heat sink maintenance

[charlescrowe]

so, i've been having PC problems lately that i think stem from the fact that i have cats, whose fur and dirt are uncontrollable. how would i go about cleaning my CPU heat sink?

[donnato]

Ummm..blow it out..?..Failing that, dismount it, clean the mating surfaces and...blow it / rinse it out. Apply new paste and remount? With cats you should probably blow out your whole cabinet...I`ve been told to NOT use a vacuum as it causes static electricity...as a side note...ladies nylons over your intakes make a cheap...easy to replace filter..

Edited December 27, 2012 by donnato

[charlescrowe]

thanks don. would a CLR bath with a water rinse do any harm?

[Jac]

Blow it out with either an air compressor or a can of compressed air. You don't need to wash it or dip it in anything. If you do use CLR, make sure it's completely dry before you reattach it. Also, if you take it off, remove the old thermal paste and apply about a pea sized drop of new paste.

[donnato]

What kind of heatsink do you have? If it`s the Intel, pancake type, it might be a bit more difficult. If it`s a tower type radiator...not so hard. Otherwise, like Jac said...

[charlescrowe]

not sure. came with the pc, but it's got a fan and vertical plates.

[Gramblosh]

ladies nylons over your intakes make a cheap...easy to replace filter..

Two layers of gauze (sometimes you get some black one as fly screens, which looks better) do the same job and are less risky to get and less awkward to buy (as a guy).

[HeyYou]

Two layers of gauze (sometimes you get some black one as fly screens, which looks better) do the same job and are less risky to get and less awkward to buy (as a guy).

Depends on what nylons you are buying.

I just use my air compressor to blow everything out. I have three cats, and two dogs, so, hair accumulation IS an issue. Keep the pressure under 40PSI though, don't want to be blowing parts off the MB.

[charlescrowe]

blah. heat sink issue fixed, but that didn't solve the issue.only other part i haven't tested would be my PSU... is it safe to replace a 430w PSU with a 500w PSU?

[Khettienna]

Yep!

[charlescrowe]

cool. saw one that'll do the trick for a decent price on newegg. thanks for the advice and assistance, everyone.

[Jac]

blah. heat sink issue fixed, but that didn't solve the issue.only other part i haven't tested would be my PSU... is it safe to replace a 430w PSU with a 500w PSU?

Like Khett said. All I'll add is that with PSUs you get what you pay for. Buy a no-name one and you're gambling with your system - I had one that got to where it refused to boot the system without monkeying around with it. I replaced it with a Corsair and haven't had any problems aside from the CPU overheating and burning off the thermal paste, but my particular CPU is known to have heat issues.