Clean your gaming PC

I thought about doing it, but when I look inside, there’s no dust.

I started using dust filters on the outside of my newest case about 2 years ago, and honestly, they have been amazing. The amount of dust they collect over, say, a month can be a lot, but cleaning those is so much simpler than opening up the PC. I do still open the case and take a look every 6 months or so, but even with compressed air or something similar, only tiny bits of dust get blown out, and it feels like a happy waste of time. I'm still not confident enough to leave it for over a longer period, regardless if I don't find much dust inside when I do check.

Itchy Tickles said:

I started using dust filters on the outside of my newest case about 2 years ago, and honestly, they have been amazing. The amount of dust they collect over, say, a month can be a lot, but cleaning those is so much simpler than opening up the PC. I do still open the case and take a look every 6 months or so, but even with compressed air or something similar, only tiny bits of dust get blown out, and it feels like a happy waste of time. I'm still not confident enough to leave it for over a longer period, regardless if I don't find much dust inside when I do check.

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It used to be a huge part of my PC setup to have a case with built-in dust filters. But the last two PC I have used have been laptops, as my job has had me away from home most days. With the plastic bottoms and feet, I haven't found a good filter to toss on.

Uncrowned Guard said:

It used to be a huge part of my PC setup to have a case with built-in dust filters. But the last two PC I have used have been laptops, as my job has had me away from home most days. With the plastic bottoms and feet, I haven't found a good filter to toss on.

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Ah okay. I didn't do any research for my filters, just saw some magnetic ones in a cheap bundle and thought why not. Not sure what would be suitable for your laptop, unless there are some that come with a sticky side and then a magnetic strip attached, but you've been using them longer than me, so I am preaching to the choir.

As long as you have good enough airflow inside the case, with at least 3 intake fans and 2 exhaust fans with dust filters then the inside of your pc won't get dusty for a long time, "positive pressure".

Itchy Tickles said:

Ah okay. I didn't do any research for my filters, just saw some magnetic ones in a cheap bundle and thought why not. Not sure what would be suitable for your laptop, unless there are some that come with a sticky side and then a magnetic strip attached, but you've been using them longer than me, so I am preaching to the choir.

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They do make stick-on ones, but they don't really make cleaning all that much easier, as you still need to flip the laptop over and clean off the filters by hand, since they are stuck to the frame. Ya... it is better than 5 screws to pop off the bottom, but it still needs me to pull the laptop out of its setup and work on it. Not to mention that the bottom isn't flat and the grooves are a bit of a problem. These are real 1st world problems, but I'd love to see some laptop manufacturers add in dust filters of some kind, even more so with how essential airflow already is to them.

cm2 said:

As long as you have good enough airflow inside the case, with at least 3 intake fans and 2 exhaust fans with dust filters then the inside of your pc won't get dusty for a long time, "positive pressure".

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This is a very good point. Putting filters on a negative-pressure case setup is not as effective.

I clean my PC once a year or every few years depending how dusty it is.