A lesson - Clean your CPU fans boys and girls!

matt_fsr

matt_fsr

matt_fsr

Soldato
Joined
20 Jul 2005
Posts
5,714
Location
Durham
OK, I think I *MAY* just have worked out why my PC has been shutting itself down.

I'll let this picture speak better than any words.....

sdk4rk.jpg


Oops :o :o

Not been into that for about 12 months or so, might just have been my motherboard thermal cut-out kicking in. Maybe.
 
Crickey, that is a bit nasty:D, but tbh i have seen a lot worse.

EDIT: Just noticed as well, cooler is the wrong way round.
 
Haha that is mental, love how you can see the fans deadspot though. It is amazing how dust can insulate coolers, I have seen them be cleaned and knock over 10C of temps.
 
Heh, manky.

Observed something similar years ago on my old Athlon 2700 heatsink. The fins of the cooler were literally caked in dust and grime, and no amount of compressed air was going to get it out cleanly.

Thank goodness for modern fan filters.
 
I was looking through the mesh on the desktop the other day and even though it's nothing like that after about 3 years it will be getting a clean out soon before it has any problems.

Make sure you get some after pics too when it's all clean.
 
jeeesus!
thats disgusting, clean ya case out once a month
can honestly say finding that in my machine would give me a heart attack
 
LOL. So for 12 months you've had it pulling dusty air into your pc from the back, ignoring the dust filters in the front? XD
 
Read my sig chaps ;)

I'm using a Silentium case. Airflow is totally different to most cases, no front fans, Arctic Cooling recommended the CPU fan be in that direction.

I've tried it both ways to be honest and it had very similar temps. When I used to remember to check my temps :o

This should explain:

2dw5j5e.jpg
 
Case is about 5 years old, the pic is a slightly updated version of mine.

Its still lovely and quiet, but a bit tight even for a 8800GT - the vertically suspended HDD holder had to go to fit that in ;)

PSU is actually alright, but its fixed in place as part of the case so if it has died a bit I have to throw both sadly. But its given good service :)
 
The flow around the hsf sort of makes sense but the flow round the gpu seems weird as it seems to be trying to drag down and out hot air that by its nature wants to rise. No wonder the psu isn't picking up too much dust.
 
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