General PC question Do you use a front case dust filter?

TairikuOkami · Nov 20, 2021

Slavic said:
The less air flow inside PC case, the less dust it collects.

I would say that quite the opposite, unless you have an enclosed case. An airflow helps to keep most dust away. But I would love to have a PC within an aquarium filled with an oil, great look, no dust, just being unable to replace any components, like ever, lol.

Cliff S said:
Steve on Gamers Nexus has said more fans, equals less RPMs needed to cool, equals less overall noise levels

Indeed, I have my 4 fans set to 700rpm and you can not tell, if the PC is ON or OFF, it is so quiet.

Slavic · Nov 20, 2021

TairikuOkami said:
I would say that quite the opposite, unless you have an enclosed case. An airflow helps to keep most dust away. But I would love to have a PC within an aquarium filled with an oil, great look, no dust, just being unable to replace any components, like ever, lol.

Indeed, I have my 4 fans set to 700rpm and you can not tell, if the PC is ON or OFF, it is so quiet.

With respect to your opinion, I cannot completely agree. Imagine two extreme points:

No fans = no air flow = no good cooling, no dust at all because no access inside the PC case, no noise
Vacuum cleaner-like fans = very strong air flow = excellent cooling, all dust is removed with air flow, great noise

Between two points, obviously, should exist a transition zone like a curve function of air flow - dust collection with a point of maximum collecting, were dust income is much more than taking out (the main purpose of typical PC fan is still to cool the device, not to move the dust with strong flow). So, there should be two slopes on this curve. I prefer to be on the left side with as low noise as possible; you apparently are on the another side of curve, right of maximum, where dust is being removed more efficiently for a price of stronger noise. Both approaches may exist, of course.

TairikuOkami · Nov 20, 2021

Slavic said:
you apparently are on the another side of curve, right of maximum, where dust is being removed more efficiently for a price of stronger noise. Both approaches may exist, of course.

Well I have no noise, none, I can not stand any, I have a silent mouse/keyboard for that reason alone, even though Logitech would be better for gaming. My temps are great in comparison. Even my PSU has a dust filter, but I bought a stronger one and since my PC takes 100-300W, it hardly ever starts the fan. The only noise comes from GPU when it runs at 100%, so I limit FPS to prevent that.

glasskuter · Nov 20, 2021

Ghot said:
Welcome to dust filter heaven...

WHOA!!!

BunnyJ · Nov 20, 2021

FWIW.. I just keep my PC clean by cleaning it out once or twice a month. A good blow out with a compressed air can gets rid of all of the dust.

And to keep the PC/CPU cool I have to intake case fans and two exhaust fans.,. all are 120mm.

ShamrockRig · Nov 20, 2021

Slavic said:
With respect to your opinion, I cannot completely agree. Imagine two extreme points:

No fans = no air flow = no good cooling, no dust at all because no access inside the PC case, no noise
Vacuum cleaner-like fans = very strong air flow = excellent cooling, all dust is removed with air flow, great noise

Between two points, obviously, should exist a transition zone like a curve function of air flow - dust collection with a point of maximum collecting, were dust income is much more than taking out (the main purpose of typical PC fan is still to cool the device, not to move the dust with strong flow). So, there should be two slopes on this curve. I prefer to be on the left side with as low noise as possible; you apparently are on the another side of curve, right of maximum, where dust is being removed more efficiently for a price of stronger noise. Both approaches may exist, of course.

What computer have you ever bought that had 0 fans and 0 cooling at all? That was in a case and not mounted on a wall or something xD

Slavic · Nov 20, 2021

TairikuOkami said:
Well I have no noise, none, I can not stand any, I have a silent mouse/keyboard for that reason alone, even though Logitech would be better for gaming. My temps are great in comparison. Even my PSU has a dust filter, but I bought a stronger one and since my PC takes 100-300W, it hardly ever starts the fan. The only noise comes from GPU when it runs at 100%, so I limit FPS to prevent that.

Good temperatures, similar or even lower than in my PC.
If I had the same PC like your, I would start from switching off extra fans one-by-one and checking the results. Maybe some of them are less important than others and could be permanently removed without noticeable consequences.

I don't ask you to perform such experiments, these are only my thoughts aloud :)

Slavic · Nov 20, 2021

Devlin1888 said:
What computer have you ever bought that had 0 fans and 0 cooling at all? That was in a case and not mounted on a wall or something xD

Some small PCs may have the natural (fanless) cooling. Sorry, I cannot give you the link right now, but they definitely exist.

Dru2 · Nov 20, 2021

My case has two 200mm fans covered by a front mesh....

My maintenance habits has me opening the case at least twice a year and going through it with a can of dust off and a dust brush. This also affords me the opportunity to check cable connections and my AIO cooler for leaks.

BTW, the case (Cooler Master H500M) also includes an optional front glass panel (along with the mesh panel), but I don't use the glass panel as it'll restrict air, going against why I bought the case.

That's me

glasskuter · Nov 20, 2021

@Dru2 you have a spaceship whereas I have a plain old stock Dell. Beautiful machine you've got.

Wynona · Nov 20, 2021

Slavic said:
Sorry if a bit off-topic, but I am not a fan of PC fans (pun intended). My approach is, the less fans PC has, the better, so I don't have any dust filter on the front panel as well as a frontal fan. My PC has only 3 fans, on CPU, on video card and PSU, but two last don't rotate when a performance is low. CPU fan works mostly with minimum possible RPM (200...250), so it's almost silent. Video and PSU are also switched to silent mode.

The less air flow inside PC case, the less dust it collects. Still, I need to clean time to time the case and especially CPU cooler using vacuum cleaner, about once a 2-3 months. Sure, if you use PC very intensively, my approach may be not very useful, but anyway...

The first, and only, time I used a vacuum cleaner on a PC, I sucked off some of the jumpers! Had to send it out for repair! Boss wasn't happy with me!

Fans (both intake and output) are in our computers for a reason; they keep it from overheating. Reducing the number of fans in a system that came with them installed isn't something I would ever recommend, because of possible overheating.

Instead, I recommend opening the computer up periodically to be sure it isn't full of dust. Much safer than having an overheating PC. And, I recommend gently brushing the dust away or using canned air instead of vacuuming it. Even PC vacuums are dangerous in the "wrong hands".

PerpetualCycle · Nov 20, 2021

I use the filters that came with the Fractal Design Meshify 2 case. They are not a fine mesh so small dust particles can enter. Front has 3 120mm fans pulling air in through a 360mm radiator. One exhaust fan in rear. Top of the case is open mesh filter exhausts air - I have a good positive case pressure that keeps dust out except for the front intake. Clean once a month or 2.

Dch48 · Nov 20, 2021

My case has a front fan with a built in dust filter. I think I have cleaned the filter twice in 7 years. We don't have much dust here. My latest project build is using an old eMachines case with no intake or exhaust fans. Just the CPU, GPU, and power supply ones and it has no temperature issues even when gaming. Fans are overrated.

Wisewiz · Nov 20, 2021

Wynona said:
The first, and only, time I used a vacuum cleaner on a PC, I sucked off some of the jumpers! Had to send it out for repair! Boss wasn't happy with me!

I recommend gently brushing the dust away or using canned air instead of vacuuming it.

Not arguing, Wynona; just sayin': Even the softest brush used in even the gentlest way can dislodge delicate connections. And canned air is expensive (for air!) and the power isn't controllable. A much better tool is a good quality hair dryer with a speed control (lo/med/hi) and a no-heat switch. My wife's and mine both fit that category, and I blow out all of my machines at the beginning of spring and the end of fall, when I can do the job on the deck outside (without freezing), instead of blowing the accumulated dust back into the house. Try it; you'll like it!

Another notion I picked up somewhere is that if you stabilize the fins on your fans before you blow on them, you don't run the risk of damaging bearings when the wind hits the fan. I use a carefully inserted twist-tie for each fan, so the blades don't move.

Dan

ShamrockRig · Nov 20, 2021

Slavic said:
Some small PCs may have the natural (fanless) cooling. Sorry, I cannot give you the link right now, but they definitely exist.

That would be Passive Cooling which in turn is still a cooling method, Fanless yes but its still cooling

Superfly · Nov 20, 2021

Devlin1888 said:
That would be Passive Cooling which in turn is still a cooling method, Fanless yes but its still cooling

Yeah, the case is a heatsink - a real hot potato..

.. my fans are running at 1200 rpm (the quiet mode in Gigabyte's fan control thingy ) but I don't hear them... why others need to be half that IDK .. the way I see it, the faster the fans rpm the more dust gets dissipated, not so??

Winuser · Nov 20, 2021

Wisewiz said:
Not arguing, Wynona; just sayin': Even the softest brush used in even the gentlest way can dislodge delicate connections. And canned air is expensive (for air!) and the power isn't controllable. A much better tool is a good quality hair dryer with a speed control (lo/med/hi) and a no-heat switch. My wife's and mine both fit that category, and I blow out all of my machines at the beginning of spring and the end of fall, when I can do the job on the deck outside (without freezing), instead of blowing the accumulated dust back into the house. Try it; you'll like it!

Another notion I picked up somewhere is that if you stabilize the fins on your fans before you blow on them, you don't run the risk of damaging bearings when the wind hits the fan. I use a carefully inserted twist-tie for each fan, so the blades don't move.

Dan

You do know it's compressed gas and not compressed air?

Wisewiz · Nov 20, 2021

Winuser said:
You do know it's compressed gas and not compressed air?

Yep. No doubt about it. It's still a blast of pressurized gas that's not controllable. And why would we want to "gas" our motherboards anyway? I think it's against the Geneva Convention.

altae · Nov 20, 2021

I use the dust filters that came with my case (Corsair 750D) and clean them once a month using an electric dust remover. From time to time I also check the interior of the PC and give it a good cleaning too.

Wynona · Nov 20, 2021

Wisewiz said:
Not arguing, Wynona; just sayin': Even the softest brush used in even the gentlest way can dislodge delicate connections. And canned air is expensive (for air!) and the power isn't controllable. A much better tool is a good quality hair dryer with a speed control (lo/med/hi) and a no-heat switch. My wife's and mine both fit that category, and I blow out all of my machines at the beginning of spring and the end of fall, when I can do the job on the deck outside (without freezing), instead of blowing the accumulated dust back into the house. Try it; you'll like it!

Another notion I picked up somewhere is that if you stabilize the fins on your fans before you blow on them, you don't run the risk of damaging bearings when the wind hits the fan. I use a carefully inserted twist-tie for each fan, so the blades don't move.

Dan

Good information, Dan.

I've always gone outside to blow the dust out of something I'm working on. When I was actively working on computers, I had one that was so dusty it looked like it had on a fur coat! And don't get me started on the ones that came from a smoker's house!

At any rate, when I blow one out, I stand well back to control just how hard the air hits the fan. But the hair dryer sounds lots better.

Have you noticed there aren't as many jumpers inside the box as there used to be?