Rant: I used to just blow dust out with canned air until a client's gaming rig kept overheating

Switched to a $60 electric duster and a soft brush to actually loosen the caked-on stuff first, and temps dropped 15 degrees. Anyone else find that canned air just moves the problem around?

3 comments

3 Comments

lisa_bennett2mo ago

Yeah, the "moves the problem around" part is too real. I used to just blast my own PC and wonder why it sounded like a jet engine again two days later. Turns out I was just redecorating the inside of the case with a finer layer of dust.

stellaj702mo ago

Wait, is it really that big a deal, @lisa_bennett?

richardk264d ago

And once that fine layer builds up it traps heat way worse than the big clumps do, because it fills in all the little gaps between the fins. Soft brush first is the only way to go, especially on GPU coolers where the dust gets packed in tight. Canned air just blasts the easy stuff loose and leaves the sticky residue behind to keep causing problems.