I am not a tech person, but I cleaned out my secondhand PC today, and it took hours with the sheer amount of dust accumulation. The fans were nearly overloaded with it!!

Does a clean PC run better / faster than one filled with dust? Or is it more a matter of keeping the fans running easily? Or something else…? Idk, maybe I imagined it, but it seemed to boot much faster after cleaning. Could be wishful thinking!

  • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyzOP
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    3 months ago

    WHOA!

    Removing that nearly entire bucket of dust feels justified now! Makes me happy I wasn’t just wasting my time. Thank you!

          • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyzOP
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            3 months ago

            Looking into my trash, it’s more like half a bucket, the other half being crumpled paper towels.

            Sadly, I only remembered to take a single one before the process started. You can see an alarming amount of dust on certain parts if you look closely.

            Warning for tech-gore, maybe? Again, I’m not a tech person. The back has always been partially open. This was built by someone else, and it’s… probably not standard.

            • Wow that is… Magnificent! I’m glad you de-dusted it but I’d be more worried about cables becoming disconnected while you’re trying to clean it.

              Glad it worked out for you though! Fingers crossed it continues to work🤗

              FYI the PSU box with those black shielded power cables is meant to fit internally in the big hole at the top 🤣
              I usually use compressed air to clean the dust out of my cases. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could slide that side panel off and attempt to re-home the PSU inside the case.👌🤣

              • [email protected]@sh.itjust.works
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                3 months ago

                the PSU box

                Aye, forget the dust, this whole rig with the PSU hanging out is sketchy af. Also, the barely hanging expansion slot cover, waiting to short something with the slightest bump is also a nice touch.

                  • [email protected]@sh.itjust.works
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                    3 months ago

                    The PSU is sketch but likely fine. I’m more worried about the expansion slot cover that’s barely hanging.
                    I have an old pic somewhere of an old Frankenstein PC with the case cut with tin snips to fit a bigger GPU. It also had an external PSU for a while, although I did add a ground wire between the PSU and case. I’ll see if I can find it.

              • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyzOP
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                3 months ago

                Oh, I labeled the cords & disconnected them to clean. Slid the side off to give everything a thorough shine!

                Problem is: this cables connect to this big ho (which I also had to clean very very heavily).

                • Ziglin@lemmy.world
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                  27 days ago

                  It’s meant to be right behind/in the big rectangular hole. It should have some screw holes on the side where it connects to the outlet (likely also has a power switch) that match up with the ones in the case. It looks like there’s an optical drive in the way though. If you like I can try my best to circle them for you.

                  I’d love (hate) to see the computer with the side panel open.

                  • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyzOP
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                    27 days ago

                    Fan too big. ):

                    Tbf, I did not build this. A friend did and then sold it to me for a good price! Can’t complain. It’s run pretty good for 6+ years. Though I guess I have no point of comparison.