Usb front ports, dust, maintenance ?

Always after a year of use, I take it to a technician who is responsible for making cleaning and maintenance( I have no experience cleaning).

Two questions :
- Since the pc is almost new(6 months) per year, douse will require oil to the fans(pc fans, gpu, cpu cooler) as changing the thermal paste. Or this for another year ?
- And the dust filter(case) is long lasting?

Thanks

Nothing inside the PC will ever require oiling. In fact, oil will attract and hold dust. The thermal paste should last for several years. It needs changing only if the CPU temperatures should start to rise too much or if you ever remove the cooler. My first computer lasted seven years and ran constantly most of the time. The second one ran all the time and I had it five years. Neither computer needed to have the thermal paste changed.

Assuming your case has them, how often a dust filter should be cleaned depends on how much dust is in your area. I live in a dusty area of a desert and I run a vacuum over the outside of the filters around once a week. Once a month, I open the case up, blow out the filters from the inside, and blow out any dust on the inside of the computer that got past the filters (which isn't much). People in cleaner environments shouldn't need to clean as much as I do.

Here is a video on how to clean the inside of a computer with cans of compressed gas. The video suggests having six cans on hand but, if you let the can warm up after it gets too cold to have any pressure, one full can will be enough. You should never let a computer get as filthy as the one in the video. That one should have been cleaned long before that. You should never use a vacuum inside a computer. When touching anything inside the computer, make sure one hand is touching the case at the same time.

Keep in mind that the more often you clean a computer, the easier it will be to clean.

SandeepP said:

I agree with Lady Fitzgerald on this one. As you would not require to use oil for any components inside the system. And only change thermal paste when system's temperatures starts rising and you need the system to cool down.

You can add significant life to your fans with preventive maintenance. I do not recommend this for novice users, but I do remove, disassemble, clean and oil my fan motors every 18-24 months. I have fans that have been running near 24/7 for 10 years and they are still as quiet as day one. Disassemble can be tedious, the motor spindle has a tiny cir-clip that controls end play. Be careful with this, easy to damage as most are plastic. There are a few web sites that well walk you through fan maintenance.

I also disassemble new fans, clean and oil. You would be surprised how dry they are from the factory. High end (expensive) fans are generally well lubricated at the factory, cheaper fans are dry as a bone.

I still do not recommend oiling fans for anyone but the most experienced users. The potential for doing something wrong (usually breaking something or using too much oil) is just too high and the gains are too small. Generally speaking, the fans will outlast most computers without any maintenance other than cleaning the dust off.