Age old, tried and tested, compressed air is a safe, easy way of cleaning your PC components. Available from most stationary and hardware shops, compressed air in a can is cheap and easy to use.<\/p>\n
Often shipping with a long nozzle allowing you to spray hard to reach places, compressed air is easy enough to use. When using it however, make sure the PC is off and unplugged, and try use small targeted blasts of air rather than depressing the nozzle and spraying all over the place.<\/p>\n
If you have removed components such as RAM or the graphics card, make sure you clean the slots first, then cover them up to prevent air-born dust settling on them as this could cause poor connection or shorting after you\u2019ve re-seated the components.<\/p>\n
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Anti-static cloth<\/strong><\/p>\n Compressed air will often leave a layer of stubborn dust on the back of motherboards, graphics cards, even hard drives. For these situations, anti static cloths are best. Wiping the dry cloth over the back of components will remove tough layers of dust without running the risk of shorting out your components with static electricity.<\/p>\n Water<\/strong><\/p>\n Good old fashioned water is great for cooling components, where dust build-up is usually worst. Removing CPU and graphics card heatsinks and washing them off with warm water is the most thorough method for eliminating dust.<\/p>\n Cleaning products such as soap are unnecessary when faced with dust and often a bowl of warm water and a cloth will do the trick.<\/p>\n In the event that you have a water cooling system with radiators, place the radiators under a high pressure hose to loosen the dust between the blades. A word of warning, water will often remain between the fins of the radiator, and leaving it out to dry will take quite a while.<\/p>\n Swinging the radiator around, combined with a few short, sharp flicks should dislodge most of the water.<\/p>\n Earbuds<\/strong><\/p>\n For the more pedantic gamers out there, earbuds work well when cleaning hard to reach places. Pay particular attention to RAM slots, PCIe slots and unused sata ports as dust tends to build up in these areas and can affect your components.<\/p>\n Cleaning CPU thermal paste<\/strong><\/p>\n For those who find themselves in this position, cleaning thermal paste off a CPU or GPU is easy enough. Wipe away at the gel with a piece of tissue paper to removed the bulk of it, then apply rubbing alcohol, Mr. Min or any other cleaning product to an anti-static cloth and wipe away the remainder of the paste. Earbuds also work for the more fastidious with time on their hands.<\/p>\n Things you really shouldn\u2019t do<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n There are some cleaning techniques that might seem like a good idea at the time; however these should be avoided if you value your hardware.<\/p>\n The hairdryer:<\/strong> Using a hairdryer on any heat setting is bad for your components, as heating targeted areas while cleaning can potentially damage components. If your hairdryer has a cool setting (where the heating element isn’t used at all), it should be safe to use; but with compressed air working even better there is very little point to this.<\/p>\n The Leaf blower:<\/strong> Too much power; you run the risk of damaging your components with the force of the air. Not worth the risk.<\/p>\n The petrol station compressed air tyre pump:<\/strong> The compressed air that comes out of a petrol station tyre pump may be moist; condensed moisture on your hardware is bad for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n Static electricity:<\/strong> Using a normal cloth to wipe down components will result in a static electric charge forming, and this can be bad for components. It’s not guaranteed to kill your GPU, but there is no need to find out if it will.<\/p>\n The CPU socket:<\/strong> Make sure this is covered at all times when cleaning your board. CPU sockets are notoriously difficult to clean. Furthermore, the pins on Intel systems are located in the socket itself are extremely delicate.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/dirty_computer_2_608947631.jpg\")
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