Because of overheating I had to cut a hole in the side panel of one case, adapt a piece of PVC tube as an air duct. Since the front panel intakes (Antec P160) used an air filter, I made one for the side intake as well : a car air filter covered by metal tray did the job.

No filter solution is perfect because of the many holes existing in other places than the "official air intakes : round the 5 1/4 bays for instance.

Jacob

Exactly! My guess is that most of the dust comes in though these holes. Anyone figured out how best to cover them yet?

There is no perfect anti-dust solution for PC, unless you put an entire machine in a big jar (perhaps an idea for a case-mod :rolleyes:), or work in some controlled dust-free environment.
From my experience: some time ago I've had a Lian-li case with air filters. For the first 6 months I have not even cared to open the case to check the dust - I was just cleaning the filters every week or so. After 6 months I have noticed dramatic decrease in thermal performance of this system, however at first I associated it with summer-time :smile: Eventually, I had to decrease overclock, however temperature was still high... When finally after ca. 10 months after purchase I have opened the case, I was shocked: there was no "classic dust" but something that looked more like some "thin powder" - it was even more difficult to get rid of than standard dust. Since then I am not buying cases with dust filters, after all it is not that hard to clean your PC once or twice in a month :tu:

I've dealt with dust problems for several years in a much tougher environment than most homes. One of the toughest problems is extremely fine carbon dust which is common in most industrialized countries. This dust is attracted to electrical components by static charges. With time, it builds up enough to conduct. Once this dust builds up, it can only be removed by a combination of brushing (with a non-static brush, just think NOT nylon) and with high pressure air.

Reducing dust problems in a home is much easier than you would think, but it is expensive.

1. Locate sensitive equipment in a room away from any entrances. This is obvious since dust tends to swirl in when doors are opened.

2. Avoid rooms with thick carpeting. This is where a good berber carpet should be considered if you have to have carpet.

3. Use a low dust home heating system. Arguably the best is a heat pump, but it is not usable in many locations. A wood heater is arguably the worst possible option when it comes to dust in the air. Wood heaters leak smoke and fine particles of ash into the air. A wood furnace is preferred because most of the particulate material can be kept outdoors.

4. Install an electrostatic air filter in the building's heating and cooling system. While standard air filters will remove up to 70% of the particles from air, they let the finest and most problematic particles through. Of all the suggestions, this is the most important, but also the most expensive.

5. Purchase a room size electrostatic filter and run it in the room with the computer.

6. Practice good housekeeping by keeping all lint generating materials out of the room with the computer. This means most items made of cloth should be removed from the room. Use blinds instead of curtains.

DarJones

[COLOR=White].[/COLOR]

I'll be using a vacuum from now on. I just blew the dust off the my Sempron CPU fan, restarted the PC and the PSU went POP as it sucked in a lump of fluff. My daughter said 'Hey, it smells like Party Poppers!'.
One dead PC. :sad:

[QUOTE=garo;114045]Well that's a good point. The Antec P150 comes with a dust cover for the front air intake. It works but not well enough. Has anyone else tried other filtering mechanisms? I'm thinking some sort of fine mesh or something.. Muslin maybe?[/QUOTE]

I will try to get a photo mine are getting a little dusty.


[QUOTE=Flatlander;114116]I'll be using a vacuum from now on. I just blew the dust off the my Sempron CPU fan, restarted the PC and the PSU went POP as it sucked in a lump of fluff. My daughter said 'Hey, it smells like Party Poppers!'.
One dead PC. :sad:[/QUOTE]


Cheap psu i have seen psu's drop like fruit files..... dont go cheap on a psu ;)

[quote=moo;114129]
Cheap psu i have seen psu's drop like fruit files..... dont go cheap on a psu ;)[/quote]
It wasn't a cheap PSU, but it was a big ball of fluff!