Cleaning PC?

I'm really trying to take a lot of care of this PC unlike my older ones, but I'm a bit weary about opening my case...Just intimidated by all the electronics in there! I have quite a wide tower with a plastic, see through side. The motherboard is posistioned vertically along the one side of it so there is a bit of space on the other side and bottom of the tower, if I wanted to clean the dust inside, how would I do it? (It doesn't look dusty but when it begins to how do I clean it?) Should I dust the slots etc?

I actually need to get over my fear of the PC internals :P I'm always thinking that when I get some upgades, I'm going to have to get someone to install them for me, because I have no idea how to correctly install a 3D card, RAM, CPU, HD, Cooling System etc. I'm actually guessing this is going to end up costing me more cash when I buy PCs/Parts, because although I don't buy prebuilt PCs and I know exactly what parts I want, there'll always be the middleman who gets those specific parts and puts it together for me... Although I'm guessing that's not as expensive as buying prebuilt systems that aren't exactly what I'm looking for.

ever played with legos? same the parts only go one way..

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Originally Posted by muchspl3

ever played with Lego's? same the parts only go one way..

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but with Lego if you fuck up it doesn't burn out if you make a mistake and become unusable and cost you a lot of money!!!

just get a air duster about $10 or $15 and spray a;ll teh shit out of the fans

An easy way to do it is to get a narrow paintbrush. You know, like the kind that kids use to waterpaint with in art class. And then just brush the dust off.

Compressed air gets a lot of dust out. Use a soft narrow paint brush to loosen any left over and then use the compressed air once again.

http://www.metrotek.com/can-air.jpg http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/p...5_front200.jpg

Edit: micolithe beat me at posting the paintbrush idea.

The Compressed air does a great job! I used it to clean this computer that had been in storage for 5 years, in a small dusty room – all the circuit boards and components were covered in a carpet of dust. I took it apart and sprayed each part separately (outside) and it cleared just about every particle of dust there was. Just be sure to do it outside or that same dust will probably travel right back into your machine ;)

You should have seen this machine, the top casing had been left off, there was even something that looked like rat poo in there :sick:

When using compressed air on a fan, keep the blades from spinning by wedging them with a pencil or something.
Otherwise they will spin up like crazy and possibly damage the bearing.

I always thought just vacuming and blowing with my mouth did a decent job, untill I took it in the driveway and put a blower to it...omg it blew sooooooo much dust...try it its awesome.

I use a leaf blower, it blows all the dust out in about 20 seconds, and it hasnt harmed my comp yet.

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Originally Posted by TheCanuk

I use a leaf blower, it blows all the dust out in about 20 seconds, and it hasnt harmed my comp yet.

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make sure that if you use any kind of blower you stick pens through the fans, else they'll spin like crazy and wear the bearings out (since theyll most likely spin faster than when operating........

of course the simpelest way to clean your PC is just do what i do: take the sides off your PC, and stick it into you dishwasher (warning, dont use a laundry machine for this, this will most likely kill your PC with all the bumping.....)

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Originally Posted by Storm

of course the simpelest way to clean your PC is just do what i do: take the sides off your PC, and stick it into you dishwasher (warning, dont use a laundry machine for this, this will most likely kill your PC with all the bumping.....)

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ok
doing it right now

You'll let us know how that goes, right?
It'd be great if the PC was not only clean, but also had that lemony fresh scent.

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Originally Posted by clocker

You'll let us know how that goes, right?
It'd be great if the PC was not only clean, but also had that lemony fresh scent.

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well the best part is that i use Sun, which leaves the side panel nice and shiney, and without those washing machine marks :)

Lol