Okay, my rig needs a cleaning very badly and to do it right I need to pull it apart.

 

I've never done it before and to be honest it scares the crap out of my because if I break anything I'll be a bit screwed as the gf will cut my nuts off if I broke it myself. If it dies she fine but me screwing it would go over like a lead balloon.

 

Is everything pretty tough? I mean when I wiggle stuff it does not come out easy but if I pull hard will I damage it?

 

My GPU is full of dust and so is the SPU heatsink. The fans are pretty easy and I'll use compressed and and a paint brush but it's hard to get at the GPU and heatsink without getting it right out of there.

 

Any tips would be good plus I need to know how to do it for when I upgrade stuff.

HERE YA GO....."pc cleaning 101".....I really should do mine as well...

 

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=89202

 

or a better thread...

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=136986&highlight=clean+dust

 

 

search their forums for more threads on cleaning.....

Edited January 11, 200817 yr by Gunner_downer

Just dont knock around the capacitors (little upright tower thingies) on the mobo/graphics card and you're pretty right. Compressed air is the go.

static wrist band helps and dont use a vacumcleaner as it will stuff your fans

those anti static bag you get your parts in are very handy to put stuff on like your mainbored

Hold the fans while you clean them with the compressed air otherwise they might spin too fast and damage the bearings.

you need to earth yourself before you touch any of the inside parts if you don't have a static wrist band.

(you don't really need a wrist band unless you plan on pulling apart pc's for a living)

which means just touching something metal to get rid of any static on your person.

 

don't pull on anything too hard, everything will either be screwed in or clipped in and shouldn't be too much of a pain to get out,

if it's being a total pain...have a break....then come back to it with a fresh approach.

Thanks guys!

 

Do you guys ever take your machine apart?

Only to upgrade, working with puter innards scares me.

 

Plus my 1.5 year old daughter loves shiny/colourful/mechanical things and helping me do things by taking them apart.

 

WOOT 1000 posts! DAVEEE I'm COMIN FOR YOUR TITLE

Edited January 11, 200817 yr by McCloud

About every 6 mths or if I have to open the case, I get a makeup / paintbrush and just dust everything down and then blow it all out

Thanks guys!

 

Do you guys ever take your machine apart?

 

I generally upgrade something in my pc every 1-6 months, so I'm always pulling things apart, rewiring the cables to improve airflow etc. I have a side case window and dust filters on all the fans so the only thing I ever have to clean is the filters really...

 

Pulling PCs apart is really easy, but terribly daunting the first time.

 

If it is an Intel CPU (skt 775) it will most likely use the 4-Push-Pin mounting method. To remove these, you just put a screwdriver in each push-pin and turn it left (i think), and then pull each pin up. Only do this after you've put some load on the CPU, since the stock thermal grease gets REALLY sticky after years of being on there, and can yank the CPU out... or I might be thinking of Skt 939 [AMD] who don't have a retention clip... yeah probably them. It's a good idea nonetheless to heat up the grease anyway. For AMD they still use the side clip to hold on the HSF, I think this is a simple case of pulling it outwards then upwards, but don't quote me, I only had the original HSF on for about a week before installing a BigTyphoon which used a backplate & screws .

 

If you don't have any Arctic Silver or new thermal paste, I'd suggest just leaving the CPU HSF on and cleaning as much as you can with it on there.

 

Graphics cards in AGP/PCI-X16 are generally held in with a retention clip to at the bottom, near the end of the BUS, so be sure to release that mechanism and unscrew the Case-PCI screw holding the graphics card in, lest you rip apart your graphics card .

 

Case fans can be vacuumed, but stick a pencil or something into the fan blades to stop them spinning, and then you can vacuum at will. Don't vacuum the electronic parts of the PC (or anything connected to the electronic parts) because vacuum cleaners can build up static charge around the nozzle and then zap your components, and it certainly doesn't take much overvoltage to kill a 90nm chip .

 

If you need help just post up pictures and we can tell you what is important etc or whatever you need.

Edited January 11, 200817 yr by Husker

Pics eh? If you don't mind I would love that.

I get a makeup brush

 

HA you should have plenty of them around!!!! :P

 

jks mate.

 

(left yourself wide open for that one)

I just use my air compressor . Hold/Tape the fans up then just blow the dust out . 1min job and the PC is just like it was when new.

HA you should have plenty of them around!!!! :P

 

jks mate.

 

(left yourself wide open for that one)

 

Yeah I keep getting casught using the missus one :shower:

Just pop the tower in the sink and use a MILD detergent mix. Make sure it is mild though as your computer might be blowing bubbles for weeks.

Ahh, so putting too much detergent in is my problem. I turned it on and bubbles came out for days... Now I know why . Cheers household

Lots of warm soapy water FTW ;P

Lots of warm soapy water FTW ;P

 

 

While it's on eh..

Sure and make sure you are standing in a pool of water. If you accidentally shock yourself it will keep your feet cool.

 

Oh I forgot to add. make sure you buff it with a genuine Chamois cloth. It can reduce your pings by as much as 10ms.

Edited January 12, 200817 yr by DeliciousMaximilian

Sure and make sure you are standing in a pool of water. If you accidentally shock yourself it will keep your feet cool.

 

Better still, just do the whole procedure while in the bath.......much safer.

 

So you started yet smokey?

also if you glue a plastic coat with foam to it will make the clean job so much easier

(apparently some one did this)