Unwina
Silver Level Poster
Today I noticed that my CPU temperature, as measured by AI Suite had risen recently to 50c, not that high I know, but I was only pushing about 12% CPU on on an i7 2600k (overclock not activated). I closed chrome (I usually have in excess of 70 tabs in various screens open all the while) and it dropped a degree or 2, ran probe and it jumped up to 70c. after checking some of my monitor sessions it seemed the static level for my PC use had increased by about 10 degrees.
Upon investigating the insides I noticed the Coolit ALC radiator was blocked with dust on the intake side (from the inside). Now heres the thing I cleaned this gently with the plastic brush attachment and other internal areas where the dust seemed to have settled - not that much compared to other rigs I have had previously. I restarted the system back the temps have almost dropped back to those of when it was delivered. (40-42c when idle but with open windows)
I was happy with this until I noticed elsewhere on here that others had had similar experiences. I have had my rig for nearly a year and its the first time I have noticed the increase in temps and hence this dust blocking issue. So I wondered what the consensus might be for the following questions.
1. How often should I clean the rig like this and in particular the radiator inlet fins? (Note I hoover the outside vents every couple of weeks.
2. What's the best way - Plastic brush head on hoover or Air blasting. See 3
3. If air blasting does one blast the dust through the fins to the outside of the rig or from the back into the rig. My air flow is inside to outside.
Both these seem a bit iffy in that
a. I would have thought that through the fin requires considerable air blast pressure and since there are a lot of fins in the rad could be very expensive.
b. Also from the outside / in would simply result in dust being blasted back into the rig and make its way into the fins again and potentially quicker.
What do people think?
Upon investigating the insides I noticed the Coolit ALC radiator was blocked with dust on the intake side (from the inside). Now heres the thing I cleaned this gently with the plastic brush attachment and other internal areas where the dust seemed to have settled - not that much compared to other rigs I have had previously. I restarted the system back the temps have almost dropped back to those of when it was delivered. (40-42c when idle but with open windows)
I was happy with this until I noticed elsewhere on here that others had had similar experiences. I have had my rig for nearly a year and its the first time I have noticed the increase in temps and hence this dust blocking issue. So I wondered what the consensus might be for the following questions.
1. How often should I clean the rig like this and in particular the radiator inlet fins? (Note I hoover the outside vents every couple of weeks.
2. What's the best way - Plastic brush head on hoover or Air blasting. See 3
3. If air blasting does one blast the dust through the fins to the outside of the rig or from the back into the rig. My air flow is inside to outside.
Both these seem a bit iffy in that
a. I would have thought that through the fin requires considerable air blast pressure and since there are a lot of fins in the rad could be very expensive.
b. Also from the outside / in would simply result in dust being blasted back into the rig and make its way into the fins again and potentially quicker.
What do people think?
