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Dust in GPU - affecting temps

Associate
Joined
28 Apr 2014
Posts
63
Hi all,

Just a small observations might be of interest. I was dismantling my old PC and took out the graphics card. It’s an ATI Radeon x1950 500Mb. Served me well but always had an issue with the temperature on this card. It could get to 95C and idle about 65C Its one of those cards that blast air out the back (sorry don’t know the name). Fan used to scream like mad under load, (which sounds quite nice ;))

Actually I dismantled it completely last night, removed the cooler and noticed it was caked full of packed dust and hair, almost blocking the heat sink. As the air hits the heat sink horizontally there is only a small surface area of contact for the incoming air to heat sink. Hence airflow was severely restricted. I hoovered it out thoroughly and reassembled.

Remarkable drop in temps and fan speed! Under load in the mid 70’s Who would have thought! Mind you, after 7 years sitting under a desk with the side case panel often off would be a dust magnet.

anyway ......

PS: here is another thought. It would be great if you could get a reducer attachment with a flexable shaft for a standard hoover that narrows down the size of a pen so you can poke about inside a case with the hoover on lowest suction setting.
 
Dust is one of the best thermal insulators going, if it can ruin a multi-billion pound lunar rover (dust ended up on the heatsink and killed it) it can cause problems for the average computer user too lol.
 
yup I clean out my PC but never once considered cleaning out a GPU internally.

Old PC (core 2 duo E6600, 4GB RAM, with Ubuntu is working well now. Probably could have got more life out of it, especially if I added an SSD

Anyway lesson learned
 
I usually put the hoover at one side of a heatsink and blow against the other. A few times I have just blown and it has hit the back of the case / something else and gone back in my face and or mouth.
 
I've yet to find an effective way to clean out most gpus. Bloody shrouds are a pain to get off. You should be able to just unclip a bit to gain access.
 
DataVac

M163-1040-main-sp.jpg


Had one for nearly 2 years & blows any dust away. Keeps my dust magnet of a PC clean and very powerful too. Bit expensive but will outlast those tins of air :D
 
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