consequences. 

[Blue4130]

6 hours ago, cmndr said:

People don't really clean laptops and laptops aren't dying left and right. 

But they lose performance and create needless heat. Clean your stuff and it is a much better experience. 

[freeagent]

DATAVAC® ELECTRIC DUSTER®

 

I have had mine since 2018. Sure beats buying those shitty cans of air, and those little dusters from Amazon are cute.

[cmndr]

On 11/1/2025 at 4:14 PM, Blue4130 said:

But they lose performance and create needless heat. Clean your stuff and it is a much better experience. 

Dust doesn't create heat, electrons getting smashed through a semi-conductor creates heat. 

 

There is a marginal efficiency drop at higher temps but it's a rounding error. 

 

Also the lost performance is generally a fraction of a fraction of a percent. I've legitimately set my system to only consume half its peak power and there's a single digit percentage drop from it. 

 

It's best practice to clean things every so often but it's not essential to obsess over it. I don't like dirt and grime so I'm cleaning, running air filters, running a robo vacuum and airing out my place regularly. 

[Blue4130]

3 hours ago, cmndr said:

Dust doesn't create heat, electrons getting smashed through a semi-conductor creates heat. 

 

There is a marginal efficiency drop at higher temps but it's a rounding error. 

 

Also the lost performance is generally a fraction of a fraction of a percent. I've legitimately set my system to only consume half its peak power and there's a single digit percentage drop from it. 

 

It's best practice to clean things every so often but it's not essential to obsess over it. I don't like dirt and grime so I'm cleaning, running air filters, running a robo vacuum and airing out my place regularly. 

I want to be clear, are you saying that a dirty laptop full of dust will perform the same as a clean laptop that is dust free?

[Kisai]

5 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

I want to be clear, are you saying that a dirty laptop full of dust will perform the same as a clean laptop that is dust free?

Nope. The reason the dust is a problem is it causes the fans to get gummed up, stall, or make excessive grinding noises.

 

[Blue4130]

29 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Nope. The reason the dust is a problem is it causes the fans to get gummed up, stall, or make excessive grinding noises.

 

Right, so the end result is the same. A cleaner laptop runs better than a dirty laptop. It may not kill the laptop, but if you want all the performance that you paid for, keep the dust out.

[Mark Kaine]

On 11/3/2025 at 8:05 PM, cmndr said:

Dust doesn't create heat, electrons getting smashed through a semi-conductor creates heat. 

Not directly but fans and heatsinks can get clogged up so it's advisable to clean your PC occasionally. 

[Mark Kaine]

On 11/3/2025 at 11:54 PM, Blue4130 said:

I want to be clear, are you saying that a dirty laptop full of dust will perform the same as a clean laptop that is dust free?

Obviously not that's why regular cleaning is in order lol

[Blue4130]

13 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Obviously not that's why regular cleaning is in order lol

I know that, you know that. I just wanted to clarify what he was saying rather than jumping to conclusions and getting into a pointless internet fight.

[cmndr]

14 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Not directly but fans and heatsinks can get clogged up so it's advisable to clean your PC occasionally. 

So yes... but also I still have 20 year old fans that still work. 

Fans and heatsinks don't degrade in their viability from dust (after being cleaned) and any loss in cooling performance REALLY doesn't matter. We've got people optimizing for 80C when there's minimal downside to 95C. And there's 10+ years of longevity data from laptops, with 10x weaker cooling and a ton of dust, not dying. 

 

I still aim to keep things clean but... most people on enthusiast forums have drastically overengineered cooling. 

[RollyShed]

On 11/2/2025 at 5:34 AM, cmndr said:

People don't really clean laptops and laptops aren't dying left and right. 

I had one laptop to do a Linux installation on, just about burn a finger if the bottom was held / touched.

I blew it out with our compressed air system and it was hard to tell if it was actually going when holding the bottom of it.

 

Yes, it was working perfectly if you looked at the screen.

[ikeboy]

If you want to avoid removing parts for now:

Cut a piece of paper in the shape of the motherboard with cut away holes for the cpu heatsink and use that to cover the board.

All the dust from blowing or brushing will be caught by the paper instead of flying everywhere on the board.

You're correct to hold the fan when blowing air so it doesnt spin and generate electricity.

 

You can do this for a few years but you'll eventually have to remove the cpu heatsink after around 5 years, it wont be as effective and mostly dried up.