My desktop PC was running suspicously slow so I ran the diagnostic program and saw the CPU temperature was rising to 90'C when working app's.
A quick look inside the PC enclosure, which normally sits on the timber floor under the desk, revealed a large build up of lint and dust. I took off the CPU fan and saw all the heatsink fins were covered or clogged.
After cleaning an reassembly the CPU is running under 50'C and happy.
It may be worthy to remember when you're next cleaning the radiator coils on your frigde or a/c to think if your PC is dirty as well, and liable to over heat, slow down or cause a more serious failure.
Cleaning computer cooling fans and power supplies
(3 posts) (3 voices)-
alfresco24
MemberPosted Tuesday 12 Jan 2010 @ 4:00:03 am from IP # -
Good point alf. I've had puters cook from too much lint in the past but had never thought that cleaning might also improve power consumption. I'm going to check the power hungry p4 machine my father uses as it seems to run the fan often.
Posted Tuesday 12 Jan 2010 @ 4:21:15 am from IP # -
Guys - Pentium 4 is a real power hog!
Your probably using upwards of 150w and you won't have an '80 Plus' efficient power supply which makes a hell of a difference. My old Pentium 4 D '945' used around 95w not including the warm air blasting out the back which raised room temp by about 5'C, and the temperature was in the area you guys mention.
Intel Core 2 & the new Core i5/i7 should run at less than 30'C unless your doing computations. My new Core i5 currently pulls around 80w and boosts up to 110w when I load something, then back to idle, it quietly moves cool air out the case.
You should also wipe dust away from the rear chassis fan(s), psu fan, and also keep the area around your case clean!
Posted Thursday 14 Jan 2010 @ 5:35:29 pm from IP #
