How often do you clean your rig?

[muzza1875]

Hey everyone

Silly question i know, but I'm a little curious to how often you guys/gals clean your rigs?

I have only had my new build (first build) a couple weeks now and have noticed allot of dust on the top 200m fan of my antec 1200.It had dust covers on the other intake fans so i guess they are stopping allot of dust getting in, but i bet inside is needing a good dust over at the weekend.

I don't have laminate flooring and only recently got new carpet put down so i cant really be bothered putting down new flooring just yet, also house gets hoovered and dusted down everyday after work or college.

Anybody fancy telling me how they go about cleaning they're own rigs?

Do you guys take your rigs apart and give a dust over or do you just give it a spray with compressed air?

Also would it be wise to suck up any dust that gets moved around inside the rig after giving it a blast of compressed air with plastic end of my hoover or Am i asking for trouble with static damage ect?

Cheers

 

[dugdiamond]

depends on the weather and rig usage

in hot weather my fans are full-om, so draw more crap thru the rigs. i clean all my filters every two weeks

in cooler times (winter) i do it about once a month

 

[Pendragon]

Depends on if I'm smoking... When I gave up then it was a once every 6 months. The CPU HS fins as very fine and I was getting a felt like build up. Also the fine fins on the GPU would also need a clean. So a strip down clean would be needed every six months or so. Now this all changes if I'm smoking! The tar form the tobacco smoke makes the dustbunnys sticky! This means I have to strip down clean every three months. By strip-down I mean I take the graphics cards shrouds off so I can get to the fins. I keep a duster around to clean the outside of the case and dust the monitor. To clean the monitor screen I have a microfiber cloth, With the screen on so it's warm I wet the cloth, wring it out till I can't get a drip out of it. Then wipe the screen, the heat from the screen evaporates any moisture off the surface. It comes up real nice, no chemicals, just the hint of water nothing else.

If your smoking something other than tobbacco! some bush to other green, damn! that stuff is sticky! My daughters computer needs cleaning regular! I do have to stop her picking up the dustbunnies! She tells me it's recycling LoL She'll smoke anything!!!!

A tip for canned air, get two. When the can freezes on the outside you can use the other till the first warms up. You get no blow when it's cold. Have a look on eBay you can get your air for less than a fiver from office suppliers.

 

[KaraMurat]

Every 2-3 months although my rig doesn't have a lot of fans pulling in air, i also keep my room pretty clean i have laminate flooring therefore any kind of dust shows immediately. To clean the rig i usually take it outside and use a small air pump to blow the dust out, without removing the components (sometimes i remove gpu) or if its really dusty (5 months+) i use the air pump and also go over with a soft paint brush.

I'd recommend steering clear of sticking a hoover near the components, just use a can of compressed air or use a soft paint brush.

 

[marsey99]

i have moved my box into the room from its normal perch on the window because the sun makes it much hotter at this time of year and this makes it suck much more dust and fluff up as its on the floor.

i am giving the filters a wipe every week at least and will need to open it up and knock the duck about once a month.

when its on the window i dont really need to as it never seems to pick up much dust there, even tho i have 7 case fans and the psu push/pulling air thru it lol

 

[Game Over]

I pop mine open at least once a month and go through it with a soft 1/2 inch paint brush to clean out all the dust from the fans, heat sinks and vents.

 

[rwiuviberwVFIUBER]

I pop mine open at least once a month and go through it with a soft 1/2 inch paint brush to clean out all the dust from the fans, heat sinks and vents.

Compressed air makes life a whole lot easier, and it gets bits you may not!

 

[Game Over]

Compressed air makes life a whole lot easier, and it gets bits you may not!

Lol, ya I usually do not plan ahead and dont have the air handy when I need it, I end up blowing through a straw and choking on the dust

oh and before you get started on the blowing on things jokes, let me stop you right here

 

[mayhem]

when there is so much dust on it i can write my name then i clean it....

 

[stevebarnes15]

i clean mine whenever it needs doing really depends how much dust accumulates on the outside of the mesh.

To be honest i havent had a lot of trouble with the phantom getting dust internally,as the fan grills seem to do there job quite well.

Just a quick wipe round with a cloth inside,once and again sorts any dust that does get through.

 

[BigIan88]

i clean mine whenever it needs doing really depends how much dust accumulates on the outside of the mesh.

To be honest i havent had a lot of trouble with the phantom getting dust internally,as the fan grills seem to do there job quite well.

Just a quick wipe round with a cloth inside,once and again sorts any dust that does get through.

same here, its only really the side panel fans i have issues with tbh

 

[kilobravo]

I have two longhaired cats,and me and my gf are smoking also, i make a outer dust sweep every 2-3 days.A total clean maybe 1 to 3 months,depends on how busy i am,taking the hole rig apart.

 

[SieB]

I do a total strip down every 4 months and every time I fit new hardware.

 

[Game Over]

Its like the wild west out here in the summer, Im in the city but we are surrounded by farm land. It gets very dusty in the summer. So lots of dusting. you should have seen my Xbox 360 heat sink last time I opened the system up.

 

[BrandonR-NZ]

I've got a couple 140mm intakes and 3 Exhausts, the front of my case is filtered but I still clean out the insides Once a month, thats a strip down of my pc to a point, I also clean the dust filters every couple days