PC and Dust

[ahuckphin]

I recently pulled out all my components outside of my case (dell precision t1650) and placed the motherboard on a cake box. My family members were telling me that dust would be a issue. They say the dust will cause static and possibly kill my motherboard. So can dust kill my components? 

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by bindydad123

[xDanielxOossiex]

6 minutes ago, bindydad123 said:

I recently pulled out all my components outside of my case (dell precision t1650) and placed the motherboard on a cake box. My family members were telling me that dust would be a issue. They say the dust will cause static and possibly kill my motherboard. So can dust kill my components? 

 

I don't think it can.

Also, there is no picture there, it says '2016-05-15.jpg'.

[Narigaur]

It can block fan vents, which lead to overheating, and can affect PC performance. To be safe, you may need to use canned air. (a.k.a compressed air)

[ahuckphin]

2 minutes ago, xDanielxOossiex said:

I don't think it can.

Also, there is no picture there, it says '2016-05-15.jpg'.

Sorry, i had to change the image 

[xDanielxOossiex]

1 minute ago, bindydad123 said:

Sorry, i had to change the image 

If you just blow dust off with your mouth over time (careful, don't spit ), you should be fine. And even if there is some dust, it shouldn't be a problem with shortings.

[daniielrp]

Having worked previously in places where PCs were only ever cleaned out once every 3 Windows versions (enterprise IT, yay) I can safely say dust never killed anything. As mentioned above it can hamper air flow a bit, but no worse than that for most users. 

 

This is is for desktops btw, servers and laptops may not be as resilient.

[LogicalDrm]

Dust isn't really issue when you have testbench style layout for components. Dust will land there when ever there isn't active air movement around. Like when every PC isn't powered on and room is empty. So if you leave it to empty room and shutdown for longer periods, dust will cover the thing. It won't cause static effect, though. But in coolers it will cause lack of air movement which mean higher temps and in extreme cases fire hazard.

 

Bigger issue is something bigger hitting components while PC is powered on, or off. Like your hand, piece of cloth, house pet... Just physical damage is one issue but cloth and pet are cause of static. And static indeed is dangerous for CPU. Though its unlikely you get anything because of static since cooler protects CPU.