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Dust issue/Fan question

M

memnoch_thedevil

Gawd
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
Messages
943
I have a question about air flow and dust for my pc, as lately it seems I am having to clean the front fan filters (P182) every few days.

In the case I have:

2 x 120mm fans in the front for intake (1 x Scythe upper and 1 x Yate Loon 120x20mm lower)

1 x 120mm fan inside middle (AC Ryan Blackfire Chameleon)

1 x 120mm exhaust (AC Ryan Blackfire Chameleon)

1 x 120mm top exhaust (Scythe)

2 x 120mm fan in push/pull on the TRUE (Noctua NF-P12's, amazing fans) pushing air to the top exhaust fan

I also have a ram cooler w/ 3 x 42mm fans and of course the 140mm fan on the PSU


The front door on the P182 stays closed most of the time, but the dust still seems to be a large amount (more than my old 939 system). I have checked to make sure all of the fans are blowing in the proper direction.

Is there anything that can be done to help reduce the amount of dust? Is there a problem with the amount of airflow being pushed into and exhausted from the case? I thought about adding another 120mm fan to the top for exhaust, would this help improve airflow and reduce the amount of dust being accumulated?

thanks

memnoch
 
Theres not a lot you can do. You can find custom filters for you fans or look at some of the jerry-rigged jobs here. Change the filter on your AC/heating makes a huge difference.

I would just clean it out once a month. 1 can of air should last you a good 3-4 months of dust cleans.
 
Its looks like you have a lot more exhaust than intake (negative pressure). I find this very good for cooling but as you noticed bad for dust. I'd try different combinations of fan input / output (reducing the number of fans turned on etc.) or reduce fan speed see if it make a significant difference to load temps. If it doesn't, then why have them is my thought.

On my case, I went from having 5 exhaust and 3 intake (8 fans) to just 2 exhaust and no intake and temps didn't change that much under load. Becuase I now have just all exhaust, its a dust magnet extreme, but I just clean it often...
 
I suggest you get some filters for your fans. I have three intake fans(1 120mm, 1 92mm, and 1 80mm) and one 120mm exhaust in my case and I get very little dust inside because my case has built-in filters for all of my intakes. You can also consider changing your fan configuration to create positive fan pressure, which will reduce the dust from coming in from areas other than the fans themselves, which would help you better eliminate dust intake in combination with the fan filters.
 
Technophobe said:
Its looks like you have a lot more exhaust than intake (negative pressure). I find this very good for cooling but as you noticed bad for dust. I'd try different combinations of fan input / output (reducing the number of fans turned on etc.) or reduce fan speed see if it make a significant difference to load temps. If it doesn't, then why have them is my thought.

On my case, I went from having 5 exhaust and 3 intake (8 fans) to just 2 exhaust and no intake and temps didn't change that much under load. Becuase I now have just all exhaust, its a dust magnet extreme, but I just clean it often...
Click to expand...


I only have 2 120mm fans that are acting as direct exhaust, and 2 that are acting as direct intake.

The middle fan could be construed as intake it pulls air from the top intake fan.

What about the 2 fans on the cpu? Would that be exhaust? They are in push/pull pulling air from the bottom fan upwards through the cpu and pulling that out with the top fan up towards the exhaust.

The psu is a bottom mount, and the fan is on the bottom side of the case...not sure what effect there is with that fan.


Zero82z said:
I suggest you get some filters for your fans. I have three intake fans(1 120mm, 1 92mm, and 1 80mm) and one 120mm exhaust in my case and I get very little dust inside because my case has built-in filters for all of my intakes. You can also consider changing your fan configuration to create positive fan pressure, which will reduce the dust from coming in from areas other than the fans themselves, which would help you better eliminate dust intake in combination with the fan filters.
Click to expand...

There are 2 filters on the 2 front intake fans, but I am having to clean them every couple of days. Not sure how to change the configuration to get positive pressure though.

Thanks for the replies, and I will look around some more too...
 
memnoch_thedevil said:
There are 2 filters on the 2 front intake fans, but I am having to clean them every couple of days. Not sure how to change the configuration to get positive pressure though.
Click to expand...

Positive pressure is when the combined CFM ratings of all your intake fans exceeds the combined CFM of your exhaust fans (including the 140mm PSU fan) so you have more air being drawn in than blown out. In order to do this, you would need to have more intake than exhaust fans assuming CFM ratings are equivalent across all of them, or you'd need to play around with the CFM ratings of the fans in your different positions to end up with an orientation that would have more air being drawn in.
 
How did u fit a middle fan with your graphics card? I got a 8800gtx and have no space between the upper hdd cage and gfx card. Would like to know:D
 
Reduce the dust in the house. Electrostatic air cleaner but you will just have to clean its filter too. Ask yourself, "where is the dust coming from ?" and try to eliminate/mitigate the source.

or

You could take the computer to Hell and use it to make all the lazy housekeepers and slacking cleaning professionals realize the error of their ways and thus gain entrance to Heaven.
 
Amrit said:
How did u fit a middle fan with your graphics card? I got a 8800gtx and have no space between the upper hdd cage and gfx card. Would like to know:D
Click to expand...

I will post a picture for you tomorrow night, I can't seem to find it right now and need to get some sleep...


BillParrish said:
Reduce the dust in the house. Electrostatic air cleaner but you will just have to clean its filter too. Ask yourself, "where is the dust coming from ?" and try to eliminate/mitigate the source.

or

You could take the computer to Hell and use it to make all the lazy housekeepers and slacking cleaning professionals realize the error of their ways and thus gain entrance to Heaven.
Click to expand...

funny...I have 4 dogs, 4 cats, 2 ferrets, an albino hedgehog, and that's just in the house hehe...wife is addicted to animals. Not to mention we live in a rural country area with lots of dust and dirt, with lots of dry weather lol...

But I have thought about an electrostatic air cleaner for the pc room, maybe it will help a little bit...
 
funny...I have 4 dogs, 4 cats, 2 ferrets, an albino hedgehog, and that's just in the house hehe...wife is addicted to animals. Not to mention we live in a rural country area with lots of dust and dirt, with lots of dry weather lol...
Click to expand...

Ouch, lived on a dirt road (now paved thank God), inside of my machine was orange no matter what I did. . I hear ya, thats a very steep uphill battle you have got there. Good luck .
 
Not yet...I am stepping up my video card to the GTX 260 (only a $50 upgrade), so when I take my pc apart (next couple of days hopefully) I will snap some pics, I want to clean up the wires a little bit more :p

But I did dremel 2 holes in the middle cage on the P182 and attached the fan using zip ties through the holes if that helps any. The clip that came with the case for the fan for some reason squeezed the fan too tight and wouldn't let it rotate. I'm off tomorrow, so I will try and at least get an inside shot for ya soon.


Here is a link with some older pictures (I have changed he hsf since then). Scroll down towards the bottom of the page and look for memnoch_thedevil2002 then towards the bottom of those pics you will see a pic with the lights on and the fan in place.

I will get a better one though.
 
Ahh your gfx is much shorter in width than mine lol, i have the width of my pinky between the end of the pcb to the hdd cage. Im thinking of getting a fan smaller than 120mm and suspending it with rubber bands in the upper hdd cage(my 2 hdd are in the lower hdd cage).
 
If i killed my animals, my system would be spotless. Have a Antec 900 and never see dust in the case but I notice it builds up about ever other day on the fan 2 fans. I just need to figure out a good way to raise it by 4 inches or so while making it stable :(
 
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