The Mystic Bird

There some reason why that little question should give you pause? You betcha there is! When was the last time you peeked inside your computer? Aw, come on! You never have? Well, if you’ve owned it for a while you might want to have a look because the fans that keep the insides cool probable are having a tough time of it by now due to dust buildup.

I had noticed a whining noise in mine on startups that made me nervous enough to have a look inside and when I popped open the case, I was shocked at all the dust built up inside. Shouldn’t have been I suppose but I never really gave it a second thought as I sat here beside it typing away.

The fans were covered slightly with dust and so was pretty much everything else. It was actually embarrassing. One fan was even slowed down by the buildup to a point that it was having a time at startup. It was first on my cleaning project.

Then the other fan over the heat-sink for the CPU and then the entire case got a good shot of air to blow out all the dust hidden or not.

End result? A much quieter running machine and cooler to boot.

One thing to note is that I used a hose from an air compressor that I had turned down to around 30 psi and kept it away from direct contact with any of the various boards so I wouldn’t blow any required components away.

Go ahead. Open that case up and have a look. You might be surprised at what you find.