Cleaned my CPU cooler and dropped temps by 18 degrees for free

I was having random shutdowns on my old gaming rig for months. Finally took the cooler off and there was a solid quarter inch of dust caked between the fins. A can of compressed air and a soft brush cost me maybe $4 total and now my idle temp dropped from 62C to 44C. Has anyone else seen that big a difference just from cleaning dust out of their tower?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendy6748d ago

Yeah that "solid quarter inch of dust" part really hit home. My buddy had a similar thing happen with his old prebuilt tower, he was complaining about it sounding like a jet engine for months. I went over to help him move and we popped the side panel off, there was so much dust inside it looked like a freaking carpet had grown on the bottom of the case. We blew it all out with his leaf blower (like a madman, but it worked) and his temps dropped almost 15 degrees, he couldn't believe it was that simple.

valwest8d ago

Leaf blower is a classic move, man. I've done it with an air compressor myself, but you gotta watch for spinning fans. People don't realize how much airflow just stops because of that gunk. A can of compressed air is a joke for that kind of buildup. Fifteen degree drop is insane, shows how easy it is to fix.