Wow. Just....wow. (56k warning, big pics)

N

NickN

Gawd
Joined
Jan 12, 2005
Messages
757
See, for the longest time, I couldn't figure out why my system temps would skyrocket if I had the side panel on. My CPU would idle in the 50's (Stock cooler, Arctic Silver Ceramique) if I had the compy all closed up, but drop down to the high 30's, low 40's if I had the side panel off. Well, I happened to remove my computer's plastic front panel today, and lookie what I saw...

IMG_0330.JPG


What you are looking at is a huge mass of dust, dog fur, and other potentially radioactive substances.

And to give you an idea of how big this mofo is, that is a 120mm fan hole you see there, and those are not small fans. :eek:

Here's another pic comparing the size to my hand...

IMG_0332.JPG


And finally, a pic comparing the mass to a 3.5" card reader and 5.25" CD drive.

IMG_0331.JPG


I have no clue why or how it is there, and how it got past the DUST FILTER in the front of my case. If you look closely in the bottom pic, there's a bunch of it forming up in the USB ports.

I do know that it's mostly dog fur; I have 3 dogs that just love to shed in the same room as my computers. :eek:

Short of taping up all my forward vents, what can I do to stop this from happening again? :confused:
 
Well, that's a given. But that's no fun. :(

The computer is on the floor, which is how it's absorbing this huge amount of material. If I were to make a little wood stand for it, maybe one or two centimeters tall, just enough to lift it off the floor, would that help any?
 
a bit but it wont solve dust, i have to take apart the front and clean and also remove the fans from the cpu fan, well when i had air cooling, water cooling is pretty darn immune to dust, but it wont stop pet hair from blocking the radiator people say water cooling is high maintenance all the time, i consider it low maintenance because i had to clean my air cooling out of dust every month because the heat sinks would be nearly completely clogged
 
I've got 3 dogs also and mine never get like that, but I clean them out about every month. Only one of my computers sits on the floor though, you'll just have to just clean them every so often, there's no way around it, even with them up off the floor.
 
ewww....

i think my computer has had worse though, just no animal hair.i've had do much dust once that it actually clogged and killed one of my casefans. damn thing wont move anymore...
 
Did it still move when you found it?


This has to be the most gross pic I've ever seen on a tech forum :eek:

As for your question about preventing this issue, you've got a number of options, the most successful one without doubt preventing dogs or other hairy pets from entering the same room as this PC. Second is placing the PC on the desk or other high surface. Alternatively lifting the system a few centimeters from the ground will prevent the heaviest particles (such as hair) from being sucked into the case.
 
or use some kinda filter. you gotta clean it out alot though.

I once heard that the material used for leggings does really well, but i've yet to try this myself... mostly because the ideas of buying girls stockings for my pc seems very very odd...
 
Yeah, the weird thing is, there is a dust filter in the front of my case but there's a huge slot in the bottom of the case right behind the filter, perfect for dust/fur to get sucked in. Honestly, I have no clue what Antec was thinking... :rolleyes:

elledan said:
Did it still move when you found it?
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If it was alive at first, it's not anymore. My rottweiler ate it. :eek: :eek: :D
 
And vaccuum your dogs ...

I have 2 dogs myself, and moving the computer onto my desk from the floor has seriously reduced the amount of dog hair and dust that builds up.

I doubt a short wood stand would do any good.
 
Biggrich76 said:
I doubt a short wood stand would do any good.
Click to expand...
I've used both setups, actually (directly on the floor vs a few cms raised), and it made a considerable difference in the amount of dust entering the case.

Let's put it this way: when you vacuum the floor, the most dust will be sucked up if you keep the 'intake' part closest to the floor, right? :)
 
you could make a filter enclosure for the fan, like a 120mm box made of filters, that would help alot
 
Every now and then I bring the computer at the shop where I work and blow some air and everything is much cleaner than if simply use those canned air spray. Too many people overlook the maintenance of the system which now is even more critical.

Para
 
Build a good sealing box that holds your computer, and has some spare room. (how you will be able to run cables out of it and seal those, probably should use a rubber seal like on doors). Put in a few 120mm fans to blow out air, and have no intake fans. Get a square automotive air filter, and use that for the sealed boxes air intake.

On my dell optiplex, I busted out a hot glue gun. Y'know that foam stuff they use when shipping parts? Squishy black 1/2" foam? yeah. I glued that stuff down good over every vent hole. I taped up every crack, I taped around the power switches, the LED's... Then All I had to do was give it one good swipe with the Air compressor blower nozzle.
 
You don't need to add any more filters because the grill obviously filtered all of that out of your case. Imagine if that was just a hole. :eek:

You could use a mesh grill instead of that stock case grill, the only advantage being you could remove it to clean and it would capture much smaller particles. I guess it depends on how bad the inside of your case is.
 
As a tech I run into these sorts of situations a lot.

And all I have to say is: Used dryer sheets!

They make great air filters and cost hardly nothing when the laundry is done!

I pin mine to the clothes line in the backyard so I can spray paint them the colors I want.

Then depending on how dirty of an environment your `puter is in, just simply blow the dust offa the outside of the filter.

Also, get out the dremel and cut away that grating to allow more airflow. But if ya need a grate, and `puter/electronics store will have them.
 
Met-AL said:
vacuuming your carpet
Click to expand...

You could do what I seem to do bi-yearly, or whenever I open my case to install something new. I vacuume my computer. Hook up the hose and let it suck up that dust and hair. I stick it close to drive and close to the motherboard, and let it do its work.

Then I close the case and walk off with a grin; it's like I've just cleaned house.. :D
 
I had some of that good, dirty fun when I worked on a buddy's old machine a few months ago. I took pics to show him how dirty he really was!!

DSCN1275.jpg
 
i would advocate the elimination of any non-human life forms within the premesis.
 
fbiguy said:
i would advocate the elimination of any non-human life forms within the premesis.
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Uhh, Yeah. I told him to remove the sasquatch living in his house and things should just clear up over night.

Stupid Bigfoot!
 
I just got to rebuilding my computer a couple of weeks ago, and since I needed to remove the motherboard from the case I decided to blow out all of the dust and whatnot from the case. Mind you, I have a Siberian Husky that sheds all the time, so I was expecting some fur.

I found pretty much the same thing that the original poster found.

After I pried most of it out of the case, I decided that the Antec Soho design was simply letting too much in, so I opted to buy an Antec Super Lanboy. (Okay, okay, that was really just the excuse to get a new case...but at least it's a good excuse!)

Alas, for some people--like me--there's really no way to keep the dog out of the room with the computer. We just have more cleaning to do, that's all.
 
Met-AL said:
NickN said:
Short of taping up all my forward vents, what can I do to stop this from happening again?
Click to expand...
vacuuming your carpet
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Exactly.

When's the last time you vacuumed your floors? I live alone with no pets and I vacuum my carpets about once a week. No serious dust problems. (If I had a dog that shed, I'd do it twice a week probably.) I just took apart an old machine with a P4 Willie 1.4GHz and had to do some dust removal of the CPU and video card HSFs, but that's it. Vacuuming keeps things clean.

Seriously dude, that's gross.
 
Uhg... you should of warned people not to view this thread while eating. I nearly lost my Subway.
 
Was that a friggin nest in there or wtf? Did you find the squirrels living in it too? that should help temps.
 
couldn't ppl who set their computer on the ground with carpet make some kinda carboard guard for the intake? I'm thinking something that looks kinda like this:

dust%20guard.GIF


so that the air has to come down into it, instead of being sucked up across the carpet with all that dust. Hell, you could even filter the opening, and just wipe away dust as it gathers. this way, if you're lacking desk space, you dont gotta take it off the ground. anyone else think that'd be useful?
 
cnick79 said:
Uhg... you should of warned people not to view this thread while eating. I nearly lost my Subway.
Click to expand...

Oh be a man, it's just dog fur and dust. :p

I'm looking into getting a block of wood to set the computer on; even lifting it off the ground by a few centimeters will keep the heavier particles from being sucked in.
 
Everfalling said:
I once heard that the material used for leggings does really well, but i've yet to try this myself... mostly because the ideas of buying girls stockings for my pc seems very very odd...
Click to expand...

I tried that once but my computer looked so hot in those stockings that I couldn't resist the temptation to have sex with it! You should have seen what was obstructing the airfow then, ha ha ha!
 
Just goes to show you that those cheesy filters they make, sell and install OEM don't stop much. Instead, you should consider an automotive in-cabin filter, or house heater filter. Here's a couple examples...

Very nice - http://www.silentpcreview.com/article103-page1.html
Different approach - http://www.silentpcreview.com/article144-page1.html

Also, a good filter will keep the inside of a pimped out rig looking shiny and new for months.

For those concerned about reduced airflow - be aware that clean heatsinks work better than dusty ones, and even if you clean them regularly (probably a very small percentage of people), don't forget about your powersupply and it's dust clingy internals and all the other knicks and knacks inside the case.

Or if you're really lazy, you could just elevate your computer and put it on a shelf higher up where there is less dust (dust falls to the floor).
 
Booby McNipples said:
I tried that once but my computer looked so hot in those stockings that I couldn't resist the temptation to have sex with it! You should have seen what was obstructing the airfow then, ha ha ha!
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oh well that's a new level of wrong right there >>
 
That's nothing! I used to work as a network tech for a timber processing company. The PC's in the factory would last on average about 2 months before dust finally clogged them up for them to over heat and die (after about 3 replacements management FINALLY took our advise and agreed to let us buy industrial PC's that could handle it). One of the factory machines that somehow managed to survive had around 2 inch's of dust in the bottom of the case!
 
is that an antec bqe? i have the same case and this is how i solved the dust problem:

filterouter.jpg


here i sticky-taped mesh from bunnings to the bottom opening.. i also enlarged the bottom opening for more airflow

front_chinaflo.jpg


and i used masking tape to cover up all the front holes except for the ones needed by the plastic bevel and the front fanhole. (which i snipped out)

this seems to do the trick for me, my computer sits 4cm above the carpet and i haven't had any visible dust inside since i did these mods.
 
I've seen many dustballs like that in systems over the years.

What makes it worse is when the user smokes heavily. You end up with a tar-laden fur/carcinogen ball. It stinks, and if you touch it it gets brown nasty gunk all over you.
 
Scarceas said:
I've seen many dustballs like that in systems over the years.

What makes it worse is when the user smokes heavily. You end up with a tar-laden fur/carcinogen ball. It stinks, and if you touch it it gets brown nasty gunk all over you.
Click to expand...

QFT

at work we get pcs that have had almost 1/2 inch layer of dust on the bottom, and they wonder why their mobo is dead lol
 
Peach said:
QFT

at work we get pcs that have had almost 1/2 inch layer of dust on the bottom, and they wonder why their mobo is dead lol
Click to expand...

I used to smoke, but I've never had any disgusting shit in my pc... how do those people do it ? They must be extremely dirty as well.
 
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