Cleaning PC without compressed air?

[CAaronD]

Recently my PC has been experiencing unusually high temperatures. I scanned for malware, as I thought it might have been some mining program or something in the background. But there was nothing.

Then I checked for dust, as I haven't cleaned my PC for one and a half years. And I found my CPU heatsink and generally the whole PC, was caked with dust.

Now, I don't have any compressed air canisters, and I am unable to go out and buy one, for certain reasons 😛
So uhh, any ideas? I've heard of using a high powered hair dryer??

Any replies are much appreciated, thanks.

 

[CAaronD]

Also, I've lost my tube of thermal paste, so uhhh. Am I done for?

 

[Gam3r01]

Just blowing on it with your mouth (dont breath back in though) should be enough to at least improve temps.
Thermal paste should really be an issue, just dont remove the cooler.

 

[CAaronD]

Thanks! Sounds like a plan! But won't the dust fly around and then settle back? Should I unplug my PC and bring it outdoors to do that?

 

[Lee-m]

A straw and many deep breaths is the poor mans compressed air

 

[Gam3r01]

You can bring it outside if you dont feel like vacuuming later.
Essentially you blow on it, the dust gets dislodged then settles in the case (usually on the GPU or PSU) then you do it again to blow the loose dust out. Maybe 1 or 2 more times and the system is essentially clean.

A straw is a good idea for the heatsink areas.^

 

[CAaronD]

Alright. Thanks so much for the help, guys! I'll give it a go now!

 

[SinxarKnights]

Grab some new thermal paste though, always nice to have around.

I use the smallest brush in a set like these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011ARI5IU/
They work great for tight spots and are super cheap and reusable. Generally you can get them for like a dollar in many stores in the US.

 

[CAaronD]

One hour of painstaking blowing, and I think I have a new computer, lol. I used a toothbrush to clean my CPU heatsink and it really seemed to work? I hope that was alright?

The temperatures really have dropped though. All my games now run 10-15C cooler on average. No longer sitting on 80c+ I had no idea that dust made that much of a difference!

Thanks so much for the help everybody!

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Or to stay really far away from the dust so you don't breathe it in, just use a really long straw.

 

[CAaronD]

Or to stay really far away from the dust so you don't breathe it in, just use a really long straw.

And to prevent unwanted lung complications xD

 

[Gam3r01]

Did you really make a reference to impractical jokers here...

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Yes, yes I did. It's the best show ever.