I've been asking a lot of people around lately about what measures they take to protect their computer - surge protectors, modems, firewalls but actually there's a bigger risk from something much much more obvious - dust.
You see, dust gets in all the nooks and crannies it can find inside your computer and tries to mess things up for you. It could cause all sorts of troubles overheating being a prime example. It could lead to chip death or even fires which, I presume you know, wouldn't be very healthy for your computer or you. Here's an example or two:
As far as CPU Air heatsinks go the almighty Noctua NH-D14 is about as good as you can get - no noise and stunning cooling ability. After just a week's worth of 24/7 usage, however you can see deposits of dust forming on the top of the fans' propellers - this can cause the fans to make more noise, spin at a slower speed and cause heat through friction.
Check out the outline of the fan's spokes on the heatsink!
So what can you do in order to keep your PC running happy, quick and quiet? For starters any holes on your case which have no fans on them and are not necessary for air to circulate properly inside the case and cool components should be blocked - anything from masking tape to noise insulation should do the trick. In true, awesome tradition "Here's one I prepared earlier!"
As you can see I've left only one intake fan on my side panel and blocked both other holes, one for a 200mm and the other for an extra 120 off. Notice the weird meshy pattern infront of the fan? Well that isn't just the black metal mesh of the case, that's an air filter. Air filters do one very simple thing - filter air. They trap dust particles with varying sizes depending on how dense the mesh on it is. They're vital for any intake fans on your case, exhausts are fine without them. If you don't wish to do the earlier and cover the holes entirely just use a fan filter instead - they sure work brilliantly if you've selected the right one. How to choose? Well it's always a mix between airflow and filtering ability so you really have to decide what you'd rather do - clean your case more often but have it as cool and quiet as possible or a more "Put on and leave it" sort of solution.
Did I say put on and leave it? Well my bad, you still better clean your fan filters because blockage may occur which would be quite bad for the airflow, here's an example:
So what am I trying to say? Well it's simple, really - Take care of your computer so it can take care of you.
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