Compressed air duster enough?

[Princess Luna]

Hiho,
To those with some experience at it, would it be worth buying compressed air duster to clean up a video card with nVidia reference cooler? I dont want to unmount the cooler because I lack experience on that area and I would have to buy a new thermal paste, it would increase my trouble to beyond desired.

 

Having that said I would like to know if it is worth buying those compressed air dusters and where to blow it on the card in order to clean it as much as possible keeping the cooler mounted, and if that would be worth the trouble at all, I am not necessarily facing high temps, on full load it is keeping on 78~80C never higher so still good to go, this is more about a concerning with the cards "well being".

 

Any advises, tips and experience is well appreciated.

[iRileyx]

Do you have a hair dryer? Should blow enough air through to clear it out. Just make sure to set it to cold air.

[ProjectBox153]

Using compressed air should be enough if you use it properly.

[Mick Naughty]

Works fine, just costly over time. I prefer the alternative.  

 

Also make sure you hold the fan still when you do it. 

[knightslugger]

highly recommend buying a hand pump rechargeable solution. 

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, RKRiley said:

Do you have a hair dryer? Should blow enough air through to clear it out. Just make sure to set it to cold air.

I do have a hair dryer that comes in three speeds being the first fairly little heat though not cold, considering though these cards can work up to a hundred degrees before showing issues would it be alright to use one? It would save me the money of buying the compressed air which is a plus.

 

4 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Works fine, just costly over time. I prefer the alternative.  

 

Also make sure you hold the fan still when you do it. 

I am really scared to do anything wrong that could harm the card, a it is a very expensive one, the fan is not exactly fragile is it? To where I can hold it tight enough, also should I only spray the air directly on the fan and nowhere else?

[Mira Yurizaki]

One of these work beautifully: https://www.amazon.com/Metro-ED500-DataVac-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW They blow out a lot of air and get the job done. Though I'm worried about using it for more than a few minutes at once because the motor tends to get really warm.

[Mick Naughty]

3 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

 

I am really scared to do anything wrong that could harm the card, a it is a very expensive one, the fan is not exactly fragile is it? To where I can hold it tight enough, also should I only spray the air directly on the fan and nowhere else?

You can spray the whole card won't be an issue. The fan isn't fragile. The fan in a generator, I don't want you frying the header like I have done a few times now. 

 

Dont put a lot of pressure as the bearings don't like that. Just lay a finger on it while you spray. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, Princess Cadence said:

I am really scared to do anything wrong that could harm the card, a it is a very expensive one, the fan is not exactly fragile is it? To where I can hold it tight enough, also should I only spray the air directly on the fan and nowhere else?

I think the worry is either blowing air into the fan causes it to become a generator. I did poke at the leads one time to see bad it would be and it wasn't generating a lot of voltage (maybe less than 2V) to really matter.

 

The other is accelerating the fan suddenly or the compressed air causing the fans to spin faster than their rated for, which could wear out the bearings faster. But eh, I don't see that being a problem if you're not doing this often. Once a month shouldn't have a dramatic impact.

[Princess Luna]

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I think the worry is either blowing air into the fan causes it to become a generator. I did poke at the leads one time to see bad it would be and it wasn't generating a lot of voltage (maybe less than 2V) to really matter.

 

The other is accelerating the fan suddenly or the compressed air causing the fans to spin faster than their rated for, which could wear out the bearings faster. But eh, I don't see that being a problem if you're not doing this often. Once a month shouldn't have a dramatic impact.

Very informative, thank you, I did look the tool you showed there, it seems like something worth of having and I will keep in mind for a long run, however I do not have the financial means to afford it right now, I have paid for my entire rig in cash I had saved and am quite broke as my job is not the best paying ever.

 

That lead me into wondering more, would it, say just this once, be alright to use the hair drier on its minimum heat mode, I would be saving money which is desired right now, and the Titan X was bought with 6 months used, like stated it is performing perfectly fine however it did had some dust signals on it, I have installed it either ways for the testing and see if all is good, which is, so now I am concerned in cleaning if possible.

[Mira Yurizaki]

If you're going to use a hair dryer, you should create a funnel to increase the air pressure.

[knightslugger]

if you're concerned about fans spinning, hold them in place. they are not so delicate that they would break.

 

don't most hair driers have a no heat setting?

 

Also, keep in mind that moving air can create ions. ground the card if you're using a hair drier. some of them even have ion (or neg-ion) generators in them. don't need those blasting a uber expensive GPU that is electrically sensitive.

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If you're going to use a hair dryer, you should create a funnel to increase the air pressure.

There is no downsides of doing so? Like it wont kill any component will it?

I never really concerned with cleaning dust off a component before as i am a cleaning freak, keep my entire room clean doing it almost daily and my case has great filters, all the other components are clean its just the GPU that is making me lose sleep knowing it has dust on it

[Princess Luna]

2 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

if you're concerned about fans spinning, hold them in place. they are so delicate that they would break.

 

don't most hair driers have a no heat setting?

 

 

Maybe they do but not mine,
I was just scared it could cause some problem like statics somehow

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, Princess Cadence said:

There is no downsides of doing so? Like it wont kill any component will it?

I never really concerned with cleaning dust off a component before as i am a cleaning freak, keep my entire room clean doing it almost daily and my case has great filters, all the other components are clean its just the GPU that is making me lose sleep knowing it has dust on it

The cans of compressed air you get spray that air at high pressure. You need high air pressure in order to dislodge them dust bunnies.

 

Electronics aren't really as delicate as you think. Linus has a video delidding a i7-6700K, and he manhandles that thing.

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

The cans of compressed air you get spray that air at high pressure. You need high air pressure in order to dislodge them dust bunnies.

 

Electronics aren't really as delicate as you think. Linus has a video delidding a i7-6700K, and he manhandles that thing.

I will give it a try using the hair drier, holding the fan with my hand so it doesn't spin, i do have a funnel that might just do the air pressure trick, should I blow air solely onto the fan or on the exhauster as well?

 

Also I cant help it, first PC I mounted from scratch and it cost me quite the buck, this is supposed to serve all the way to 2020 when I build a new one so I can never have enough care

I would like to once again thank you for the help [:

[Mick Naughty]

Just leave it dirty that's what I do now. 

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, Mick Naughty said:

Just leave it dirty that's what I do now. 

 

Spoiler

 

well I depend on air cooling so it matters more I suppose

[Mick Naughty]

1 minute ago, Princess Cadence said:

well I depend on air cooling so it matters more I suppose

Yea I never plan on going back to those days. My current room is most dusty place I've ever lived with a pc. I don't use this one so I put a towel on the case and call it a day. 

[Princess Luna]

@Mick Naughty @M.Yurizaki @knightslugger

 

So a lot of blowing afterwards, I did realize the pressure really is very important I even used my mothers hair drier instead of mine as it has this turbo mode that pushes air better as it was required, nonetheless after using it quite a bit a few dust balls formed and go against the exhauster which I pulled out with a forceps, end result now that I have Heaven running right now is that from 78~80 it is running at 76~78, amazing 2 degrees decrease in temperature, much wow

 

I also cleaned its external with that especial silk that I always forget the name, the end result is a better looking card and a "relief in conscious"

Thanks you people for the assisting and everything [:

[Mick Naughty]

After reading the first sentence, i finally put it all together. The profile pic and the name. 

[Shadow_Storm56]

3 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

Hiho,
To those with some experience at it, would it be worth buying compressed air duster to clean up a video card with nVidia reference cooler? I dont want to unmount the cooler because I lack experience on that area and I would have to buy a new thermal paste, it would increase my trouble to beyond desired.

 

Having that said I would like to know if it is worth buying those compressed air dusters and where to blow it on the card in order to clean it as much as possible keeping the cooler mounted, and if that would be worth the trouble at all, I am not necessarily facing high temps, on full load it is keeping on 78~80C never higher so still good to go, this is more about a concerning with the cards "well being".

 

Any advises, tips and experience is well appreciated.

usually air is very helpful but i would reccomend making sure there are no obvious balls of dust or hair and being very therough with you compressed air to make sure you don't just blow the dirt in harder. q