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Need Help Cleaning DUSTY Computer

flibberdipper
By flibberdipper
in Troubleshooting
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So my stepdad got an old Compaq Desktop, and it is SUPER dusty. I've got it all stripped down, and I was wondering if it was safe to vacuum everything, or what.

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Intel Core i5 11400 w/ Shadow Rock LP, 2x16GB SP GAMING 3200MHz CL16, ASUS PRIME Z590-A, 2x LSI 9211-8i, Fractal Define 7, 256GB Team MP33, 3x 6TB WD Red Pro (general storage), 5x 8TB WD White Label/Red (Plex) (both arrays in their respective Windows Parity storage spaces), 1TB Teamgroup MP33 (dumping ground) Corsair RM750x, TrueNAS Scale

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Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.4GHz, 4x8GB G.SKILL Ares 1800MHz CL10, ASUS Z170M-E D3, 128GB Team MP33, 1TB Seagate Barracuda, MSI GTX 970 100ME, EVGA 650G1, Windows 11 Pro

OptiPlex 7040M

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Intel Core i7 6700, 2x16GB Mushkin Redline (stuck at 2133MHz CL13), 240GB Corsair MP510, 2TB Seagate Barracuda 2.5", 130w Dell power brick, Windows 11 Pro

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Apple M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB, macOS Sonoma

Consoles: Steam Deck LCD (512GB), Softmodded 1.4 Xbox w/ 500GB HDD, Xbox 360 Elite 120GB Falcon, XB1X w/2TB MX500, Xbox Series X, PS1 1001, PS2 Slim 70000 w/ FreeMcBoot, PS4 Pro 7015B 1TB, PS5 Digital, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo Wii RVL-001 (black)

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Use compressed air and do it outside and have a gasmask handy

Hope I could help!

Specs: CPU: AMD FX-8320 @4.0ghz GPU: ASUS DCUII GTX 770 PSU: EVGA Supernova 750g CASE: Fractal Define R4 RAM: 8 Gigabytes ADATA 1333 Mhz MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3

 

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Use compressed air, do not vacuum it.

12600k | MSI MEG S280 | SSUPD Meshilicious | Asus ROG STRIX Z690-I | Crucial 16GB 4800MHz CL38 | MSI Gaming 980Ti | CM V850 SFX | WD SN850 1TB, WD SN550 1TB 
Pi 4TB NAS | Asus VG27AQ, Asus PB278Q | Logitech G Pro X Superlight | Glorious G-HXL-STEALTH | Keychron K4 V2 | Sennheiser HD 599 w/ Fiio E10
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Asrock 890GX Extreme 3 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 @3.50GHz - Arctic Cooling Freezer XTREME Rev.2 - 4GB Kingston HyperX - AMD Radeon HD7850 - Kingston V300 240GB - Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - Chieftec APS-750 - Cooler Master HAF912 PLUS


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So conclusion:

 

Compressed/canned air: 5

Vacuum: :(

 

Just making sure. I might not have anything, so (and I'm almost positive this is okay) vacuum the case, use paper towel on everything else?

 

Is it fine if I vacuum the fans?

Main rig on profile

VAULT - File Server

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Intel Core i5 11400 w/ Shadow Rock LP, 2x16GB SP GAMING 3200MHz CL16, ASUS PRIME Z590-A, 2x LSI 9211-8i, Fractal Define 7, 256GB Team MP33, 3x 6TB WD Red Pro (general storage), 5x 8TB WD White Label/Red (Plex) (both arrays in their respective Windows Parity storage spaces), 1TB Teamgroup MP33 (dumping ground) Corsair RM750x, TrueNAS Scale

Sleeper HP Pavilion A6137C

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Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.4GHz, 4x8GB G.SKILL Ares 1800MHz CL10, ASUS Z170M-E D3, 128GB Team MP33, 1TB Seagate Barracuda, MSI GTX 970 100ME, EVGA 650G1, Windows 11 Pro

OptiPlex 7040M

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700, 2x16GB Mushkin Redline (stuck at 2133MHz CL13), 240GB Corsair MP510, 2TB Seagate Barracuda 2.5", 130w Dell power brick, Windows 11 Pro

Mac Mini (Late 2020)

Spoiler

Apple M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB, macOS Sonoma

Consoles: Steam Deck LCD (512GB), Softmodded 1.4 Xbox w/ 500GB HDD, Xbox 360 Elite 120GB Falcon, XB1X w/2TB MX500, Xbox Series X, PS1 1001, PS2 Slim 70000 w/ FreeMcBoot, PS4 Pro 7015B 1TB, PS5 Digital, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo Wii RVL-001 (black)

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Well, I couldn't find any source of compressed air, so I vacuumed it VERY carefully, let it sit for a few minutes, turned it on, and it seems to run better than before. Even found a disgusting old HP fan, tossed it in, and the motherboard even controls it's speed, as well as the CPU fan (is does a 12v, 7v, 5v thing to keep it quiet I assume).

Main rig on profile

VAULT - File Server

Spoiler

Intel Core i5 11400 w/ Shadow Rock LP, 2x16GB SP GAMING 3200MHz CL16, ASUS PRIME Z590-A, 2x LSI 9211-8i, Fractal Define 7, 256GB Team MP33, 3x 6TB WD Red Pro (general storage), 5x 8TB WD White Label/Red (Plex) (both arrays in their respective Windows Parity storage spaces), 1TB Teamgroup MP33 (dumping ground) Corsair RM750x, TrueNAS Scale

Sleeper HP Pavilion A6137C

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.4GHz, 4x8GB G.SKILL Ares 1800MHz CL10, ASUS Z170M-E D3, 128GB Team MP33, 1TB Seagate Barracuda, MSI GTX 970 100ME, EVGA 650G1, Windows 11 Pro

OptiPlex 7040M

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700, 2x16GB Mushkin Redline (stuck at 2133MHz CL13), 240GB Corsair MP510, 2TB Seagate Barracuda 2.5", 130w Dell power brick, Windows 11 Pro

Mac Mini (Late 2020)

Spoiler

Apple M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB, macOS Sonoma

Consoles: Steam Deck LCD (512GB), Softmodded 1.4 Xbox w/ 500GB HDD, Xbox 360 Elite 120GB Falcon, XB1X w/2TB MX500, Xbox Series X, PS1 1001, PS2 Slim 70000 w/ FreeMcBoot, PS4 Pro 7015B 1TB, PS5 Digital, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo Wii RVL-001 (black)

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Don't use a vacuum on it, take it outside/in a garage (if the weather is OK) and use some canned air.

what about if u use the vacuum in reverse so it blows nots sucks ?? cause i tend to do that sometimes 

Current Build : 

 
CASE: Fractal Design R4 w/Window CPU: Intel 4930K,  RAM: 16GB Ripjaws Z 2133Mhz  Cooling: H100i  MotherBoard: Asus P9x79 Pro , PSU: CS750M   Storage: 2x Samsung 840 Pro 256Gb , 1Tb Seagate Barracuda, 500GB WD Black,  Graphics: Gigabyte GTX 780 Windforce 3GB,  Monitors: AOC G2460PG ( G sync monitor), Edge10 24" 1080p , 24" 1680*1020p monitor ( LCD)  Microphone: Blue Yeti  Keyboard: Cougar 700k  Phone: Samsung Note 3  Headphones: Sennheiser HD598

Laptop:

 CPU: 
4710MQ  Ram: 8GB 1600MHz Storage:120Gb 840 Evo + 1Tb 5400Rpm HDD  Graphics: GTX 850M 2GB   Screen: 1080p IPS  
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disassemble the fans, clean the blades with water when you deattached them out of the rest of the fan, make sure they're dry and apply some oil. Assemble them again. Like new. Perfect results 100 %, tested in 12 year-old fans xD

I'm 15, and I'm not gonna risk it. I only had the one fan left.

Main rig on profile

VAULT - File Server

Spoiler

Intel Core i5 11400 w/ Shadow Rock LP, 2x16GB SP GAMING 3200MHz CL16, ASUS PRIME Z590-A, 2x LSI 9211-8i, Fractal Define 7, 256GB Team MP33, 3x 6TB WD Red Pro (general storage), 5x 8TB WD White Label/Red (Plex) (both arrays in their respective Windows Parity storage spaces), 1TB Teamgroup MP33 (dumping ground) Corsair RM750x, TrueNAS Scale

Sleeper HP Pavilion A6137C

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.4GHz, 4x8GB G.SKILL Ares 1800MHz CL10, ASUS Z170M-E D3, 128GB Team MP33, 1TB Seagate Barracuda, MSI GTX 970 100ME, EVGA 650G1, Windows 11 Pro

OptiPlex 7040M

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700, 2x16GB Mushkin Redline (stuck at 2133MHz CL13), 240GB Corsair MP510, 2TB Seagate Barracuda 2.5", 130w Dell power brick, Windows 11 Pro

Mac Mini (Late 2020)

Spoiler

Apple M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB, macOS Sonoma

Consoles: Steam Deck LCD (512GB), Softmodded 1.4 Xbox w/ 500GB HDD, Xbox 360 Elite 120GB Falcon, XB1X w/2TB MX500, Xbox Series X, PS1 1001, PS2 Slim 70000 w/ FreeMcBoot, PS4 Pro 7015B 1TB, PS5 Digital, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo Wii RVL-001 (black)

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whats the matter of the age...?

Well, I'm young, so I don't have a lot of the tools needed to so things like this.

Main rig on profile

VAULT - File Server

Spoiler

Intel Core i5 11400 w/ Shadow Rock LP, 2x16GB SP GAMING 3200MHz CL16, ASUS PRIME Z590-A, 2x LSI 9211-8i, Fractal Define 7, 256GB Team MP33, 3x 6TB WD Red Pro (general storage), 5x 8TB WD White Label/Red (Plex) (both arrays in their respective Windows Parity storage spaces), 1TB Teamgroup MP33 (dumping ground) Corsair RM750x, TrueNAS Scale

Sleeper HP Pavilion A6137C

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.4GHz, 4x8GB G.SKILL Ares 1800MHz CL10, ASUS Z170M-E D3, 128GB Team MP33, 1TB Seagate Barracuda, MSI GTX 970 100ME, EVGA 650G1, Windows 11 Pro

OptiPlex 7040M

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700, 2x16GB Mushkin Redline (stuck at 2133MHz CL13), 240GB Corsair MP510, 2TB Seagate Barracuda 2.5", 130w Dell power brick, Windows 11 Pro

Mac Mini (Late 2020)

Spoiler

Apple M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB, macOS Sonoma

Consoles: Steam Deck LCD (512GB), Softmodded 1.4 Xbox w/ 500GB HDD, Xbox 360 Elite 120GB Falcon, XB1X w/2TB MX500, Xbox Series X, PS1 1001, PS2 Slim 70000 w/ FreeMcBoot, PS4 Pro 7015B 1TB, PS5 Digital, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo Wii RVL-001 (black)

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I used a pair of scissors...

Also if I didn't open that philips CRT TV when I was 6, then I wouldn't be involved in the awesome pc world D:!

Anyway, again, hope you get some money for the rig...

The dusty one, or the one I want to build in my sig? Oh and this Compaq cleaned up REALLY good. The case seems more inviting. It looks almost NEW now.

Main rig on profile

VAULT - File Server

Spoiler

Intel Core i5 11400 w/ Shadow Rock LP, 2x16GB SP GAMING 3200MHz CL16, ASUS PRIME Z590-A, 2x LSI 9211-8i, Fractal Define 7, 256GB Team MP33, 3x 6TB WD Red Pro (general storage), 5x 8TB WD White Label/Red (Plex) (both arrays in their respective Windows Parity storage spaces), 1TB Teamgroup MP33 (dumping ground) Corsair RM750x, TrueNAS Scale

Sleeper HP Pavilion A6137C

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.4GHz, 4x8GB G.SKILL Ares 1800MHz CL10, ASUS Z170M-E D3, 128GB Team MP33, 1TB Seagate Barracuda, MSI GTX 970 100ME, EVGA 650G1, Windows 11 Pro

OptiPlex 7040M

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700, 2x16GB Mushkin Redline (stuck at 2133MHz CL13), 240GB Corsair MP510, 2TB Seagate Barracuda 2.5", 130w Dell power brick, Windows 11 Pro

Mac Mini (Late 2020)

Spoiler

Apple M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB, macOS Sonoma

Consoles: Steam Deck LCD (512GB), Softmodded 1.4 Xbox w/ 500GB HDD, Xbox 360 Elite 120GB Falcon, XB1X w/2TB MX500, Xbox Series X, PS1 1001, PS2 Slim 70000 w/ FreeMcBoot, PS4 Pro 7015B 1TB, PS5 Digital, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo Wii RVL-001 (black)

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hair dryer on the cold setting.

No need to spend money on buying AIR

Hey there. You are looking mighty fine today, have my virtual cookie!  :ph34r:

MY RIG: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/34911-my-setup-gold-ghetto-gg-lots-of-pictures/#entry446883

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When im doing a full proper rebuild i break my case downstairs into its metal frame, get the hose on it. clean the plastic parts with a hoover and small brush. As for the rest i have an anti-static brush + just blow on it. always works for me :P

Quack 🦆

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