Time to Spring Clean

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by nffc

Pure water is actually a weak electrolyte believe it or not!

Certainly not enough to create a good earth bond. This is why bathroom / kitchen pipes are all common earth bonded with a thick earth cable.

[Halcyon]

Ok, lets leave water aside for the moment and get back to the main topic.
If you have any more tips and tricks for your PC spring clean, post them here.

[nffc]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Certainly not enough to create a good earth bond. This is why bathroom / kitchen pipes are all common earth bonded with a thick earth cable.

But they won't be pure water, and the equilibrium for water ionisation is 10^(-14) in favour of the pure water!

Anyway let's not take this too OT...

[Halcyon]

I was helping out one of my Dad's friends at the weekend and noticed a few things that I'd mention in this thread for other people to bare in mind.

Fans:

I was checking his machine and saw the temperatures were really high. Turned out one of his fans wasnt working. I always find it a good idea to take your side panel off at times and just make sure all your fans are spinning properly.


Location:

The PC was in this cabinet where the PC was pushed right to the back.
There is really no point in having many fans in your machine if there is no air space round your PC. You need room for it to breath.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

I was helping out one of my Dad's friends at the weekend and noticed a few things that I'd mention in this thread for other people to bare in mind.

Fans:

I was checking his machine and saw the temperatures were really high. Turned out one of his fans wasnt working. I always find it a good idea to take your side panel off at times and just make sure all your fans are spinning properly.


Location:

The PC was in this cabinet where the PC was pushed right to the back.
There is really no point in having many fans in your machine if there is no air space round your PC. You need room for it to breath.

I open our pc's up at least once every 2-3 months to clean the trapped dirt/ dust out of it and to make sure the fans are running and are actually clean. A dirty fan is an unbalanced one and it won't spin properly It's also a good idea to make sure the grills on the power supply unit are clean and any air vent slots are clear.

[nffc]

On a fan-related note- how do you stop them going noisy after time- I clean the dust out of mine regularly and the bloody things got so noisy I had to buy some new ones...

With my PC on most of the time, this is kinda problem sitting near a jet engine!

[Paul]

Originally Posted by nffc

On a fan-related note- how do you stop them going noisy after time- I clean the dust out of mine regularly and the bloody things got so noisy I had to buy some new ones...

With my PC on most of the time, this is kinda problem sitting near a jet engine!

Could always buy large diameter fans and a fan speed control unit so you can turn down the revs when you want a bit of peace and quiet

[nffc]

Originally Posted by Paul

Could always buy large diameter fans and a fan speed control unit so you can turn down the revs when you want a bit of peace and quiet

New ones do- and copious amounts of LEDs but I don't want to have to buy new fans all the time.

Tried compressed air, wiping teh dust off with fans/dusters, etc etc- but still no effect.

And the new fans, three of them, marked low noise, are actually 20 dB [each] on teh lowest setting so definitely not w00t. Oh dear.

[Paul]

You can get new mounts now that absorb some of the vibration, don't know how effective they are though
Overclockers
Will have to scroll to the bottom of the page for one set of mounts though

[nffc]

Yeah I've got them, they're not very good and in fact, quieter without them.

It's just the motor noise not dirt or resonance or anything.

Anyway I was more curious about how to shut older fans up after you've tried cleaning with compressed air and they still sound like a 747.

[The Jackal]

You gotta be kiddin me right ?

I just wish I took some pics after the builders had finished !

Here's my PC it should give u n idea of what it was like 4 months back....

These are *relatively* clean as I had to blow off most of the thick sh** as the PC's were overheating when I moved back in.

What you see on the components is a layer(was previously much thicker than what u see) of sanded wood / plaster which covered every damn component in the house.

So whenever you're ready you're welcome to come along and spring clean this

My missus has the right idea and dare not move back until everything is spik n spam.

[Halcyon]

Crikey that is dusty !!!

You are definately right in saying that it pumps up the temperature.
I did mine just before the temperatures were getting hotter in the summer.
I cut my temperatures down by about 10 degrees just cleaning up the dust.

It takes a while but it is worth it.
I use cotton wool ear buds to clean inside the fans. You often think they are clean but the fan blades are covered in sticky dust.

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

Crikey that is dusty !!!

You are definately right in saying that it pumps up the temperature.
I did mine just before the temperatures were getting hotter in the summer.
I cut my temperatures down by about 10 degrees just cleaning up the dust.

It takes a while but it is worth it.
I use cotton wool ear buds to clean inside the fans. You often think they are clean but the fan blades are covered in sticky dust.

Got cans of dust off here will be doing that soon but theres too much equipment to go through so I have been putting it off fortunately the filestores were dismantled and moved to the inlaws before the work started they would have been dead as my filestores do not have a case (too many disks)

[DocDutch]

CrC just put the vacuum cleaner on it gently..... done it myself a couple of times and it works alright/.

[vbnmu]

Do u guys reckon that if i leave one panel out it would reduce the overall heat by dispersing the trapped air?
Thats wat i have done to my PC.