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[–] Donbuster 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

It really isn't for a typical machine. Yes, I know, it heats shit up, and clogs vents, but for a machine used for email, web browsing, and the occasional word document, its not an issue, as no significance amount of heat is going to be generated. The machine will be obsolete before it gets killed due to component failure.

If we are talking about a gaming system, the increased heat could lead to thermal throttling, which in turn would have a negative effect on framerate.

Honestly, not on my top list for PC hygiene. Only reason I clean at all regularly is because I have a nice big glass window, and dust looks bad.

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[–] gentlemanadventurer ago 

it's mild. but there. I'm planning on getting a leaf blower

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[–] rauelius ago 

When your computer gets too dusty, just buy a new case and clean up the components.

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[–] bikergang_accountant 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

Just make sure it doesn't get addicted.

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[–] Thisismyvoatusername ago 

Now I want to go on Tom's Hardware and start a thread stating I am concerned my computer has become addicted to dust and asking if replacing the CPU would fix it.

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[–] Stavon 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

Most components are less able to spread head if they're covered in dust. It won't kill them but reduce their lifetime. In a low end system it will make the fans be a bit noisier and components fail sooner. In a high end system it's pretty much the same but happens sooner if it's used heavily.

It really is better to dust out your PC every few months. Make sure to block the fans.

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[–] TAThatBoomerang [S] ago 

How long will it reduce their lifetime for? Very hard to specify in general, but are we talking 10%-20% or more like 50%-60%?

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[–] youser 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

More so than the lifespan, it makes your computer overheat and shutdown and that affects usability. Even if I didn't care about the lifespan of the computer, I'd still clean it once in a while to keep it from shutting down on me unexpectedly. Get a can of compressed air, blow out the dust every couple months.

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[–] Stavon 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

It depends on the amount of dust, but I would guess more like the 10% to 20%.

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[–] 9065930? 0 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago 

Dust can overheat the computer and shortens the lifetime.

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[–] TAThatBoomerang [S] 1 point 0 points (+1|-1) ago 

Yeah but does it really though? How long are we talking here, because if the lifespan of a computer goes from 8 years to 6 years... it's irrelevant, because the computer will be far too outdated anyway.

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[–] 9066102? 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

It depends what you do, where you live. The issue here is when heat builds up, the CPU/memory can get to a point where the soldering starts to melt.

It is also bad for your hard disks, I had a lot of external hard disks fails because I had them stacked on top of each other. They did not crash but they lost data and I did not know. I almost lost everything, convinced that I had 2 separate backups but they all were corrupted.