This morning I noticed a ticking sound coming from my computer tower so I figured it was time for dusting in case the fan had debris in it. SOOOO, I pulled out the tower, opened up the case and shot some compressed gas (canned air?) throughout. I then put the case back together (btw I turned off the computer and shut off the power supply before I did all this). I waited a few minutes before firing the thing up and it was totally wanky (screen flickered, etc.). I turned it off again and waited about 30 minutes before turning it back on. This time I noticed the ticking sound was gone and everything was running ok. Just in case I've blown dust into something that should be dusty (besides my entire office), I ran the backup program and backed up everything.
I do this every now and then (whenever I notice dust accumulation) and really thought today I'd done something wrong because the computer screen went black and it acted weird.
How often should a tower be "blown out" or should I have done something differently?

 

I've never ever done this.

 

I might think if using a vacuum first rather than blowing the dust around everywhere. Blowing the dust can force it deeper into crevices that are hard to get out later.
most of the stuff in the case won't care about the dust being "blown into it."
there are some exceptions the air pressure balancing valve on the hard drive.

From the standpoint of the computer, the only reason to clean it, is airflow needed for thermal management. Dust will interfere with the boundary layer heat exchange at the component level. Electrically it isn't really that conductive.
At the macro level those big gobs of dust can slow down overall airflow which results in the components running a little bit hotter. But for the most part it has to be horrible to have a noticeable impact.

Mine finally got bad enough that I sucked out the inlets after 4 years or so of constant use the other day. It was really really bad and I never noticed any change.

 

You may have gotten some of the propellant liquid on the motherboard which caused your wanky behavior until it dried.

Here at work I use a compressed air tank with a dryer on it to blow out cases.

At home I put the Kirby on blow and blow them out in the garage.

I'd suggest blowing them out annually or as needed.

 

Thanks for these posts. I vacuum the case everytime I vacuum the office (at least weekly) but I've never heard that ticking sound before and it disturbed me. I'd be pretty crippled without the 'puter. The ticking is gone so I'm assuming it was a dust buildup.
Raymo, I'm glad to hear it only needs to be done annually. I thought I was being a lousy housekeeper computer-wise since I hadn't done it for several months. I'm totally amazed at the minute dust particulate that accumulates in these things. They must be dust magnets.

 

Just open it up and let the dog lick it clean. That will take care of things. One way or another.

 

If you've had it long enough for dust accumulation to be a problem then it must be time for an upgrade.

 

Both sides of my pc slide off, so it's pretty easy to vacuum except for some impossible to reach spots. Dog hair from my golden is more of an issue than dust. My case and many of the components are starting their 9th year; plenty of time to gather a little dust.

 

Well, I guess dust wasn't the issue. Its doing that ticking sound again. I'm glad I have a laptop, but I guess I'll need to start looking for a replacement. I suspect the harddrive is beginning to wear out. We've had it since 2003.

 

Well good thing you backed up - I've lost 2 hard drives in the last 30 days; both with that ticking sound. Could also be a fan bearing going bad... Since I run a raid 6 array, I didn't lose anything, fortunately...

To answer your original question tho, I clean my tower case thoroughly with canned air every 6 months. Temperature of my CPU usually drops about 5%c when I do this, so I use the temp monitor to know when it is time to clean the dust out of the heatsink, and case.

Dave