• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Question- How often do you Clean your Boxen?

D

DR_K13

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
3,491
So I screwing with a Memory problem on one box today. I opened it up and I could not see the HSF fins through the fan due to all the dust.All the boxes have intake fan filters so I thought WTF? is there a hold in one? I looked at my uptime on another box that was running, Then another. Av- up-time was 3 months. So I spent 6 hours today cleaning every case, fan ,heatsink,PSU, filter and pluging small holes.


How often do you guys clean out your Boxes?

I try to every month, guess I forgot. :(
 
you have boxes for your boxen? :eek:

Not as often as i should, last time was about a month ago.. so should do it soon :p
 
KodiakStar said:
you have boxes for your boxen? :eek:

Not as often as i should, last time was about a month ago.. so should do it soon :p
Click to expand...


ya. Boxed boxen , all but one. ( cats like to cause chaos with exposed rigs)
 
Yea yea, actually those boxen are brand new.

We once colocated a server (just a desktop box) in a clean room for ~4+ years. Never touched it. After we pulled it and I opened it up I could not belive how clean it was. Seriously, looked 100% brand new from top to bottom.

Just weird after all the nasty boxen we all come across.
 
every time one of em dies, i clean em when i bring em back online.

T-3
 
Whenever I play with my box's hardware, I take a look at all the others. Usually about every 3 months or so.
 
unhappy_mage said:
Whenever I play with my box's hardware, I take a look at all the others. Usually about every 3 months or so.
Click to expand...

That's about the same schedule and rule of thumb I go by. I've also come to learn that no number of dust filters can block out the dust. I've got pets, so the hair is the first thing to clog things up, but the dust get's into the case everywhere.

This past weekend with some upgrading and such, I did my quarterly cleanout and it wasn't pretty, just about everything was caked in dust right down to the cables.


 
I clean my boxen when I go to mess with something and I notice that they are dirty. Otherwise I really don't worry much about it and as long as they are putting good WUs out I really don't care too much. Most of the times my boxen stay mostly clean anyway. Well, ever since I moved them into a friend's house, they don't stay as clean as they used to. With the cats, the people in and out of the place, the fact that the house is rather old and that it doesn't get cleaned up much contributes to the dust and dirt problem. I find the worst thing is my EXOS. Damn, that thing can hold some dust.

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have a second job and I'll be able to make a bit of extra money to get cable installed at the apartment so I can move my boxen over. Too bad I'm going to be paying down bills for a while that have been stacking up so no new boxen for me for a while.

 
Massengil.... does wonders for dirty boxen....

I clean my PC's once every month or so. THe office PC's aren't so fortunate. They get a cleaning once every 6 months to a year.
 
Average I try to give my systems a good once over every 3 months. I usually can drop the CPU temp by 5-10ºC by cleaning the HSF really well.
 
BakedON said:
Massengil.... does wonders for dirty boxen....

I clean my PC's once every month or so. THe office PC's aren't so fortunate. They get a cleaning once every 6 months to a year.
Click to expand...


:eek:
 
marty9876 said:
We once colocated a server (just a desktop box) in a clean room for ~4+ years. Never touched it. After we pulled it and I opened it up I could not belive how clean it was. Seriously, looked 100% brand new from top to bottom.
Click to expand...

Somewhere around here there's a thread I started asking if anyone had experience with IBMs new Ultra SFF systems, mostly asking if they overheat since they're so small and there's so little fan area and air intake. They look like unless you stand next to them and canned-air the vents once every couple hours they'd overheat.

Relocating them solved the worries...we swapped them with the older non USFF systems in the operating rooms. Constant regulated 70F, filtered air...they should be happy for years now.
 
when i change something big on the hardware level, i'll get the dust out. that means new mobo/psu. pretty much it. or changing cooling.

i'd say my stuff gets cleaned every couple months. depends on how much i screw with windows each time. i try to clean my boxen out when i reinstall. (usually)
<- add about 6k to that, the numbers are off
 
Like others have said, If im messing with the hardware, and I notice its dirty, ill get the vacume out. Although, I usually just clean them out every 6 months. For some reason at my home the computers don't build up a lot of dust, but when im at college, the dust never stops.
 
Normally anytime I make an upgrade to any of my boxen, I clean the rest.

Now granted, I only have two boxen :eek:
 
I clean my personal machine whenever I'm in tinkering with something...which usually works out to every couple of months. I clean my labs, well, when I have time, air, and can justify spending the effort cleaning the insides of the computers as opposed to the coke covered monitors, syrup covers keyboards, or gum entrenched mice.
 
BakedON said:
Massengil.... does wonders for dirty boxen....

I clean my PC's once every month or so. THe office PC's aren't so fortunate. They get a cleaning once every 6 months to a year.
Click to expand...


:rolleyes:
Dammit, I had to think about this one. I use vinegar and baking soda to clean my copper heatsinks about once a year. Unless something changes I'll air-can them about every six months or so, and disassemble/wash annually.

p.s. You probably don't want to use vinegar and baking soda as a Massengil substitute.
 
Not often enough :rolleyes: .

A recent unfortunate event prompted opening a box that sits on the floor. Stock Intel HS&F clogged badly. MBM reported 72C, yikes. Threw an old NoiseMaker in there, down to 50C. Typically get 5-10C lower temps after HS cleaning. Obviously not often enough.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top