Question Is this too much dust? How often should I be cleaning my computer

[JunkoEnoshima]

Hello guys, I recently went inside my pc to discover there was a bit of dust inside of it. I don't know if this is a lot of dust or just a little, and will this reduce the life of my computer? it doesn't seem to overheat but it does get louder when I play stuff on it. especially poppy playtime chapter 3, that really makes it loud. It sits next to my cat box so a bit more dust is to be expected of course 🙂 but I want to make sure this is normal and won't affect my performance or the life of my computer. I put some photos of the inside as well as my specifications in case that helps at all. Thank you!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I've seen system's with much worse dust build up. As for your noise level, you could replace the CPU cooler for something higher in pedigree. Stock cooler's like the one you have will get the job done but leave a lot on the sound department.

Judging from your PSU and the case, I'm assuming you tried building a $500 PC?

Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:

 

[JunkoEnoshima]

Hello, Thanks for such a quick response! I'm glad that the
dust isn't having any impact because that was my primary worry. I'm not sure what part of the computer is getting really loud, but assuming it's the cooler, what would be something good to buy to replace it? I don't really know much about my pc, as it was gifted to me by someone else, but as I recall it was kind of expensive, compared to other computers. Another question, how often should I clean it? Especially considering it sits right next to the cat box, which gets very dusty. I've had it for a few months now and I've not taken the time to clean it yet. I really appreciate the help.

From what I can tell here are my specs:
CPU: Intel i 5 8400
Motherboard: MSI
RAM: 16GB DDR4
SSD: 480GB teamgroup elite, 120GB sand disk
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 650 EVGA
PSU: EVGA 400W
Chassis: Thermaltake

 

[madaraosenpai]

I'm glad that the dust isn't having any impact because that was my primary worry. I'm not sure what part of the computer is getting really loud, but assuming it's the cooler, what would be something good to buy to replace it?

That cooler is a CoolerMaster i50 for socket LGA 1151, from my personal experience it doesn't get extremely loud even on an i7. Obviously it depends on your fan curve and thermal load though. It is a budget cooler so it's heat sink capacity isn't great, but it should be plenty for a Coffee Lake i5 like what you have.

I would tweak the fan curve in your MSI Click BIOS as well as the GPU fan curve using MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision X1 and see what settings work best for you and what kind of noise each individual part makes. Or you could do the ol' ear test and just put your ear up to the case to see where it's coming from like I do.

 

[JunkoEnoshima]

Thank you so much! it's obvious you are a professional and know your way around computers. I'll try all the stuff you mention right away 🙂 I don't know how to do a bios but I think I can figure it out. It's just about playing with the voltages as I recall.