Dust hacks, Best filters, vacuums or air can

slim01

slim01

slim01

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Hey all
So I took out my 3070 which was mined for 4 months, to try new 3080ti and Holy hell the dust... Blanket of it over the cpu cooler, and 3070 looks 3 years old.

Now I always prefer no filters, and dremel out fan grilles for max airflow/lower rpm's, then just clean once every year. But every 4 months is too much, and 3080ti is daaamn expensive.

So what do you guys use to get rid of dust?
-bicycle pump (and two people) ?
-rubbish little ball pump thing?
-Use your car mate mechanics air compressor?

-filters (what do you guys think are best for airflow?)
On ocuk they have:
>demciflex (seem like a rip off) at £10 each
>cut your own dustend g1 £19 for 950mm
>Silverstone ultra fine mesh £5.45
>Akasa aluminium £3.5

Or...
-Air vacuum/blower: compucleaner £45
(do these ACTUALLY remove all dust from heatsinks? More than canned air?). Would normally need to survive 10+ years to beat value of...
-£13 for 3 cans of canned air.
 
Make sure to stop fans from moving if you blow them with air to clean stuff out. For removing dust not much beats an air blower. (I use one of the compucleaner thingies).

Having more intakes fans than out and filtering all the intakes does massively reduce the dust build up inside but you do still need to regularly dust around the case and filters.

Sadly there isn't really a magic solution.
 
No filters, as they impede airflow.
I have my own 140L compressor and a ¼" paintbrush. Dust case out once a month, which isn't really much of a hassle. The hardest part is carrying the massive heavy box up and down the stairs, out to the garage.
 
Seems like a big win for the compucleaner... Always thought £50 for a blower was way overpriced but they seem to go recommended by everyone.

Are they really better than air cans though? I would have imagined canned air with the tiny little straws would be better for getting inside heatsinks/rads as it will actually fit in between the fins?
 
slim01 said:
Are they really better than air cans though? I would have imagined canned air with the tiny little straws would be better for getting inside heatsinks/rads as it will actually fit in between the fins?
Click to expand...

I've never used cans, so I can't offer a direct comparison. But, I found using the narrow nozzle on the Compucleaner along with its high speed setting produced a focused enough stream of air to basically blast the dust out of a radiator.
 
Have dust filters (Demciflex funnily enough) on my main setups intakes. Exhaust fan points are not filtered though.

Just use a paint brush and give a quick dust down every so often on the inside and leave it at that. Very little dust because the filters catch most of the dust from airflow pulled into the case, and all the fan points are covered by another self made shroud covering/section that I've added that helps prevent dust naturally settling down into the case via the vents (and also helps reduce fan noise from escaping the case and also helps smooth out the sound of any noise escaping from the case from the foam "ducting" that I've added to help reduce escaping noise).
 
VersionMonkey said:
I've never used cans, so I can't offer a direct comparison. But, I found using the narrow nozzle on the Compucleaner along with its high speed setting produced a focused enough stream of air to basically blast the dust out of a radiator.
Click to expand...

Agreed, its damn loud but more then powerful enough with the smaller nozzle.
 
Meddling-Monk said:
Have dust filters (Demciflex funnily enough) on my main setups intakes. Exhaust fan points are not filtered though.

Just use a paint brush and give a quick dust down every so often on the inside and leave it at that. Very little dust because the filters catch most of the dust from airflow pulled into the case, and all the fan points are covered by another self made shroud covering/section that I've added that helps prevent dust naturally settling down into the case via the vents (and also helps reduce fan noise from escaping the case and also helps smooth out the sound of any noise escaping from the case from the foam "ducting" that I've added to help reduce escaping noise).
Click to expand...

These comments and also the sales pitches on filter sales listings always interests me. The only time I did use filters I found the noise was actually a lot louder as the fans had to speed up due to the restriction of airflow. I was using the extra fine style. They did catch most of the dust however...

Before I modded my current HTPC with 3x14cm intakes (I set the rest on the sides to exhaust) it was literally an oven in there, cooking after 5 mins. Took all filters off, and basically all case temps (mobo and ssd etc) are barely above ambient now. Just need to figure out how to cool this new 5800x
 
slim01 said:
eems like a big win for the compucleaner... Always thought £50 for a blower was way overpriced but they seem to go recommended by everyone.
Click to expand...

It is a bit expensive for what it is - mine was actually given to me as a Christmas present - but on the flip side at least in my experience works very well for what it does.

slim01 said:
These comments and also the sales pitches on filter sales listings always interests me. The only time I did use filters I found the noise was actually a lot louder as the fans had to speed up due to the restriction of airflow. I was using the extra fine style. They did catch most of the dust however...
Click to expand...

Never had a problem with airflow + filters until I stuck the 3070FE in with its weird airflow setup - since that I had to turn the fans up, or remove the filters, to get the same level of cooling to the CPU :( with my 1070 it all worked fine.
 
slim01 said:
These comments and also the sales pitches on filter sales listings always interests me. The only time I did use filters I found the noise was actually a lot louder as the fans had to speed up due to the restriction of airflow. I was using the extra fine style. They did catch most of the dust however...

Before I modded my current HTPC with 3x14cm intakes (I set the rest on the sides to exhaust) it was literally an oven in there, cooking after 5 mins. Took all filters off, and basically all case temps (mobo and ssd etc) are barely above ambient now. Just need to figure out how to cool this new 5800x
Click to expand...

Ah, that's most likely because we're after different objetives then. :)

I was after silence over temps (but less dust too) so I've set up my system to allow most components to soak temps to a higher level (acceptable range by manufacturer spec), so basically turning it into an oven as well, but less of an issue in my instance as I have a larger case volume with more fan points to intake/exhaust, etc as well as very heavily undervolted items (so reduced temps levels in first place) so the internal temps are often fairly respectable (only during hot weather do I need to have the fans ramp up and it barely breaches 39C inside the case in the worst instance I've recorded the system going to at lowest fan settings). I also have Noctua A12x25s strapped to many points in the case to bring sufficient airflow at a lower noise level (including on the U12A on the CPU and on the RX580) and the fan intake points as well to have better airflow at lower noise levels.

But also with regards to noise, that's what the "shroud/covers" I've made are for. They help dampen escaping noise and smooth out noise profiles because of the foam ducting I've put in each "shroud/cover". Also, each of these "shroud/covers" are aimed in a different direction from each other whilst covering the vents themselves. This also helps mask the noise that's escaping by directing some of it into a different direction.

Although I'll freely admit I took a few weeks slowly keeping records of everything and modifying/tweaking individual fans, etc before I finally was able to reach this point, so it's not something that can be done for everyone and in every instance, but just happens to be possible in my instance here. If you've got a lot more gear that's throwing out heat that you can't control with filters on, then I can see why you may rather not have them. But just gave my thoughts and experience here on my setup and why I (still) use them (dust filters; didn't have to be Demciflex, but just happens to be the one I bought a while back) is all. :)
 
slim01 said:
All of it or just the majority?
Click to expand...

My Wife's PC needed cleaning out anyway.

So, before:



After, with a little brushing:



PXL-20210926-192911981-Copy.jpg

Wouldn't pass for new, but it is actually clear.

PXL-20210926-192911981-Copy.jpg
 
Great thread tbh.

Having computer on all time does make these things real. I have done lots of modifications to my case recently to improve airflow. My latest challenge is the dust!

I could site the machine in a less dusty room but the reality is I will make some custom filters first and take it from there. Last time I done a full clean I took it up to my BIL garage as he's a mechanic and used his very expensive compressor.

Might have to invest in one of them blowers above or just suck up the cost of getting my own compressor and then I can use it to blow up bike tyres and attach few tools for DIY.
 
I bought a set of DEMCiflex filters for my phantek evolv x had to import them as the uk didn't have any and I'm glad I have the dust is very minimal that get through even less if I remember to clean them, I have 2 280mm rads both as intakes so they do work hard, I did buy the compucleaner xpert last year and I've never used it so far.
 
Compucleaner is excellent. I use it to clean the Dyson, laptop, etc.
As for filter, it's a very hard decision. Restrictive filters would require the fans to work harder, generating more noise.
Unless it's a very dusty environment, low speed fans and no filters is a viable option, and some compressed air once a month is enough.
The filters supplied with some cases are pretty decent and not too restrictive. But some cases where the last thing you would expect is a cheap restrictive filter and it's exactly what they supply (O11 air).
The only advice regarding the Compucleaner is to make sure you don't go full bast with the narrow end bit too close to fans and fragile items.
It's quite powerful and I wouldn't be surprised if manages to snap a blade of a fan. It did when cleaning an old Virgin Media box. Pieces of the centrifugal fan all over the room.
The only thing they won't remove is residual dust, as nothing else would, really, at least not without very high risk of damaging the equipment being cleaned. For that, the small brushes supplied should be good enough.
 
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