Cleaning the PC is necessary to prolong its useful life. If we don’t, problems will soon appear. We help you clean your PC.
This question has been asked by all of us who have a PC at some time. In fact, we often ask ourselves this when we have not cleaned our PC for a while. Do not feel guilty because you are not irresponsible , we know that it is very lazy to disassemble the entire box and clean component by component.
We give you the best tips to guide you on how often you have to clean your computer. Let’s get started!
Why clean my PC?
The first question that assails us is why do we have to clean it? Mainly, for various reasons that will dispel that doubt in a “pis pas”.
Temperature
First of all, to reduce temperatures. It is true that our components are prepared to work at high temperatures, but not constantly. That is, one thing is that we are playing a video game such as Tarkov and our processor is at 60 degrees.
When we close the game, it will not be at that temperature, but at about 30 to 40 degrees . This is because the processor sweats when we put it to work. If we don’t do good maintenance , those temperatures will rise inappropriately. When before we loaded him with work and it went up to 60 degrees, now it goes up to 70 degrees .
Why does this happen? Because dust takes over the fans , clogging them and reducing air flow. This causes the heatsink, graphics, or case fans to not dissipate heat as they should. Not enough heat is expelled from the case and there is a knock-on effect: performance drop.
“But I do not understand. All my fans are clean Why does my processor keep running at high temperatures? »
A priori, for 4 reasons :
- The case is not well ventilated , either because fans are missing or because the case is not good.
- Thermal paste is usually the main culprit. Not only does it work to clean the fans, you have to change the thermal paste every 6 or 12 months.
- Heatsink, not too good. A non-stock heatsink that costs € 30 solves your life.
- The outside temperature is high. Summers are treacherous, so it’s normal for your processors to get hotter.
Performance
Why does the processor’s performance drop when the temperature rises? Because many modern processors incorporate technologies aimed at preserving their state or health.
Earlier we said that the more I work, the more temperature. By following this rule, the processor “takes care of itself” by lowering performance to bring down the temperature. This phenomenon is called Thermal trottling .
How hot does my processor have to be for Thermal Trottling? It depends on the processor, but, as a general rule, it is usually when the CPU exceeds 65º Celsius.
In conclusion, when our components exceed a certain temperature, their performance is reduced, which means greater wear.
Hygiene
If you are allergic to dust mites or dust , turn off and let’s go. It is very important to have clean and disinfected equipment so as not to have dust all over the room, which is difficult to achieve.
We champion the hygiene of the equipment , be it the keyboard, mouse, monitor, cabling or the entire PC case. To enjoy our computer 100% we must take maximum care of it. If not, look at what happens to car lovers. Do you know the money they invest to get their machines ready? The same thing happens here, but on a smaller scale.
PC lifespan
Finally, summarize the 3 previous points in one only: extend its useful life. If we don’t keep our team, it won’t last as long as we had predicted. The maintenance of a PC is very cheap, so I urge you to do every so often because your computer will thank you .
Especially the graphics card and the processor, two components that give an amazing change after a good cleaning.
Tips for cleaning PC
In the event that you have decided to clean your PC, we are going to offer you some very simple tips that can make a significant change to your performance.
The 6-month rule
It has always been said that you have to clean your PC every 6 to 3 months, 1 time a month or 1 time a year. Personally, they are very general measures that do not attend to the specific case. There are many factors that will lead us to clean it before or after those periods of time.
For example, the cleanliness of the environment or the room in which the computer is located has a great influence . If we live in a dirty place, the computer is going to get dust like there is no tomorrow. If it is in a hygienic place, it will take longer to collect dust.
On the other hand, if the computer is brand new, it is not necessary to clean it once a month, for example. It is pointless to do so because the fans will be pristine for 3 months or more.
We must also attend to the box that we have. If it is a very cheap one, it will not have good ventilation, no dust filters, or any system that tries to repel dust. In this way, we will have to clean it frequently. If it is a very well ventilated box with a large airtight system, it will not require as much maintenance.
In short, examine your tower, observing the dust on the fans, components, etc. If you find dust in the box, but there is nothing in the components, blow it with compressed air. Better safe , than sorry. It may take 6 months and your box is without any dust, although it is difficult to pass.
Replace thermal paste annually
I agree to this rule. Thermal paste is very important in reducing the temperature of the processor or graphics card. Therefore, we recommend replacing the thermal paste once a year to properly maintain our processor.
Don’t buy Chinese thermal paste , please. In the spirit of experimenting, I bought a pack of 5 tubes of thermal paste and my processor was around 80 degrees . You don’t have to buy the best thermal paste on the market , but you can spend around 7 or 8 euros . It is not money compared to what you receive in return. Read also 5 best data recovery tools.
Buy a good Case
You will save time and money buying a good box from the beginning, than doing the opposite. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money, like € 150, for a good box. We can find them for € 50, for example.
How do I know it’s a good box? It must meet the following characteristics:
- Dust filters. It would be advisable to have at least two: one above and one below. You can find some that have another on the front grill.
- Fans or space for them. From my point of view, you should have three fans , at least. In my case, I have a Nox Hummer Zx that incorporates 2 at the front, 1 at the rear and incorporates a top bay to install a liquid cooling or two additional fans.
- Enough space. It is ideal that the air flows in the PC case, so I always recommend that there is enough space between components. That said, a factor of Mini-ITX form works perfectly, as long as we choose all the components.
TIP: Case fans are sometimes not very good, so take a look at the fans sold by Cooler Master , Noctua , NOX , Artic, or Corsair . In addition, they give a touch of illumination to your PCs.
TIP 2: When summer rolls around, re-program the fans to blow a little harder. We have to leave the box as cool as possible, expelling all the hot air. It is true that we will roast ourselves, but our PC will not.
Tools that you must have.
Whenever you go to clean PC it is advisable that you have the following:
- Brushes, for surface dust.
- Chopsticks, for embedded powder.
- Compressed air, to work faster.
- Alcohol, to moisten and disinfect.
- Screwdriver, to remove all the pieces and work comfortably.
- Vacuum cleaner (optional), so as not to leave a single gram of dust.
Estimated reading time: 08 Minutes