How often are you cleaning your PC?

Farore · 2025-02-24T19:26:02+0000

t2na said:
Whenever the clocks go back/forwards I'll give the PC a clean. That's how I remember to do it!

Usually will mean cleaning all the fans, filters etc. and then probably once a year I'll remove the GPU and give that a nice clean too. Takes about 40 minutes all in so not a huge time sink for something I do twice a year and for the overall cleanliness/noise improvements it makes.

This is a good strategy!

Farore · 2025-02-24T19:26:26+0000

DavieJG said:
Clean the removable filters when "white" witness marks appear on the intakes. Never change the paste. That's madness.

Why not change the paste?

Maybe I needed to change mine because it was not done correctly.

DavieJG · 2025-02-24T19:28:27+0000

Farore said:
Why not change the paste?

Maybe I needed to change mine because it was not done correctly.

If it's done well with no air bubbles and you have right tension on the heatsink there's simply no reason the paste should expire in any notable way

Gray2233 · 2025-02-24T19:29:23+0000

Farore said:
Why not change the paste?

Maybe I needed to change mine because it was not done correctly.

Honestly with a decent paste like MX-4 etc and proper application it's rare that it needs replacing, you're just fiddling for the sake of it, I've known more than one person break something while doing unnecessary maintenance.

You will occasionally run into an issue where bad paste degrades, or something else necessitates it, but on my personal PC's I've never encountered it and have often had HSF's run for years without a repaste while suffering no reduction in cooling performance.