New
#1
Have you cleaned you pc lately?
I purchased my Dell Vostro about 3 years ago. It has an Intel Dual Core E6550 2.33Mhz CPU. I loaded Speccy a few months ago and recently noticed that the CPU temp was about 50 C. I also noted the case fan switching to the high speed more frequently. Hmmm...
I pulled the side of the mini-tower case off and guess what? It looked like my grandmother's attic -- significant dust buildup on ALL components, including the CPU fan and heat-sink. After about 20 minutes of vacuuming and using damp q-tips to pull dust out of crevices (including the heat-sink fins), I put it back together and fired it up.
The temp of the CPU and HDD dropped a full 10 degrees C. They're running at 39 C, not 50 C. The CPU fan no longer changes to high speed and the Dell is once again very quiet. It's a happy camper.
I need to perform first echelon maintenance on this PC every 6 months or so -- not every 3 years.
I'll be even more attentive with my new build.
Louis