Filter For Fans

[XyBeRz]

Does anyone have any type of recommendations for filters to use on my case fans? I don't see anyplace really selling, just sometimes hearing people custom fit filters onto their computers, but no exact brands or anything. Links would greatly be appreciated!!!

[jester]

Heres a cheap & easy filter for you...

Get some super glue & 99cent pantyhose from walmart. Itll clean easy & keeps most of the dust out of your case. The pantyhose works better than the front air filter that came w/ my case.

[RaptorSmurf]

or just clean the case a lil more often . using filters ( anything that filters ) drastically reduces air flow , we use a screen on a fan just to keep fingers out till we could get a grill and even as open it is still dropped the cfm down

[jester]

Yes they do lower the air flow but having filters does make for a lot less maintence.

[XyBeRz]

Would the dust hurt any of the electronic components if it were to build up? I'm assuming that even dust would have an electrical charge of some sort. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[jester]

In a way, yea it can but I dont think in the way your implying thou.

When you get dust on things like heatsinks, they wont disapate heat as well & might run a lil bit warmer than usual.

Small fans can be affected a lot. Take for instance, I had a abit is7-e mobo w/ a small fan on the chipset (comes w/ the mobo) that spun around 5600rpm. When dust built up on the fan blades it weighed it down. This was before I put filters on of course, the fan would sometimes spin low as like 3000rpm.

The Artic cooler that came w/ my vid card is one of those things that you dont want to get dust in, to clean it thoughly the heatsink assembly has to be removed from the card.

The con is the fan wont flow as much air. I think not having to spend time cleaning the entire pc outweighs the con as I never noticed a drastic jump in temps.

Get some pantyhose & experiment, only like $5 lost if you dont like it.

[T-shirt]

Would the dust hurt any of the electronic components if it were to build up? I'm assuming that even dust would have an electrical charge of some sort. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
yes the dust has a slight charge, which is attracted to the slight opposite charge on your heatsinks and components.
static=dust magnets, fortunately each speck of dust carries such a small charge that damage is virtually impossible.
However, even a very thin, barely noticable layer of dust is a very good insulation barrier, and by the time you see a fuzzy layer your HS may only be 50-70% effecient.
filters AND regular clean will keep things coolest.
Bigger chunks (baby dust bunnies) can cause shorts across exposed contacts (rare.....but usually fatal for sensitive components)

[greenmaji]

Dust IF anything would increse resistance in the absolutly worst case (and I really doubt that would happen)

Postive air preasure (more air going into the case then out) helps to prevent dust accumlation, that and heat pipe coolers work better with postive air preasure in the case :P