TR Forums

indeego wrote:

Esproc's wins, based on you can't identify if it's mold, dust, tape, or foreign matter.

I would not disturb that. Wrap up the machine, and seal it in an airtight container.

I wish I could enter but I don't have a cmera, a phone with a camera or anything to take a picture to enter with. Am bummed. Good luck to the winners though.

Dirty Potato animation quality, cause why not?

TADA!

Two dirty PCs, full of dirt worse than what you find in a forty-year-old locker room. Thankfully, they didn't live in my place. ;>
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Here's a crop showing the tag more clearly. Should have set it closer to the camera...
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Well, at least I found my flashlight. And the baby's nose-sucker thingy


I keep the side off for airflow, and Sam's recently discovered it *shudder*.

I look through this thread and I say "don't give hardware to these nincompoops. Give it to someone who takes care of their stuff!" That someone is me. I built this back in September for work with VMs. I pull the side off every couple months and give it a good cleaning. And it turns out looking great.


Tech Report spring cleaning by derFunkenstein, on Flickr

i cant enter because im from australia but here is a pic of my old radiator from a very old pc that is pretty chock full of dust


the rest of the computer was just as bad lol

Here is my pic, I blew out most of the dust when transferring old hard drives to my new build, but the filter should say a little about it.

indeego wrote:

Esproc's wins, based on you can't identify if it's mold, dust, tape, or foreign matter.

i bet it tastes like mold....

I met a computer from an antique age
Who said: 'Two vast and fanless heatsinks
Stand in the motherboard, near them, on the chassis
Half buried, a clugged PSU lies, whose jammed,
and dirty vents, cough dust and lint.
Tell that its owner those components didn't clean
Which yet survive, embedded on these PCB things
And on the case these words appear --
"My name is DIY Computing, enthusiast of enthusiasts,
Look upon my filth, ye duster, and despair!"

lol woah.. did you empty the vacuum into that glorious?? fun Poem too

Heh, no. It's actually caked on, like a sediment. There are even, like, these weird growths that developed in some way I don't fully understand.

I can take some closer pictures if people are interested.

I'm kind of wondering what would happen if I attacked it with compressed air. The results should be impressive.

I was doing a winxp scan last week and found a PIII 833 windows 98 box, still being used on my network. Browsed around and found "instant ID" on the desktop, and was able to track it down as our badge printing computer. I have replaced it, but it still runs even with the CPU fan completely clogged.

Its hard to explain how nasty this computer is, it is very misleading because it does not have that many "dustbunnies" but was in the building where our diesel shop is and is covered in soot, the clean spots are far from it. I also giggled when I saw that the CPU fan flung the tar like mess onto the IDE cable constantly during it's 15yr life.

Full album:
http://imgur.com/a/Ylvqh

After starting to read this thread, I am disappoint. I will pull my porch computer open tonight and take a picture. Last time I was in there, there was a spider's nest and a bunch of bugs nesting in the dirt in the bottom. That is one proper dirty machine.

Glorious wrote:

Heh, no. It's actually caked on, like a sediment. There are even, like, these weird growths that developed in some way I don't fully understand.

I can take some closer pictures if people are interested.

I'm kind of wondering what would happen if I attacked it with compressed air. The results should be impressive.

absolutely! dust mask on... hit it with a huge balst.. snap a pic of the cloud!

compressed air

Better idea:
http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED50 ... s=data+vac

I take mine outside every couple months and hit it. Cleaning the hsf helps keep the temps down.

Still running my trusty old Abit IP35-Pro from techreports recommendation back in 2007. I blame my non-modular PSU for me not cleaning it.

Look at this mess!

I literally took an air compressor to my machine like a week ago for the first time since last summer...
So here it is: (not dirty at all, unfortunately lol)

A very sad excuse for a home computer...........

I dont think spring cleaning will fix it...

I actually use this to game!

themissinlink wrote:

I actually use this to game!

...solitaire? lol

Here is mine, i have not opened it in about 3 years and i must say it is not as bad as i thought it was going to be, lol. she is a loud one though, cant wait to give her some much needed upgrades.

I obviously need to buy an air compressor to start blowing out my computer. She's still in decent health though. No overheating yet

Looking at these neglected and abused PCs, I am resolved to never recommend a case that lacks inlet filters.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

Looking at these neglected and abused PCs, I am resolved to never recommend a case that lacks inlet filters.

I couldnt agree more!

So, my roommate has had a computer stored in the closet here for a couple years. He tells me that I can pull it apart and find out why it quit working on him before he stored it.
Said I can use any old parts that are in it if it's not repairable. Yah. I won't be using many of these. The memory was the only thing saveable.. the rest is questionable at best.

I will never understand how people don't open their computer and just... dust it out every so often. None of the fans in the system even turn anymore! The dust was... gummy. Gooey.

Power supply, dead. Cooling fan on Radeon X1600 Pro, dead. Front and rear case fans... dead. It's no wonder the poor thing finally blew up!
Turned out it was set up just across the room from where they did a lot of deep frying and cooking. So the 'dust' was actually held together by grease. YUCK.