How often do you clean your HSF? / Warning! Graphic photos

Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
edited October 2003 in Hardware
I was in the process of checking things out inside my case today when :eek2:. I normally clean every month or two but with the way it's been I realized it has been a while. This just goes to show how important it is to clean regularly.

Shame on me! :mad:

Oh the shame! :rolleyes2
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Comments

  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    more...
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Oooh! and we have a clean house too!:eek3:
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited October 2003
    OMG attack of the dustbunnies. :eek2:

    Maybe you should install a filter on your intake fan.

    BTW are you using you computer as a vacuum cleaner? ;D

    Look here for an article on filters.Filter article

    I have installed a filter in my case.
    There isn't much dirt in there when I look inside once in a while.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    I have an air filter a-la-mediaman style that catches most of it.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    I have seven cats. I've seen worse. :tongue:
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited October 2003
    What kind of filter is that?
    You can use a pantyhose as a filter as well.
    But watch out, you might end up regretting that you ever thought of using it.

    I have a filter I puchased some time ago.
    It consist of a wire mesh filter and a cotton filter material to catch the dust.
    It is very efficient, only drawback is that it reduces the airflow.
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited October 2003
    *Tisk *Tisk what on earth where you thinking mt?
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited October 2003
    Anytime I'm in the case, I pop the fan off the top of the HSF and check for dust. A quick run of the screwdriver or finger (whichever is closer) across the dust evicts those annoying dust bunnies. ;)

    That's a lot of dust!
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    It turns out I wasn't ever in the case since May! It was just a lot going on then It kina slipped my mind till today.

    I use one of those filters you use in a Range Hood over the stove with velcro glued on. It works great till you don't change it and dust gets sucked in everywhere else.
  • godzilla525godzilla525 Western Pennsylvania Member
    edited October 2003
    Fortunately I don't get too much dust lodged in my PAL8045, but when it does get saturated, the only way to clean it is to carefully take it off and flush it out thoroughly with soap and hot water.

    (a hot heatsink dries off faster... sometimes I use a heatgun to help out... :rarr: )

    I'm seriously considering sealing the case and installing HEPA cartridges in the front and side. :crazy:
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    In answer to the original question of "How often do you clean your HSF?"

    Obviously, a lot more often than you do, mtgoat. :D
  • DanGDanG I AM CANADIAN Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    MT goat, you're a dirty dirty man.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Down right disgusting! :eek2: I guess you don't monitor vCore temps either.

    I think I've found the perfect air filtration media - stops most dust but has minimal airflow restriction. I use the sponge-type covers designed for window air conditioners. It actually breathes pretty well.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited October 2003
    Thrax had this to say
    I have seven cats. I've seen worse. :tongue:
    Seven cats = more dust than just one mtgoat!

    I have two short-haired dogs. If I don't vacuum twice a week I can pick up the clumps of hair with my bare hands, and peel the lint off my intake grilles like layers of felt. :rolleyes:

    mtgoat - do you monitor temps (i.e. MBM5, etc) regularly? I can usually tell when it's time for a good case cleaning by the rise in CPU temp.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    I'd have problems with pet hair too, except my computer is in my room, which is upstairs, and the dogs aren't allowed upstairs...
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    However, the other day I went so far as to bring out the copper polish and polish up my SK-7 to a factory shine. Mwah. :D
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Come on, I normally do alot better but though since I was delinquent, Would show folks why they get warmer than we want.

    My temp only went up 2c including a period where my home A/C went out and still is so I didn't expect anything. We have 4 cats and 2 dogs and 1 molting Mt. Goat. :) I have always run MBM and keep the CPU temp in the task bar. and like I said on the filter. It was plugged way worse that my HS and I could see along the panel edges of the case where the air and dust were squeezing in since the filter wasn't leting anything through anymore.

    Thrax and Geeky,
    You gus are asking for it. (grin)
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    ;)
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Not as long as this is running.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited October 2003
    Just goes to show you what a premium cooling solution does for you, mtgoat. You can buy cheaper hsf's than the SLK's and they will work well when new and clean but don't have the reserve cooling capacity to handle heat extraction when full of the dust bunnies. That's why all my rigs that are air cooled run either SLK's, Swifty's or my PAL8045. All of these have enough excess cooling capacity to keep cooling even when there has been a severe attack of da bunnies.;)
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited October 2003
    i bet a brillo pad would work pretty good as a filer
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    damn...i gotta clean out my shiznet...i got a lot of friends who smoke..and in my room...i better make sure it doesnt get too gross
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Armogeddon00 had this to say
    i bet a brillo pad would work pretty good as a filer

    What I am using is like a 3/8" thick brillo pad mounted in a small frame.
  • DogSoldierDogSoldier The heart of radical Amish country..
    edited October 2003
    Save it, We could knit socks!
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited October 2003
    i cleaned mine the other day and got 1000 more rpms out of the fan, but god is it loud lol
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Armogeddon00 had this to say
    i cleaned mine the other day and got 1000 more rpms out of the fan, but god is it loud lol

    I thought mine was bad!

    Armogeddon00

    That sounds real bad if it was so bad it slowed your fan.:eek3:
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited October 2003
    well, i replaced the PSU also, perhaps that did somthing?? but yea its alot faster and louder
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited October 2003
    I always make sure I have a can of compressed air on hand, to keep the dust bunnies at bay, but I've now purchased a really good air purifier, and the amount of dust my case accumulates has diminished significantly.

    Dust is bad, clean is good, clean is cool, literally.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited October 2003
    mtgoat: I saw almost the identical thing when I pulled the fan of my SLK-900U. I didn't have anywhere near as much problem w/ dust inside the HS w/ my PAL8045 as I do my SLK-900U, but I tihink that's just because the spacing on the SLK-900U is so close between the fins where the PAL8045 has much more room between pins.
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited October 2003
    my junk wansnt that dirty, but hen i sprayed it out and hooked it up it screams like abanshee
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