Clean your fans!

[amethyst]

I had an old desktop lying around so decided to get it going with Puppy. It did work well from the start but I decided to give it a really good clean, especially the CPU fan. I noticed a grated metal surface between the fan and CPU and these openings were most certainly clogged with dust. Wow, what a difference cleaning that made. Machine now runs at least 20 degrees cooler and also quieter. Clean your fans!!!

[p310don]

I have an i3 Intel NUC desktop computer.

It has laptop internals, including fan.

It was starting to get slower and slower. I figured it was after a few software upgrades until a friend suggested, "Have you changed the thermal paste?"

I pulled it apart, to find the cpu fan has an outlet about 5mm high by 25mm long and has a nice velvet carpet across it....

The computer went from running at a snail's pace to full speed. The sensors read out went from 95 to 100 degrees to mid 40s.

So yes, CLEAN YOUR FANS!!

[amethyst]

Playing HD videos uses 50% less CPU power also. This is remarkable.

[Flash]

The next computer I buy won't have a fan that sucks air in. It might have a fan inside a sealed case, to blow the air around inside, and some fins on the outside to cool the whole thing. If I can find one like that.

[Grey]

Clean your fans!!!

Not just fans. It is necessary not to forget to keep the room clean, my stray sinful children

By the way, a unique sketch made by an unnamed Boer at the beginning of the 18th century has just been found in the Puppy's archives It was found in a place where the Namib and Kalahari deserts join together.
Apparently, there are people cleaning out dust and sand from a large server room made of the same stone as the Egyptian pyramids. And all this right in the midst of a dust storm
The building reminds me of someone, but who... Maybe there is something about it in Robopup's database.

robopup_clean_2.gif (227.93 KiB) Viewed 4851 times

[wizard]

@Flash

The next computer I buy won't have a fan that sucks air in

There are already some systems with 4-6 watt cpu's that are fanless/ventless. I have 3 such, older Chromebooks, that are converted to run Puppy and they do in fact run both cool and quiet. Be awhile before "power" systems get there, but they will.

wizard

[Tippe]

I have a computer built 24. June 2014.
Needed to clean it after the CPU fan was broken.
Never cleaned it in all those years.
It really was a huge dirty mess inside the computers case.

I removed everything from the case and cleaned all the parts very carefully.
Unfortunately it seemed that I broke one of the RAM devices
so I ordered two new ones - one for reserve, they got only two available.

The chassis fan and the fan of the power supply still running fine after cleaning them.
It took two days until everything was rebuilt to have a working computer.

Few days ago I bought a new keyboard and mouse also, to be able to use it without cables for both.
Via HDMI interface i can use this computer now on my new Caixun HD television at 1360X768.
Doing it from my new Sofa!

[p310don]

Following @amethyst's and my own advice, I pulled apart another computer today that was starting to sound like a 747 on takeoff.... I thought I'd document this one.

It is another NUC PC, with laptop CPU and cooler. The one was less blocked than the earlier one, but still had a decent build up of fluff in the exhaust port of the fan.

It was running at about 80C and now runs in the 40s.

Exhaust port, probably 45% blocked

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Nice bit of shag

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[amethyst]

Yes that's a lot of dirt. I probably could have done a better job with cleaning by removing some components but didn't want to with the old machine (let sleeping dogs lie). Cotton ear buds did the trick for me.

[Flash]

I usually wait for the power to fail, so I have to restart my computer anyway, then I open it up, take it outside and blow it out good with a shop vac used as a blower. After the fan has blown air through it for a year or so, the amount of dust that billows out is pretty impressive. Once I even took out the memory sticks and reseated them.

[superhik]

The things I find in people's desktops are horrendous.

[wizard]

You can always tell if:
1. They leave the computer running 24/7
2. If they have house pets
3. If they smoke

wizard

[superhik]

You can always tell if:
1. They leave the computer running 24/7
2. If they have house pets
3. If they smoke

wizard

Not necessary in that order.
What can you tell when the computer case is all beaten-up? Like Rocky Balboa after a boxing match.

[pp4mnklinux]

Hello:

It is important organice your cpu to mantein it cooler, but what is your opinión about no fans (no noise) and open you CPU?

My experience is if fans are no correctly located, there is no benefict over open cpu, but there is less noise.

What is your idea?

Have a nice day.

[bigpup]

General air flow, inside a desktop computer case, is the main thing to consider.

The CPU fan, if properly mounted and kept clean, is going to do it's job.

But keeping anything from blocking air flow in and out of the case, is important.

Usually, there is an exhaust fan, pulling hot air out of the case and fresh air inlet slots, to let fresh air into the case.
The power supply fan could be providing this.

If you have an add on graphics card, that has fans to cool it.

Making sure the hot air those fans produce, has a good way to exit the case.

The amount of hot air the large graphics cards could produce, can cause the need to have an added exhaust fan, mounted on the side panel of the case, in area of graphics card location.

[tammi806]

My desktop gets dusted once a year with short blasts of air.
I remove the side cover and from the inside out blow out the dust.
Since the desktop is disconnected I also blow the dust out of the keyboard and mouse.
It's amazing how much dust can accumulate in everything throughout the year.

[p310don]

My home computer was starting to chug a bit so opened it up and lo and behold, shag carpet on the cooler.

This is AMD FX-8320 which runs pretty hot at the best of times. With the carpet on the cooler, it was really cooking. The sensors readout has gone from 45 degrees to 12-13 degrees. I don't think this number is actually accurate, seeing as though the room temp here is 30 degrees!

[wizard]

Can use to make a sweater

Thanks
wizard

[p310don]

Can use to make a sweater

Ironically if I hadn't cleaned it, I wouldn't need a sweater, it warmed the room nicely...

[Doggy]

I make it a habit to regularly clean my PC, including the fans, because I've seen firsthand the impact it can have on temperature and noise levels.

At our office in Lafayette, we take it a step further. We have a cleaning service, Going Green Cleaning, that comes in weekly to make sure all our workstations are kept tidy while we clean the PCs. We like this company because they also clean our monitors and keyboards. I don't know if other companies do that.

And every couple of months, we schedule a deep clean session where we meticulously clean the fans, circuit boards, and all internal components. It's amazing how much dust and debris can accumulate over time.

[sonny]

To kill two birds with one stone...

Don't forget to clean the old/dry thermal paste on your
CPU and heatsink, then apply the fresh one

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[amethyst]

Had a quick clean of the old desktop's fans this morning as machine was running too hot. Immediate drop in temperature of up to 20 degrees.

[mikewalsh]

The big HP desktop rig got its annual spring-clean week before last. It's astonishing just how much in the way of dust/fluff and general crap accumulates inside a computer tower over the course of a year....

I've replaced the CPU fan; the stock Intel cooler's fan was starting to squeal occasionally. Initially, I intended to re-oil the bearings, but it proved to be a sealed-unit affair.....no access to the bearings at all. So she's been replaced with a Thermalright TL-B8W, which screwed straight on to the heatsink mounting holes without any fuss.....and is super-quiet. With this and the spring-clean, CPU temps have dropped back down to low-to-mid 30s; they weren't that high even so, though they had crept up a few degrees from this time last year.....low 40s.

I'm happier with it where it is.

Mike.

[tammi806]

The big HP desktop rig got its annual spring-clean week before last. It's astonishing just how much in the way of dust/fluff and general crap accumulates inside a computer tower over the course of a year....

I've replaced the CPU fan; the stock Intel cooler's fan was starting to squeal occasionally. Initially, I intended to re-oil the bearings, but it proved to be a sealed-unit affair.....no access to the bearings at all. So she's been replaced with a Thermalright TL-B8W, which screwed straight on to the heatsink mounting holes without any fuss.....and is super-quiet. With this and the spring-clean, CPU temps have dropped back down to low-to-mid 30s; they weren't that high even so, though they had crept up a few degrees from this time last year.....low 40s.

I'm happier with it where it is.

Mike.

Yeah I have my son blast mine desktops out with the air compressor once a year and it is amazing how much dust etc gathers inside where one would not imagine.

Back in the days of single core processors I remember having to oil fans and seems they ran quite a high RPM so yeah the bearings ran dry and had to be oiled made them last for years.

Now fans are so cheap cost wise and are actually better as to moving a hell of a lot more CFM at a slower quieter RPM.

I still remember the big old Dell heat Sink and fans 120mm with the big shrouds around them kept them processors real cool.