Do you use fan dust filters?

F

Faethon

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
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Just curious. Do you like fan filters? I am undecided about them. I 've used Demciflex dust filter. Very nice magnetic application on the case. No dust can pass either. Too bad my case fan's airflow was also minimized. I removed it and immediately the temperature of my video card went 5C down.

Now i ordered alluminum mesh grill filters. They should let more air through i hope, but the most fine dust too.

At the end, i think there is no way to win.
- You keep the dust out, your hardware will suffer more heat, which will shorten its life.
- You let the dust in, your hardware will eventually get a dust blanket and suffer the same, unless you clean it regularly. Fans will also die quicker from being clogged with dust.

P.S.: These new "psu at the bottom" cases are so annoying. My PSU got in 2 months more dust than it had taken in for years. Not to mention that if you decide to put the PSU fan upwards, you disturb even more the case airflow. I wish i had thought about that before changing case 2 months ago. Bottom psu cases are horrible.
 
5 C degrees is nothing, especially on a video card. It won't shorten its life any significant value. You are talking 25 years life versus 24 years life, and by that time you probably have long since thrown it in the trash. If you are up around 100c where temp is actually a factor, then you have bigger problems. The only hardware that is affected by temperature over a short amount of time is mechanical hard drives.

It's worth it to me to have all that dust filtered out. I use the DMCI filters also. That being said, I barely see 1c degree difference with the filters on or off. Now if the filters are covered with dust, then there is around 5c difference.
 
I guess it comes down to preference, compromise and environment. I tend to design my PCs with dust filtering in mind. Using higher static-pressure fans, increasing the amount of intake points, and using cases that allow good airflow with positive pressure, thus allowing me to keep the system running within desired temperature ranges.

Most of the PCs I build go out to worksites, where dust is a pretty big issue and I don't want to do full PC cleans every few months. At home, you can get away with less filtering, depending on how often you want to clean out the insides of your PC and how clean the air is where you live. Using bare minimum filtering (plastic mesh), I find I can go 3 months without cleaning the filters, and a year before I want to clean the inside of my PC to get it sparkly clean again (a very fine layer of dust collects on things, but doesn't really impact cooling). The air where I live is pretty clean, though.

Unfortunately PCs weren't really designed with proper air filtering in mind. The fans we use simply lack the required oomph, and the cases we're given don't usually have enough room to install even 1/4 inch thick air filtering material. :p
 
I guess each case has its particularities. My video card heat goes up 5C, my system goes up 2C. My CPU oddly enough doesn't seem to care and doesn't change. The "aux" temperature, whatever that may be is also affected.

My theory about filters, is that probably their effects depend on case and on the fan's speed. If the fan has high airflow, the filter will cut it down, but it will still be decent. If the fan has low rpm to start with, the filter will kill the airflow. I put my hand behind my 1000rpm fan and the difference between the demciflex and without it was more than evident.

The problem of heat here is more serious at summer, where i got ambient over 30C and the PC starts heating the entire room. The CPU goes up to 54C.

I don't know, the DEMciflex for me is "too much". The only place i am currently thinking to put it is...at the bottom grill, to protect the psu. Although that may kill the airflow inside the psu.

I will try the alluminum filters too and see how things go...
 
RealityCrunch said:
I guess it comes down to preference, compromise and environment. I tend to design my PCs with dust filtering in mind. Using higher static-pressure fans, increasing the amount of intake points, and using cases that allow good airflow with positive pressure, thus allowing me to keep the system running within desired temperature ranges.
Click to expand...

I try to use positive pressure too, but the filters make this more difficult too, since the CFM of an intake fan is always penalized compared to that of exhaust fans. And then this moronic "put the psu on the bottom" makes things even more complicated.

The problem is that i am also fan of silent pcs, so i use low rpm 120mm fans, which, if filtered become very inefficient...
 
As far as the effects on fans, it will usually depend on the fan's static pressure. The higher the static pressure, the less effects filtering will have on it's performance. The majority of PC fans have low static pressure, as it usually isn't a priority in the design of most. Some fans are decent, though, such as the Scythe Gentle Typhoons.
 
RealityCrunch said:
As far as the effects on fans, it will usually depend on the fan's static pressure. The higher the static pressure, the less effects filtering will have on it's performance. The majority of PC fans have low static pressure, as it usually isn't a priority in the design of most. Some fans are decent, though, such as the Scythe Gentle Typhoons.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I 've seen the Gentle Typhoons, i may try them the next time i order fans.

RealityCrunch said:
Most of the PCs I build go out to worksites, where dust is a pretty big issue and I don't want to do full PC cleans every few months. At home, you can get away with less filtering, depending on how often you want to clean out the insides of your PC and how clean the air is where you live. Using bare minimum filtering (plastic mesh), I find I can go 3 months without cleaning the filters, and a year before I want to clean the inside of my PC to get it sparkly clean again (a very fine layer of dust collects on things, but doesn't really impact cooling). The air where I live is pretty clean, though.
Click to expand...

I live in a city and the dust (as well as humidity unfortunately) is everywhere and the PC is in a room with a balcony, where i regularly find not just dust but even feathers from pidgeons i suppose.

The plastic mesh is probably better for airflow than Demciflex... With my last case i had also tried women's stockings as filter for the front intake fan and it worked well for dust, but i hadn't tried its impact on airflow. Right now my case also has a front fan with very low rpm (Enermax Appolish Vegas i think), that has no filter and i am afraid that if i put anything on it, it won't pull any air. Already the airflow between my 2 HDD is very feeble. And the bad thing is that in order to clean that i 'd have to remove the front bezel of the case.

Dust is so annoying. If the alluminum ones fail, i may try the stockings again.
 
I use the included mesh filters with my P180 case. I clean a healthy coat of dust off them weekly. They don't catch the finest particulate dust but they get nearly everything else. Six months after a total cleaning, the case interior still looks quite good. I much prefer rinsing a couple filters once weekly than feeling a need to take an air compressor to my case every few months.
 
Yes, I do, and everytime I clean them it reminds me of what could be all over my internals.
My system is over a year old and looks brand new, thanks to those filters.
 
I think I should start using them. My cat and cocker-spaniel both like to hang out by the warm PC :)
 
when in doubt use panty hose!

img1249f.jpg

img1251w.jpg
 
SaY said:
I think I should start using them. My cat and cocker-spaniel both like to hang out by the warm PC :)
Click to expand...

Well, tomorrow if all goes on schedule, i should receive the package, which amongst other things, contains the alluminum filters too. If they completely suck, i will try with stockings again.


86 5.0L said:
when in doubt use panty hose!
Click to expand...

Nice job there! I 've used stockings once in the past on a frontal fan, but didn't check how much airflow it stops.

How did you secure the stockings around the fan? It looks very neat job!
 
jojo69 said:
+1 on the hose...and you can get them in sexy black...sure, the girl at the retail counter will believe they are for your "computer" really...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzGsZnzR9bo&feature=related
Click to expand...

Don't tell me... When i told her "oh, any size will do", she looked suspicious at me and replied as if i were mad "any size???". I tried to explain, but i don't think that the "fan filter" was convincing, since by "chance" at the end she gave me probably the biggest size...

So, in order to avoid similar incidents, i 've ordered these:

http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=141962

I should have them by tomorrow.
 
Harry1969 said:
Nope, they restrict airflow too much.
Click to expand...

You may want to try mesh filters like the one mentioned by NoOther above. I got them today too and they don't restrict airflow much and they aren't noisy either. Probably won't stop the finest dust, but better than nothing.

Actually, i installed a 2nd low rpm side fan and also a Nexus beamair on the lower side fan and despite the mesh filters, now at full load system is 3C lower, CPU 1C lower and VGA down 3C. On idle the difference is even bigger, specially for the VGA that is hit directly by the fan with the BeamAir. I am so happy! Boy that BeamAir thing really works!

So now i am more protected against dust and the PC is also cooler.
 
Yes, I use the fan dust filter and I recommend to use the dust filters for your computer.
Because, without dust the computer have low temperature CPU.
IMG_7714_8_soz4wa0r.jpg
 
I absolutely love my dust filters. With our pets they keep a lot of the hair out even though the cases are not on the floor.
 
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