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Dust Prevention

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country_3030

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2002
Location
Paris, Texas
I recently installed a new cd-rw. While i was in my case i relized my heatsink was covered in dust. I cant seem to prevent this. My temp droped 2degrees. Is dust a major problem.
 
Dust is an eventual, and ongoing problem, it will clog up your heatsink, as you have already seen, also it will stick to the fans, gradually slowing them down slightly. Dust is the enemy so think of it like this. It's hard to breathe with a bag over your head right? well dust is like the bag over your head, it prevents the heatsink, and pcb's from releasing thier heat efficiently. If left long enough, dust buildup can cause instability, you can prevent this by adding fan filters over your intake fans, but this will decrease the airflow of said fans.
 
I use a "Swifer" ...?... one of those easy wipe dust rags.
between wire mesh of a good size. and cut to size.
It seemed to have a good air flow and easy replaceable.
 
You could also try cutting up a pair of thin stockings. Also I've heard of people using scotch brite scouring pads, the kind you clean your pots and pans with.
 
It is also a good idea to have positive air pressure (more intake capacity than out flow capacity) in the cabinet so that dust is not pulled in cracks and small openings in the case. That way you can control where the air comes in, e.g. thru the intake fans and put filters over the fans to minimize the dust coming in.
 
I know dust to be lethal. A friend of mine had his Athlon 800 get a furry blanket on it, it died. This was two years or so ago, when Slot A athlons were king and it cost him a small fortune to replace the CPU, he could only afford a 700.

Road Warrior
 
I use airconditioner filter and it works and easily washable. Stockings are supposed to be good too, as well as the aluminum mesh.

Just depends on how much air restriction you want. Just remember, you will usually have to clean the air filter out a lot more often than cleaning the heatsink, etc... , so make the filter easily accessable.
 
I hear old car air filters work pretty good. Say when you replace it just keep it and use the old one for your computer, They are pretty large and have heard pretty good things about them, and pretty much they are free if you otherwise would throw them away.
 
Problem with a car filter is that performance imrovements 101 in a car is to throw out the paper air filter and replace it with a filter that is less restrictive (like a K&N filter. it lets more air through and you spray an oil on it that catches the particles as they go through it).

Anyways I am sure it would still work. I don't think putting anything oily at your intake is the answer hehe.
 
screw all that. Get a static filter. It is basically a series of fins that are staticly charged and attract all the dust floating in the air ... It seems to wory fairly well. It's on infomercials all the time. Should work well for this purpose. Just put it in front of fan intakes and it should catch everything before it gets in the case.
 
umm no. Who mentioned a fan? i didn't. Dust is arlready usually ionic. Which is why i think it's called "ionic storm" or some crap name like that works. Not all dust is ionic of course. But if you want a clean room environment then get a clean room. This method should help a great deal and it's fanless and silent.
 
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