After suffering FPS woes and just general instability and after much file cleaning, spyware zapping, prefetch cleaning, head scratching and tantric meditation, all to little avail; I opened up my computer case, chased away the herds of dust bunnies, and scrubbed the thick layer of grime from my boards, and...at LEAST a 5 FPS boost, (averaging probably more). So the moral of my story is: "Cleanliness is next to goodframerateliness".Best regards,Erik

I just taught several classes to seniors about general computer use and maintanence and I really tried to impress upon them how important it is to clean out your case every once in a while. Some of them have called me to tell me how many inches of dust they found inside their cases. :-) Dust will kill a PC, at first it slows down due to the parts becoming hotter and eventually it will fail from the increased heat. I beg everyone, please clean out your PC at least once a year, you will not regret it!Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

I'd recommend every 6 months at least if you have case fans - I have 2 - both 25mm fans, one blows into the computer right on to the motherboard, the other blows back out, the dust builds up rather quickly because of that. My power supplies vents where the air comes in were completely blocked buy dust - just took the vacuum in for 10 minutes and all was good.

That is excellent advice but I suffer from a problem:Im absolutely *terrified* of opening my case up! :(Im hyper about messing something up! I guess I need that anti-static wrist-strap thingy....and is there a way to use the compressed air blast....like if you blast the mobo will it harm anything...etc etc...I know I need to clean the fans though!

I know the feeling Throttleup. Took me the first couple of times to get used to diggin' in there. What you can do if you don't have a wrist strap is turn off PC, unplug PC, open side case, then place your hand on the bear metal frame inside. That should discharge any static you might have built up walking on carpet, etc., You don't need to keep your hand there. Only if you walk away and then return just touch the chassis again.I use a combo of air blast and a small nozzle vacume cleaner at the same time. No need to blow all that dust into the air!

A word of caution though - don't use your household vacuum cleaner anywhere near the inside of your computer. The plastic of a normal vacuum cleaner built up a huge static charge which can zap some of your components. For some reason CD/DVD units are particularly vulnerable - as I found to my cost.

Case in point, I know someone who went to turn off his computer while vacuuming the house, and zapped the computer with an arc of electricity as a result...

Canned air is definitely the way to go. I wouldn't worry about opening the case - you'd have to be really clumsy to damage something inside without touching it and you don't need to. Just don't hold the can upside down when you spray or your mobo will probably crack from the cold :-lol

Unfortunately, there is no way to really clean out a case without opening it. You need to blow the air off the fans/components and out of the case. This is especially true with the power supply - don't just blow the dust off the fan back into the PSU. Take a can of compressed air and blow the dust out of the power supply and fans through the fan opening(s) and into the room. There is no problem with harming anything from the air blast. Just don't start touching all the "stuff" inside :-) . The compressed air cans come with a nozzle about 6 inches long and that's more than enough to let you get to the dust without your hands touching anything. No wrist strap required for this job. And the Dell cases are really easy to get open - just follow the directions in your manual.Doug

I wonder why case manufacturers don't address this issue when designing cases. This dust problem has been in existence for years. You'd think they would have solved it by now.Maybe place dust filters around/behind fan intakes and make the case more air-tight. I can't see that adding that much to the cost of a case. Besides, I would imagine the marketing success alone, "Dust Free Case", can make up for all the cost.

Actually the better case makers do design their cases to reduce the amount of dust build up by the way they design the airflow, but this only helps a bit. My Antec case has something of a filter between the plastic and the metal on the front of my case. Sadly they can not get too serious with filters because they plug up too quickly and reduce airflow thus over heating the computer. Most people do not know to clean their computers so adding a filter would only make things worse. A word to those of you that use compressed air, try to take the case outside when you use compressed air, you are just blowing the dust into the air and it will eventually end up back in your computer. The cleaner the room, the cleaner the computer. Using a vacuum in conjunction with the compressed air is good but it is better to just take the case outside for cleaning if you can. I don't think that I have to say this but I will, please do not take your case out for cleaning on a rainy day. :-)Take care you all!Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

Thank you all very much for all your PC-cleaning advice! I have taken note of everything beleive me! :)ThrottleUp is grateful :)Yes that is correct the Dell case is very easy to pop open...just a couple of latches!I need to go get a can of compressed air and then once the wifey has gone shopping I shall get to work! (If she sees me open up our PC she will screech)

I installed a dust filter for the 120mm fan back when I had an ATX case. Amazing how quickly it got clogged up with dust - I had to remove the filter and clean it at least once every 2 weeks otherwise the fan would just create a vacuum against the filter and do no good.Another thing that really helps is to *not* place the computer on the floor but rather on the desk. Not so easy with those noisy and big tower cases which is why I got a Shuttle = much less noise and dust :)BTW this thread needs to go into the Hardware section :-lolNevin - get a can that comes with one of those small extended nozzles. Makes it much easier to reach some places. Also, take the opportunity to look inside the PC to learn what the most important things are and what they look like (mobo, videocard, CPU, RAM sticks, harddrive etc.). You may want to replace that X300 videocard with something faster some day as it's really holding your system back in terms of gaming performance.

Great Advice about turning off, then unplugging, but yoiu are forgetting the MOST IMPORTANT STEP, in my opinion.1) Shut Down2) Turn Off3) Unplug Cord from back4) **Press ON button** to discharge any leftover in the PSU, watch your light blink quick in front. :-) Then turn off, and you're good to go.5) Touch non painted section of case with hand prior to touching anything else.6) Vacuum works fine, over Regards,JoeGrab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]

------------------------------------------------------------------------You may want to replace that X300 videocard with something faster some day as it's really holding your system back in terms of gaming performance.------------------------------------------------------------------------Yea youre right :( I should have paid more attention to the vidcard when I ordered this PC!I *badly* wanna upgrade! My aunt gifted me some money and I think Im gonna throw it at a new vidcard.Although I know I've got my research cut out for me! I have no idea what to ugrade to. And you think Im terrified of opening my computer case....if I get a new vidcard I will have to yank out the old one and slot in the new one!http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/contrib/dday/shocked.gifIm just scared of being a clumsy oaf and battering something fragile http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/cwm/cwm/eek3.gifBTW thanks for the info on the comp-air can nozzle, will remember that when I go get the thing!_____________________________________________________________________----------------------------------------------------------------------**Press ON button** to discharge any leftover in the PSU, watch your light blink quick in front. Then turn off, and you're good to go.----------------------------------------------------------------------That is great advice! I hadn't thought of that :)