In Pictures: 40 Of The Dirtiest PCs You've Ever Seen

[beetlejuicegr]

I once did service to an old intel server, that pc was inside a small room and it was the server for the software to print cinema tickets. That room was also the hide place of the manager who used to go in there and smoke! While at the service, by seeing so much dust/fabrics/cigarette dust together, i had the inspiration to gather the dust before using blower, with a brush. I remember i was shocked because the rams were on horizontal position and on them and on the motherboard there were dunes of dust. It was long ago and i don't have pictures ..too bad.

I do have pics from laptops i did service , if only i could post here!

 

[Antias]

Picture 3 is just wrong.. simply wrong...

 

[SteelCity1981]

picture 3 that was the first ever computer to die from cancer.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I'm scared now

 

[DRosencraft]

To play devil's advocate a bit, there isn't exactly a lot of emphasis on cleaning out a PC. Non-enthusiast DIYers actually tend to be fearful that someone will mess up their PC by opening it up to clean it. Even most enthusiasts I've known don't open up their systems to deliberately clean it up as much as they just happen to do it while in the regular cycle of replacing/upgrading parts.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

To play devil's advocate a bit, there isn't exactly a lot of emphasis on cleaning out a PC. Non-enthusiast DIYers actually tend to be fearful that someone will mess up their PC by opening it up to clean it. Even most enthusiasts I've known don't open up their systems to deliberately clean it up as much as they just happen to do it while in the regular cycle of replacing/upgrading parts.

Yeah, those PC's in those images had to be like 10 years old never opened. The spiders were the scary part.

 

[anxiousinfusion]

I'm certain that picture 17 is from an auto mechanic shop.

 

[g-unit1111]

Picture 3 is just wrong.. simply wrong...

That was bad, the ones with the dead frog and the spider colony... *shudder*

 

[iam2thecrowe]

Had an onsite repair job once at this place and opened the dvd drive, cockroaches poured out of it.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Working as a PC repair tech in a shop, I have seen all of these and worse. One not covered is one that just so happened to become kitties next litter box. That added in with dead roaches (and their droppings), dust that is still wet and you have a party.

Not so much a party as a throw up all over.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Had an onsite repair job once at this place and opened the dvd drive, cockroaches poured out of it.

I would have quit right then XD

 

[EDWIN3150]

The 7th picture looks like someone burned a lot of stuff in a fireplace then when the fire went out they took all of the dust and dumped it into this PC.

 

[Samer1970]

Only in USA

 

[razer switch]

I am usually the person that says thing that make other people go "wtf"

but this article had me like ..................WTF!!!

 

[Durandul]

*Insert shameless plug for metro vac here*

 

[Ning3n]

Granted I may be half drunk.... But even sober, these photos are enough to nauseate even the LEAST hardcore enthusiast!

 

[Conrad Pinto]

My arachnophobia is telling me to burn that system!

 

[chicofehr]

An air compressor for the case and pressure washer for the heat sinks will do it. Had to do that many times. Vacuum and brush wont clean these.

 

[Shin-san]

I need to remember to do this regularly. My system's CPU cooler would collect so much dust and overheat. I ended up replacing it because I can never get it clean to where it would last more than 6 months. The front of my case looked like some of those dust traps

 

[mapesdhs]

I recall reading years ago that tech dust accumulation causes some $300M
worth of fires every year worldwide. These pics should be used in a TV advert
to wake up companies & consumers re keeping their tech clean.

Meddling with SGIs as I do, they have a rep for just running 24/7 for
decades+ in industrial environments, often far beyond the presence
of any staff who know what they are. Seen some pretty horrendous
dirt accumulations, eg. this unit had been running for 15 years with
no attention at all:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/filthyindy.jpg

I use a 24litre air compressor for initial dust removal (followed by a complete
chassis stripdown and cleaning), but the above Indy (and the stack of SGIs
of which it was just one) was so bad that I wore some protective cloathing
and a mask, waited for a windy day when the dust would be blown quickly
away (and yes also waited for whem my neighbours didn't have any clothes
drying outside. )

It ain't just home PCs that get dirty. If anything, industrial/corporate setups
can be much worse, though the tales here of bugs & suchlike have delayed
my breakfast plans... ick...

Ian.

 

[C12Friedman]

I checked out this article with much skepticism - I've seen the dirtiest comput... WTF? No, nevermind

 

[Vorador2]

Ok Toms, time to run an article in how to clean your PC inside-out

 

[Dennis M]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li0Ovwch2iA

 

[Gurg]

Just like window screens, the case filters only stop a little of the dust. I vacuum the exterior filter of my case probably once a week with my floor vacuums wand. Also open up case periodically and vacuumed the inside. However The fan blades still get dirty and I wipe them off, but my computer performance eventually deteriorated. Turns out when I upgraded my whole system that my H100 clc radiator in the case roof had plugged up with dust. The vacuum wouldn't suck out the dust and the air spray cans didn't blow the dust through. Finally ended up running water over the radiator in the sink until it was clean. Beware, even if you keep a pretty clean house, if you see dust on your furniture there is dust in your computer as the fans just suck it in and the cooler radiators are dust traps.

 

[10tacle]

Only in USA

I'd be willing to bet many if not most of these PCs were not from the US. One of the pics shows a non-US wall power outlet.

In any event, as one who aggressively overclocks like many here, and who is dependent on good internal air flow and cooling, I take my rig apart and blow it out about once every 3-4 months.