The carpet in my room is surprisingly dusty and I have to clean out the dust filter on my Antec 300 surprisingly regularly. I'm a bit worried that the dust filter isn't quite doing enough, as there's always a thin film of dust on the components inside the computer. How often do you dust manage and what do you use? Do you use compressed air? How thorough are you? What else can I do to improve the dustproofness of the Antec 300 Thanks
Have you just got the filters on the front fans? Filters on the other 2 are a good idea as well, even if you don't have a fan fitted to the side one. I use magnetic fan covers for the top and side fans, which look pretty good and fit with the rest of the case. Filron UK does a 140mm and 120mm magnetic fan filter. They can be easily taken off, cleaned, and put back on again. The other thing you can try is a finer filter on the front fans - I've bodged it with a really fine dernier pair of womens stockings (after I'd paraded around the lounge in them first of course).
I clean out my antec 1200 every 2 weeks I also get a thin layer of dust on the inside of my case especially on my psu I use a paint brush to clean the dust off the filters and componants and baby wipes to clean the fans and the flat surfaces I spend a good few hours cleaning
Those magnetic fan covers sound interesting - yeah I only have the standard dust filter that came with the 300. No fans of compressed air in here?
That stuff is so expensive for what it is. You can buy a can of furniture polish for a pound so why does a similar size can containing just air cost five times as much, rip off....... I just use a paint brush and the hoover.
Tell me about it. I use the good ol paintbrush and hoover method too, although I can never fully get that fine dust layer off. One idea I heard was getting a HEPA filter sheet you can cut to size, and fitting them in place of your usual filters. They filter out much smaller particles see. Although I could never be arsed to try
That is in fact very dusty, I cleaned my Antec 300 after one year of use and it wasn't as that dusty. My filter works very well, I hardly had any dust isnide. Mickenoss does your filter cope well with that dust and does not let it go inside the case??
Negative pressure draws dust out of the case doesn't it so reversing the side panel fan, (make it an exhaust) might help
Moyo2k that is actually smart idea, but what about tempreatures inside the case? could they be affected by that change? I think that would work with back fans blowing air into the case and the front fans working as a exhausts just as you said. This way airflow would be still kept as it supposed to be, isn't it?
I prefer negative pressure for cooling anyway, lack of air is better than trapped hot air, positive pressure will cool better for maybe 30minutes - 2 hours depending on how hot your system is, but eventually the trapped hot air will build up, it won't cause a crash, but it will knock your temps up, negative pressure always equalizes, its a win win, if you've got a meshed case like the Antec 300 or my CM 690, you'll have air being pulled in through the mesh to try and equalize
So what would you say is the ideal fan setup on the 300? 2x front fans as intakes 1x Top fan as extractor 1x Side fan as extractor ?
Seeing as you have a rather low-spec rig, why do you have the side fan to begin with? What I'd do would be to remove all the hardware, tape shut all the unwanted holes, and see how it affects the temps and the dust buildup. I did this with my P180B (w/ the E6750-8800-setup) and it worked out just fine with the top- and rear fans swapped for Nexus fans and undervolted. If you still get too much dust inside the case then I'd try a better filter on the front fan bays. And if you get too high temperatures then you're either lying or doin' it wrong
I thought the opposite was true. Negative pressure means all the dust is sucked through nooks and crannies that aren't filtered to then be blown out of the case (it has to come from somewhere right?) Where as positive pressure (more intake than outtake) means dust won't creep in through gaps and all the dust will go inside via the fans.. which should have filters. Personally I have all the intakes somewhere accessable to the hoover nozzle (front/side), so that I can just vacuum the front of the case to clean the filters rather than faffing about taking things apart. With regards to dust content in the room: Roomba! More fun than hoovering manually
Yeah they cope quite well, but my case has negative pressure inside which drags unfiltered air in through the back plate (bottom left of pic). Positive pressure might stop this happening though. ...oh and please no greif about the state of my filters, I hoover nearly everyday (have asthma) and really don't know where it comes from
Dead skin cells mate - little bits of dead tissue from you and everyone in your house, just floating around waiting to be inhaled or ingested (or stuck in your pc). Sorry, not helping am I? Positive pressure is the way to go, or minimise the intakes. The top of the 300 has a fairly decent fan. I would maybe try it with just the top fan as an intake and the rear fan as an exhaust. You can block the other fans with black cardboard and some gaffer tape from the inside so it will still look as good. That said, the 300 is supposedly a high airflow case so blocking the fans up like a twisted Blue Peter project may not be the way ahead.
