Dustproof case

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Limp Gawd
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Sep 21, 2004
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How do you guys keep that nasty dust out of your case? I taped up all small holes, and covered fan intakes with the foam pad packaged with motherboards. After only a few weeks the pad was covered with dust. That would be dust getting tumbled around inside, affixing itself to whatever heatsink it could find...It probably doesnt seem like a big deal when you're using your computer, but when you look inside after three months, you'll notice how gross it really is. The thought of cleaning a ninja cpu cooler makes me shudder. Am i the only one who tries keeping buildup out of their case?
 
You can only do so much. When moving 30+ cfm of air through a case, dust will build up, end of story. You can try using finer filter media, or stacked filter media, but maintenance will be harder. For instance, use a thin piece of coarse foam in front of a piece of finer foam... but you will have to clean/replace these fairly often.

Just buy a PC vac and a couple of cans of compressed air.
 
I've found that putting filters on my fans increases my temps to the point of instability. I just vacuum out the case every few weeks when I start noticing performance drops.
 
Cooler Master WaveMaster cases are awesome in this area. You can go months without opening up your rig and be ok. The downside is the lack of decent air intake. :p
 
I'll tell you, but you won't like it.

Silicone. Lots and lots of silicone. And cleaning every 4 months.
I silicone up the sides; it's more soundproofing than dustproofing, but the better seal keeps out more dust. It doesn't keep it all out. You'll never keep it all out. Especially not when your case has significant negative air pressure, like I build mine. (I have a Sonata that by the numbers cycles it's air every 17 seconds. The SI97a in it has no fan.)
 
I hear less dust will settle if your pushing more air into the case than out of the case. If your pushing more air out than in then your asking for more dust.

The best thign is to not put the computer on the carpet and put it up on your desk. This helps.

I just spray mine out with a air compressor as needed.
 
Justintoxicated said:
The best thign is to not put the computer on the carpet and put it up on your desk. This helps.
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Oh man does it ever. I just moved one of my machines off the carpet and onto the desk. Almost not dust buildup when I used to have to restrain myself from cleaning it everyday.
 
Wrap your case in duct tape, and watercool. Put sealant around where the hoses come out, and just do water cooling with the pump outside the case.
 
locutus24 said:
Wrap your case in duct tape, and watercool. Put sealant around where the hoses come out, and just do water cooling with the pump outside the case.
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Too much work, but I would bet you would see less dust with liquid cooling with an Air Conditioning system ducted into the intake where the resevoir goes ;)
 
Where do you live, where dust could be such a problem. I have my case currently mounted on top of another full tower case, and my case is cracked wide open cause i havent gotten around to place the sides on it. Seems to stay fairly clean
If you are not up for watercooling, get an ionic pro and place it in front of your cases intake area
 
I have a CM Centurion 5, the face is completely filtered, all you gotta do is vacuum that cotton candy once a week and you're good. The inside of the case is nearly dust free. How do I know? I have not needed to vacuum my HSF yet.
 
This will only help some, but my feelings on this topic if you have central cooling/heating is that the easiest way to prevent this kind of thing is to try to eliminate it closer to the source. your air is being conditioned all the time by heating and cooling and more (if you run the fan all the time to circulate air). Using good HEPA filters for instance will not only make you feel better throughout the year if you have any sort of allergies but will clean the air you and your computers breath. Filtering the air on the computer will only do so much, but you can do a lot better if you just have a better source of air around the system, or employing a room air filter to do a smaller area.

Other than that, your computer is a vacuum, deal with it. It will get dust. Just clean it from time to time. Dont sweat the small stuff. If you are really anal about it, then do some modding on your ducting and use high flow car filters or smaller HEPA filters to get the fine dust. If you live in a dustier place, well not much you can do about that.
 
I totally agree with Mickey on this one. If you room has a lot of dust to begin with, its going to find its way into your system eventually. Best thing to do is clean the air in your room and vacuum often. Regardless of what you do, if you have fans in your case, you'll have dust. Just stock up on canned air.
 
What someone hinted at earlier, have more fans pushing air into the case than fans pushing air out (or at least more CFM in than out). This way air will seep out of any holes, rather than the opposite of seeping in. The only air allowed into your case is through the fans, which will all have a filter on them. Clean the filter every week and you are good to go.
 
Micky makes some good points but I would take it a step further and recommend getting a seperate HEPA air purifier, that is, if you really are determined to reduce the dust/particles in the air. We bought one for our bedroom and it runs all the time, keeping our air really clean. Upgrading the HEPA filter in your furnace is an ABSOLUTE MUST, you can get a quality one for 10-15 bucks and it is well worth the money with all the mold/pollen/dust/etc that it captures. As for moveing your pc off the carpet, good idea, I'm still partially moved into my new house but I will definately do this, even if it's a small stand I can put it on, cause I'd hate to have my big ass case with the loud fan on top of my desk.

edit: I'll share some pics of the computers at work.. ick

dust1.jpg

dust2.jpg
 
put an air filter (hepa grade) near by the pc... might help.
 
Mickey21 nailed it.

Best you can do it make sure your furnace has a HEPA filter instead of the cheap cotton ones. Our furnace has a 5 stage HEPA, costs about $100 bucks a filter, but it lasts a year without needing to be changed.
Also I have a Ionic HEPA filter in my room about 2 feet from my boxen and it keeps the dust and cat hair out of my filters.
But it's not perfect, I have to clean the filters on the front of my stacker about once every 6 months.

Have yet to need a can'o'air for the inside.
 
Techx said:
Micky makes some good points but I would take it a step further and recommend getting a seperate HEPA air purifier, that is, if you really are determined to reduce the dust/particles in the air. We bought one for our bedroom and it runs all the time, keeping our air really clean. Upgrading the HEPA filter in your furnace is an ABSOLUTE MUST, you can get a quality one for 10-15 bucks and it is well worth the money with all the mold/pollen/dust/etc that it captures. As for moveing your pc off the carpet, good idea, I'm still partially moved into my new house but I will definately do this, even if it's a small stand I can put it on, cause I'd hate to have my big ass case with the loud fan on top of my desk.

edit: I'll share some pics of the computers at work.. ick
Click to expand...
i would have a heart attack if my case looked like that. For me i used the craptastic filters that Tt gives you for awhile until one day the blade on my main intake got caught in it when it was spinning at full speed about 5800rpm. good thing i only had my gf 4 mx440 in there. lets just say a hunk a plastic was flying around my case's inside.
 
Use dryer sheets as filters. Cheap and disposable. Plus, they make your case smell really good. :)
 
antoniohawk said:
Use dryer sheets as filters. Cheap and disposable. Plus, they make your case smell really good. :)
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And used dryer sheets are good for cleaning screens.

Do laundry > clean screen > install new filter!
 
Thanks Techx! I've been looking for a new wallpaper for weeks!

Btw the dryer sheets will also keep deer away....they hate the smell.
 
Techx the last time I saw a computer like that was one I found on the curb. It had an AMD 500mhz in it so I pulled the cpu and used a garden hose on it. :D Things came out sparkly clean. After that I just stripped it of parts that might be useful and recycled the rest.
 
lol nice pics :p

I had some air filter pads on hand, and just cut out some sections and put them over my intake fans. My case has the perfect layout where it'll cover the filter, and you can't see it. Dust still gets in, but not that bad. I just vacuum the filter on the outside when it starts to build up.

I heard someone say they vacuum the inside of their case... i always thought vacuums inside a computer was a big no-no because they create tons of static?
 
sandness said:
Parents pc- ewwww

dsc02507medium9en.jpg
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man you have to get that checked out. i have never seen any pc in my house look like that. i get dust but is not like that i opend mine up after a years and it had very lil in it. it still bugged me. after seeing that much dust on that heat sink i think your going to live a sort and unhealthy life. you need to clean your crib better.
 
Jesus christmas, I declare both of your cases redzones, call HAZMAT NOWWWWW :(
 
sandness said:
Parents pc- ewwww

http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/9765/dsc02507medium9en.jpg[/IMG]
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If you can't get them to stop smoking period, tell them not to smoke in the house. :p

Yup, I'd recognize the inside of a smoker's PC from a mile away. ;)
 
wow.. those pics were just.... ewwww.... Here's what I do:
I just don't put the pannels on my case. I think it's great when some noob comes over to my house and asks what's wrong with your computer? lol
The only problem I have is dust sticking to the blades of my 2 80mm fans in the back (outtake). Caned air won't work. The best way I've found is to use alcohol and q-tips
 
I hate working on a smokers PC. To the point where I'll almost not work on them. The first time I saw one I was absolutely disgusted at the smell that came out of the machine. And that yellowish tar, it's just built up so thick.
 
Oh that almost made me vomit. I have an acrylic case so my OCD is WAY high strung every few weeks. I honestly just keep it elevated... on my desk, use filters for the fans, and I make sure I clean the air filter for the heating/ac every month. By the way, 99% of all dust is human skin... Honestly people, bathing does help cut down on dust in your living area. Use moisturizers. Good personal hygene is also good PC hygene. :D
 
Thank you for those pics... I will offically NEVER smoke... EVER...

I shudder at the thought of that stuff lining my lungs.
 
Matrox462 said:
Thank you for those pics... I will offically NEVER smoke... EVER...

I shudder at the thought of that stuff lining my lungs.
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No kidding man. I regret working in a bar for 10 months.
 
There is a company that makes a device for electrical enclosures in hazardous environments (explosive/ gas present). It takes compressed air and maintains positive pressure inside the enclosure.

The compressed air is restricted thru an orifice to keep the enclosure pressured and the pressure is measured in "inches of water" ("/h2o). This little bit of pressure prevents flammable gasses from migrating into the enclosures. And one positive side effect is that the presure drop causes the air to be cooled.

You'd have to do a google search, cuz I cant remember the brand name. But the concept should also work to keep the dust out. I recommended this same thing to someone in this forum before. His father kept a PC in a barn with lots of grain dust. But I dont think that was the route he decided to take. How many people have an air compressor lying around anyway?
 
Air Compressor >>>>>>>>> Dust...

I cleaned my entire pc in matter of seconds with our air compressor. Invest in one =D
 
jmroberts70 said:
Try smokers with cats!!
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=950115
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Wow- the cat hair sorta helped in a way- turned into a makeshift filter...

Anyway, yeah, my parents smoke. That pc hadn't been cleaned since they bought it- so it has had some time to accumulate crud. I cleaned the heatsink in a bucket of soapy water as canned air and a vacuum just wasn't going to cut it. That computer won't get a virus, but will likely die of cancer.
 
Prim3 said:
Air Compressor >>>>>>>>> Dust...

I cleaned my entire pc in matter of seconds with our air compressor. Invest in one =D
Click to expand...

Totally! I got a fairly large one and only use it for blowing dust out of systems (I do a lot of 'em though). Best thing I've done.
 
k didnt read all the post so this may have been suggested.

but the reason all new comp stands come with that little platform that attaches to the leg, the one you put your comp on, its just for dust prevention. but id say it reduces dust by i onno. 40%? alot considering all you need is a box.

and that dudes comp has issues.... eeeeewwwwwww nastiest shit iv ever. i go to my computer guy and he does a whole compressed air cleaning thing for free but, youd need like 10 cans to get rid of all that shit!
 
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