rig cleaning question

[Grimmy]

I know my rig needs to be cleaned out badly. My temps are starting to rise, but have been for a while. I have available to me what I call contact cleaner. Stuff that I use at work, that I can spray across live voltage to clean contacts, and it's nonconductive. When it comes out of the can, it is pretty cold. I am wondering if it would be safe to be able to cleam my mobo with this stuff. I know heat can hurt mobo parts, but what about cold stuff?? I don't want to ruin my proc because of this.

I probably only need to clean out my HS fan and the HS itself. I do smoke in the house and there is probably a nice film on things.

Just wondering about this before I do it and ruin something and then have a desktop that's broke till I can get replacement parts. Also, is there some sort of brush or something that I could scrub my mobo with and not have to worry about producint static electricity and frying a chip? Just thought of this tonight, and well IMO I think it would be a good thing, just don't know if they make something like this.

Thanks for the help. :thumbs:

[ME BIGGD01]

grimmy, while smake can cause some problems, pets are the worste. as for cleaning the system, i suggest shutting down the unit and bring it outside to make sure the dust leaves the house. clean all fans and since you have system open, slap some new heatsink compound under the processor heatsink. make sure you get that power supply also. anwhere you see a hole in the computer should be sprayed with the high pressure to open the pathway for air intake and out.

[JIMINATOR]

um, does this contact cleaner evaporate without leaving a residue?
if so, it should probably be fine. The issue though with spraying cold stuff is thermal contraction. You would not want to do it while the computer is running or if the system is hot. I can also see that a fluid stream would be a lot more forceful than
an air stream, and can potentially loosen stickers and other stuff like that.
Hell, it also might act as a solvent on any heatsink compound, something you may not
realize, except that now the system reboots more frequently...
for that last reason, i would have to say no.

[OUTLAWS Tip]

I clean my Antec fan filter screens every couple weeks. Take off the front cover and blow all the dust that accumulates in the front of the case. About once a year remove the heatsink and fan, clean out and re-apply the thermal paste. Cleaning the heatsink and fan seem to make the biggest difference and temp normally go down about 5c or so. Amazing how much crap gets into the heatsink. I take it apart and find it is very dirty. (Didn't look so bad till it is taken apart). Motherboard I just blow out with some compressed air. Outside of case I just use windex.
:)

[Grimmy]

Thanks for the tips guys. I thought about compressed air, but if there is a small film on the mobo, I'd like to get that off. Maybe run chips a little cooler and all without the film on there trapping the heat.

Jim to answer your question, yes, it evaporates and doesn't leave a residue. As far as loosening stickers, I don't see any at the moment on my mobo, maybe there are some that I can't see though. I do have a dog in the house as well, but have screens in front of my fans that IMO catch a lot, but still some gets through and after time, it accumulates.

How much PSI does a can of compressed air have? I'd like to remove my heatsink and reapply the thermal compound. Any tips on how to remove the existing compound off my proc? What to whipe it with, safe to use rubbing alchol?? Heatsink I plan on taking off and blasting with this contact cleaner that I have. (will have to spray some and try to get a temp reading on how cold it gets)

[JIMINATOR]

just be sure that if you hit any heat sinks, you probably need to reapply compound to all of them, like graphics card, chipset heatsink, etc. I doubt you will want to be spraying it within your psu....

[Fragetti]

Don’t not use contact cleaner! it may remove the epoxy coating on the mobo and other components that need to be insulated . if your going to use compressed air be sure to hold the can upright so liquid does not come out all over every thing. UNPLUG the rig before doing anything. And make sure its dry before turning it back on. A vacuum with a small brush works the best.
Frag