Cleaning MoBo and cards

A

Alvein

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
223
I don't have a blower. How can I remove a thin layer of dust that covers the MoBo, video card, etc.? Is it safe to use a soft brush? Are video and memory so delicate?

10x :)
 
Go down and buy a can of compressed air. Damned near anything you try to wipe the mobo with has potential to discharge static electricity.

The $4 can of air is much cheaper than a new component.
 
I use canned air predominantly and definately recommend that route as well. I have used small brushes and pipe cleaners however too.

Often there is dust residue that no (reasonable) canned air can really get off. It usually makes your cards look kinda dull instead of that nice new shiny look. (Maybe this is just me?) Pipe cleaners are great for really cleaning heatsink fins. I have also used soft toothbrushes for "scrubing" down stubborn dust that collects on the back of cards and such. While (as someone mentioned above) there is a danger to this, I have not had any problems, though I am pretty careful with it, i.e. I wouldn't go aggressively scrubing at the ram on my video card or anything.
 
Ok, I will go for the compressed air, but I agree: no air-tool would be capable of to make parts be shiny again.

Up to rather recent times (P3, etc.) I brushed all my hardware. For some strange reason, I feel the parts are more delicate nowadays. I treat my video card, for example, as if it had C4 plastic explosive inside.
 
just remember to hold the fan blade (CPU, VGA, case fan, chipset, etc) with a finger when you blow compressed air on it to keep it from spinning. You can break the fan by it spinning too fast. I've done it.
 
c1001 said:
just remember to hold the fan blade (CPU, VGA, case fan, chipset, etc) with a finger when you blow compressed air on it to keep it from spinning. You can break the fan by it spinning too fast. I've done it.
Click to expand...
Maybe you shouldn't use a 60 psi compressor to blow air across your system....:D
 
DeepFreeze said:
Maybe you shouldn't use a 60 psi compressor to blow air across your system....:D
Click to expand...

I would have expected that. I didn't expect a fan to break from a compressed air can...the bad thing is that the fan was in an NV5 silencer. Can't replace those.
 
Do not use an air compressor either, Canned air is actually a chemical that compressed is a liquid and goes to gas when you release pressure on it. It also has no water content. Using an air compressor could in theory put small droplets of water on the board(I've never had an air compressor that didn't push a little bit of water out of it when used.)
 
defakto said:
Do not use an air compressor either, Canned air is actually a chemical that compressed is a liquid and goes to gas when you release pressure on it. It also has no water content. Using an air compressor could in theory put small droplets of water on the board(I've never had an air compressor that didn't push a little bit of water out of it when used.)
Click to expand...

You could use an air compressor if you have a water trap on it.
 
You could, but I wouldn't trust it. I've seen them not work. Mainly on heavily used compressors but still why take a chance.
 
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