cleaning h50's and aios in general

daveyb · 24 Jan 2017 at 00:29

alright fellas,

in the few months i've had this h50 and the presumable years the guy before me had it i dont think its ever had a proper clean, when i got it i blasted it with compressed air/brushed the fins etc but i figure it's time i give it a proper clean. wondering whats the best way to do it thoroughly? i feel like covering the pump/tubing up and just running hot water on a moderate stream from the tap through the rad and then letting it dry out on the radiator is probably the best option unless theres any better way.

any ideas on how long itll take to dry out also? cheers!

Akagi · 24 Jan 2017 at 00:31

I see no problem with your proposed plan. Usually a blast of air will sort it though.

Overnight in an airing cupboard should do it. The rad part isn't electrical so as long as it is dry enough to not drip on stuff, you're good.

If you are having temperature issues and the radiator looks fairly clear, it is more likely to be either that the thermal paste needs re-applying, the block isn't seated correctly, the air-flow isn't configured optimally, or even that the unit has got to an age where the coolant is no longer flowing properly or transferring heat effectively.

daveyb · 24 Jan 2017 at 00:43

yeah im having no issues with it, the temps seem to be decent given the age of it and the thermal output on the cpu, i just figure i may aswell give it a good clean out since it's likely never had one and the whole thing could do with a clean anyway.

overnight eh, better do it tomorrow before i hit the hay. will probably record before/after temps to see if it makes a significant difference.

Akagi · 24 Jan 2017 at 00:45

Might not need to be overnight, just as long as it takes. You could probably towel dry the surface and then dry it with a hair-dryer on warm/hot in a matter of seconds.

daveyb · 24 Jan 2017 at 00:51

even better! hopefully i still have some thermal paste left to do it asap.

Hotwired · 24 Jan 2017 at 06:54

Dust filters if you don't have them saves a lot of fiddling dust out of rad fins later since the fins themselves act as crude filters to catch dust.

daveyb · 24 Jan 2017 at 20:34

gave it a clean, ran the rad under hot water and my god some of the dust and particles that came out was awful. either way load temps seem way down to the high 20s low 30s and IBT temps seem to be down by a few degrees. going to retest it tomorrow when the pastes had time to set, the heating isnt on and i didnt accidentally thermal throttle the cpu at 107c by forgetting to plug the h50 pump in :confused: