r/pcmasterrace
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u/Zankeru
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Dec 30 '22
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Forgot to clean my CPU cooler for eight years. Meme/Macro
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u/Small_Might4156 Dec 30 '22
This man didn't want to pay for the black edition of the hyper 212 so he made his own
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u/CorrodedRose Dec 30 '22 •
It's powder coated!
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u/Music_4ddiction Dec 30 '22
Don’t ask what kind of powder
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u/Evantaur KDE Neon | 5900X | RX 6700XT Dec 30 '22
All I know is it's not cocaine!
edit: (It's mostly dead skin cells)
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u/the1andonlytom Laptop Dec 30 '22
Is that... burnt dust??
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u/ChiggaOG Dec 30 '22
I doubt it becuase burnt dust means ashes. Looks like dust with grease.
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u/Drunk_Henri Dec 30 '22
Cigarette or cigar resin
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u/anevilsnail22 Dec 30 '22
I had a candle's wick dry burn for a while one time which apparently means it turns into a soot factory because my air purifier and PC were absolutely coated with the stuff despite not even being that close to it. I didn't have a can of air handy, so I just super cleaned the inside of a shop vac and hooked the hose up to the output for a blower. Still a static risk probably, but I think most of that is kind of overblown...heh...
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u/MidnightT0ker Dec 31 '22
Well Linus has spoken about this in a few videos (mentioning the vacuum myth) and determined the mount of static electricity needed to ruin components is massive.
Linus also has a video with the boom guy and they try to purposely break components with static electricity and turns out it’s quite difficult.
Of course all these myths have been running down for a long time before this information was widely available so it’ll take a while for the people that will still believe they need an anti static wristband to change ram to get up to speed.
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u/Thebombuknow RTX 3060ti FE | 32GB RAM | i7-7700 Dec 31 '22
Yeah, components are stupidly durable, the minor amount of static electricity is nothing to them. In just the wrong place, it could still cause damage, but it's stupidly unlikely.
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u/ninjadude4535 3900X@4.4GHz | 2080Ti@2.2GHz | 32GB@3.6GHz | X570 | 1440p@165Hz Dec 30 '22
That's what I was thinking too
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u/Ubergoober166 i9 11900k - 3080ti Dec 30 '22
Could even be from vaping. Vaping leaves a residue after a while too and many more people vape indoors than smoke.
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u/penilepretzel Ryzen 5700G | Radeon 7900XT | 32GB 3600MHz DDR4 | arch btw Dec 30 '22
Yeah vapes leave a residue but they sure as hell aren't blackening things like that
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u/My_guy_GuY PC Master Race Dec 30 '22
What about cannabis? I take dabs in the same room as my computer and I'd never thought about this being a problem but now I feel like my PC might be full of sticky reclaim lol.
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u/SuperbAnts Dec 30 '22 •
sounds like free weed to me
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u/retardborist Dec 30 '22
You gotta be pretty low down to scrape your cpu for resin to smoke 🤣
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u/Alagator R7 3700x | RTX 2080 S | 32GB Dec 30 '22
What about cannabis? I take dabs in the same room as my computer and I'd never thought about this being a problem but now I feel like my PC might be full of sticky reclaim lol.
As someone who was dabbing like crazy right next to my PC it made all the dust super oily and yellow and a huge pain in the ass to clean do not recommend.
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u/Flumeh Dec 30 '22
Anything you smoke is going to leave residue. I need to stop smoking meth at my PC
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u/Nature_Loving_Ape Dec 30 '22
I have a "man cave" that I smoke and play in, I keep it reasonably clean for a man cave but yea dust is inevitable and weed resins = sticky icky. It would very much be worth cleaning out your fans I assure you.
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u/D3Seeker Dominions: 4930K - Radeon VII - 32gigs Dec 30 '22
You underestimate how many homes have folk who smoke indoors, no kids or significant other / dam them
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u/moeburn 7700k/1070/16gb Dec 30 '22
I've seen this before, dust eventually turns into this black sticky stuff after a while. I tried to clean the dust out of a 10 year old laptop that had never been cleaned, I took it apart and everything. It was like a gradient - the newest dust on the outside was grey and dusty, and as you dug deeper into the layers it turned black and sticky.
Also it had dissolved some of the plastic on the fan blades, and when I removed the dust, I removed small chunks of the fan as well, permanently unbalancing it and making it noisy.
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u/CoronaMcFarm PC Master Race Dec 30 '22
To me it looks like the dust that is left when its been through a dust filter.
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u/permissionBRICK Dec 30 '22
I hope it is, otherwise its black mold
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u/Biscuits4u2 R5 3600 | RX 6700XT | 32 GB DDR 4 3400 | 1TB NVME | 8 TB HDD Dec 30 '22
Looks like simple dust accumulation to me.
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u/WyrmKin Dec 30 '22
What hellscape do you live in that this is normal dust for you?
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u/Biscuits4u2 R5 3600 | RX 6700XT | 32 GB DDR 4 3400 | 1TB NVME | 8 TB HDD Dec 30 '22
It's 8 years of dust accumulation. I don't ever see anything like this on mine because I dust it regularly, but after 8 years this is to be expected.
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u/Extrapaj Dec 30 '22
Actually this feels like nothing for being 8 years of dust accumulation.
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u/howiMetYourStepDad Dec 30 '22 edited Dec 30 '22
Probably smoking in house (or was smoking) it is horrible what it does to a Pc.
Edit: no one ever see a vaping Pc? Sorry if i count vaping as a "smoker".
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u/r40k Dec 30 '22
I don't think so. I've seen inside electronics owned by smokers and it looks different. More yellow nicotine staining and the dust becomes sticky and brown.
I don't know what the fuck this is.
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u/bad_pelican R5 5600 / RTX 3070 / 32GB@3600 CL16 Dec 30 '22
Soot from burning candles a lot is the only thing I could imagine.
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u/BiggerOtter Dec 30 '22
I used to burn a lot of candles for and would get this kind of dust. Just not nearly as much.This can happen just from the candle being in the same room.
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u/I_Dont_Disagree Dec 30 '22
I'm thinking this is from a gaming PC attachment on OP's outdoor barbecue grill
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u/Fatefire I5 11600K EVGA 3070TI Dec 30 '22
Looks like vape . Vaped for years and that’s bad even for me but yea. Vape is less yellow more goop
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u/Whatever_It_Takes Dec 30 '22
I vape constantly, just replaced my CPU cooler after a few years, and it looked nothing like this…
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u/Ups3t_Money Dec 30 '22
Build my custom water loop in 2013, I vape every day in my gaming room. Buildup on the radiator is also nothing like this.
Whatever that is, it isn't because of vaping
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u/mindaltered i-9 10900k, 64gb ram 3600mhz, rtx 3080 ti , i7 9700kf / 2080s Dec 30 '22
I feel the same way, this guys house has gotta be clean af for that little bit in 8yrs.
People shed skin, thats what majority of that dust is in our computers, human skin.
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u/WyrmKin Dec 30 '22
I'm not talking about the amount, pitch black dust isn't normal.
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Dec 30 '22 edited Dec 30 '22
[deleted]
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u/NightofTheLivingZed Ryzen 5 3600 | 1060 6G OC Dec 30 '22
Worked in stockrooms and warehouses most of my working life. Black dust sucks and is literally on most boxes I've touched. Sometimes I'd come home and pick my nose and have black boogers. I don't have cancer thank fuck.
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u/wagex Dec 30 '22
I work in an office attached to our diesel shop, the black dust is in the ducts, computers, vent covers need cleaned yearly or you'll start to get little black flakes falling in your office. The worst part is if you touch them to brush them off they poof into dust and make a mess. I feel you bro.
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u/OutAndABoot Dec 30 '22
Eventually even dust gets dirty.
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u/FuckYouZave Dec 30 '22
I've seen computers over 15 years old running xp on the floor of a mixing plant. Even with all the cement dust they pulled in it wasn't close to shit.
That's not an exaggeration. I've seen some horrific computers but this is the worst 'dust' buildup I've seen
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u/harmonicrain Dec 30 '22
That actually looks like they smoke around their rig.. source: I used to, I know it's gross which is why I don't do it anymore 😂👍
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u/Monkee-D Dec 30 '22
Smoke from 8 years of Forest fires? It's basically a yearly occurrence now... Or maybe it's just poor lighting making it look darker than it is.
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u/MakeshiftRocketship 12900k | 32g DDR4 3600 | 3080ti Dec 30 '22
OP could be a stoner too weed smoke is dusty as hell
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u/DrVaginaPuncher Dec 30 '22
There are plenty of harmless species of mold that are black.
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u/Jacktheforkie Acer Nitro 50 Dec 30 '22
It could simply be dark coloured dust, in my area during summer the dust that settles in my house is pretty dark from farm equipment in the area
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u/NatelyIsASimp Dec 30 '22
Fuck the burnt dust. Is that a burnt banana?!
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u/PolygonKiwii Ryzen 5 1600 @3.8GHz, Vega 64, 360 slim rad Dec 30 '22
Bananas turn that color if they're stored a few days and weren't picked super unripe
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u/firefiretiger Dec 30 '22
I appreciate the banana for scale, & while the cooler is abysmal, the banana is looking kind of sad as well..
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u/somme_rando Dec 30 '22
To be fair, this isn't your normal environment for a banana to grow in.
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u/dfddfsaadaafdssa Dec 30 '22
So ship them from South America like the rest of us. Can't be eating those poverty bananas.
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u/Zncon RTX 3090 | i9 9900k Dec 30 '22
That's what dust looks like if you live near a major road. Brake and tire dust is nasty.
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u/Yonix360 AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | RTX 4090 | 32GB DDR5-6000 Dec 30 '22
And your banana as well? Put that thing in the dishwasher!
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u/kingofallnorway Dec 30 '22
Only 8 years old, still good. 🍌
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u/Deep_Accident_4853 7950x, 32GB 6000, 6950xt Dec 30 '22
freshly pulled out of the freezer
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u/FakeSafeWord Dec 30 '22
Why use the dishwasher when you can use an automatic banana cleaner?
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u/Firewolf420 Dec 30 '22
Lmfao. How common is that a euphemism that they're basing their entire marketing on it
I've literally never even heard "those devices" referred to like that before. It's not the first thing I'd search for, that's for sure lol
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u/FraggarF Dec 30 '22
Not safe for master race.
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u/code_archeologist Dec 30 '22
There needs to be a NSFW Warning on that pic... I was not ready for that level of gore.
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u/TheDudePerson99 6600xt / Ryzen 5 5600x / 32gb 3200 Dec 30 '22
Did you happen to leave it in a burning building for one of those years?
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u/thegree2112 Dec 30 '22
Please test the air quality in your home lol Jesus Christ
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u/jd52995 6900xt 5900x Dec 30 '22
Could be someone who smokes near the PC.
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u/Derek_32 Dec 30 '22
Cleaned a ps4 that a hard smoker owned, cat hair was blocking airflow to the heat sync and there was tar pooled at the bottom of it
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u/jd52995 6900xt 5900x Dec 30 '22
Take the death sticks away from electronics people.
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u/Derek_32 Dec 30 '22
Somehow the mb was safe, ports were absolutely fucked though
^ right side is where the ports are and they were covered in this shit
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u/jd52995 6900xt 5900x Dec 30 '22
Looks like someone spilled soda... In their console? Lol
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u/Derek_32 Dec 30 '22
I wish it was soda, smelled terrible. Thats the tar from the smoker
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u/jd52995 6900xt 5900x Dec 30 '22
I know. 🤮
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u/Derek_32 Dec 30 '22
Took me about an hour to fully clean it, now its quiet
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u/louiefriesen i7 9700K | 5700 XT (Nitro+ SE) | 32GB 3600 TridentZ RGB | Win 10 Dec 30 '22
Yeah and imagine how much tar they have in their lungs if there’s that much on their electronics.
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u/J658v1uk7XvDnvWCnQxs Dec 30 '22
You charge more for cleaning smokers' PCs? You should...
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u/Kryavan Dec 30 '22
My buddy's kid spilled grape soda on the table my ps4 was on. THANKFULLY it didn't damage anything, but it was a bitch and a half to clean it up.
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u/Xanderoga Dec 30 '22
Lol I worked as a telecom tech for a few years -- loved the job, but anyway...
The amount of tar you'd find in modems, phone jacks, set top boxes was absolutely mind blowing. I've had to replace wires and data/phone jacks because it's all sticky with tar and shorting out the signal.
Really glad I quit smoking -- shit is gross.
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u/Lord_Emperor Ryzen5800X|16GB@3200|RX6800XT Dec 30 '22
Take the death sticks away from
electronicspeople.ftfy
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u/wagex Dec 30 '22
As someone who's worked on (indoor) smoker's computers.... they are worse than this after like 1 year.
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u/whatamidoinghere51 Dec 30 '22
holy shit. i never knew this was possible, even with weed smoke?? cleanin my pc tonight lol
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Dec 30 '22 edited Feb 12 '23
[deleted]
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u/I_Bin_Painting Dec 30 '22
Vapes too, although it’s condensed fluid rather than resin/tar, still mixes with dust and produces gross thick deposits
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u/wagex Dec 30 '22
I'd say this was pretty clean for 8 fuckin years lol
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u/m_ttl_ng Dec 30 '22
Mine is the same age and looks nothing even close to this, despite running almost constantly and having two dogs in the house whose hair gets everywhere. Mine just has some visible dust.
OP’s cooler looks super fucked and definitely indicates some air quality issues
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u/Causualgaymr Dec 30 '22
Do you live in a coal mine?
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u/RagingRavenRR 5800X3D, Red Devil 6800XT, 32GB TridentZ 3200, CH VIII DH Dec 30 '22
I got the black lung, pop.
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u/Sneakydivil32 Dec 30 '22
I'm a mer man!
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u/RagingRavenRR 5800X3D, Red Devil 6800XT, 32GB TridentZ 3200, CH VIII DH Dec 30 '22
Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty
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u/SeltenBV Dec 30 '22
You also forgot to clean your banana
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u/Zankeru Dec 30 '22
You never refrigerated bananas for blending? They look like ass, but that's just the skin going bad. The fruit taste the same and last a lot longer than storing on the shelf.
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u/Jimmycaked Dec 30 '22
Nosome offense intended but I'm not taking banana advice from someone with a cpu cooler looking like this. I will however ask my banana guy about it.→ More replies44
u/PX22Commander Dec 30 '22
Yo who's your banana guy? Hook a brother up
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u/Guys-in-bananas Dec 30 '22
Hello brother it’s me, I have the special banana for you
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u/Lowfat_cheese R9 5950X | RTX 3070ti | 64GB DDR4-3600 Dec 30 '22
IIRC if you peel them first they don’t go brown
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u/Zankeru Dec 30 '22
I'll have try that
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u/zakabog Ryzen 5800X3D/4090/32GB Dec 30 '22
My wife (girlfriend at the time, not moved in yet) told me to freeze my bananas before they went bad, so I threw them in the freezer skin and all. A week later she saw them and laughed, they're pretty much impossible to peel at that point. I've since learned my lesson and frozen (peeled) bananas are fantastic in a smoothie.
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u/myco_magic Dec 30 '22
I've frozen plenty of dark bananas with the peel still on and they peel just fine once defrosted.... I ain't eating/ cooking with it frozen
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u/zakabog Ryzen 5800X3D/4090/32GB Dec 30 '22
Well yeah, but I buy bananas for smoothies if I'm not eating them fresh, I'm not defrosting it just to substitute in more ice.
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u/delpreston27 Dec 30 '22
My immediate reaction to the picture was 'that's a refrigerated banana' lol.
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u/AirmanLarry
Ryzen 7 2700 | 16GB DDR4 | RTX 3070
Dec 30 '22
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this looks like an anti cigarette campaign
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u/Hicemir Laptop Dec 30 '22
You forgor💀
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u/Mungkelel Laptop Dec 30 '22
but now he rember😃
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u/CurrentClick9 GTX 1080 8GB | RYZEN 5 2600X Dec 30 '22
he still forgor 💀
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u/Deathappens PC building in progress... Dec 30 '22
...You're supposed to clean the cooler?
Bro do you have any idea how long it took me to put this shit together the first time????
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u/not_old_redditor Ryzen 7 5700X / ASUS Radeon 6900XT / 16GB DDR4-3600 Dec 30 '22
You don't need to take it off the cpu. But if it's clogged and air isn't getting in between the radiator fins, it's not going to cool well.
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u/Deathappens PC building in progress... Dec 30 '22
An air spray can clear the fins though, right?
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u/EvoStarSC PC Master Race i7 10700k / RTX 3070 TI / 32g Dec 30 '22
You can't forget something you never intended to do.
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u/Zankeru Dec 30 '22
The rest of my case was cleaned every few months. What makes it worse is I even cleaned the fan mounted to the grill but never took it off and cleaned underneath.
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u/Playstein R9 5900 | RTX 3080 | 32GB RAM 3600 Mhz Dec 30 '22
Jesus Christ, that banana could be featured in a black and white movie
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u/BlueberryNo3773 Core 2 Quad Q9650 8GB 800mhz GT 710 2GB Dec 30 '22 edited Dec 30 '22
8 years? Mine looks like that in just one
“Edit: I don’t smoke and the computer is in a high traffic area and on the floor. It’s also on 24/7.”
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u/VekeKing PC Master Race Dec 30 '22 edited Dec 30 '22
You may want to invest your wealth in to a nice vacuum cleaner
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u/Omnilatent i7-4770, AMD RX480, 16 GB RAM Dec 30 '22
Or an exit program against smoking and a fully air filtered case
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u/Smitty--81-- Specs/Imgur here Dec 30 '22
Oh wow…. I’ve definitely not cleaned CPU coolers for 8 years before and they’ve looked nowhere near this bad. A quick hit with some canned air is all mine needed.
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u/xander-mcqueen1986 PC Master Race Dec 30 '22
Banana looks more fucked than the cooler
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u/CSPDTECH i7-9700KF // RTX2060 6gb // 32gb3200 // Z390M Pro4 Dec 30 '22
That banana is dying because you leaned it against that nightmare
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u/lokmanonsoy Dec 30 '22
What made you remember at 8?
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u/Zankeru Dec 30 '22
Bricked my motherboard doing a BIOS update and decided to poke around the case while I pulled the cmos battery out.
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u/GibbonFit 5800X | 3090 FTW3 | 32GB DDR4 3600 Dec 30 '22
Regardless of forgetting or neglecting, I want to know if there was a noticeable performance increase after you cleaned everything out.
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u/Creoda Win11. Ryzen 5 5600x. EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra @ 1440p Dec 30 '22
He's clearly been mining. That's coal dust.
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u/TheDankestMeme92 PC Master Race Dec 30 '22
Forgot to eat my banana for 8 days (CPU cooler for scale)
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u/mehowek Dec 30 '22
Should it be removed regularly and cleaned? I just open my side panel and blow compressed air on mine or is that not enough?
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u/HankThrill69420 5800x/3080Ti FTW3/32GB 3600MHz Dec 30 '22
the banana is stressing me out more, eat it today or it's a banana bread banana
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u/SellingMySoulInHell Dec 30 '22
Also eat the banannanannannnanna because it might go braun. Or maybe you like brown banannanana
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u/LoSpecTech Dec 30 '22
Do you smoke near it? I've had dust that looks like that before I quit amoking.
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u/Zankeru Dec 30 '22
Nope, never smoked. But I did live in guam for a few years and the air quality was pretty poor.
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u/HeyItsBearald Ryzen 7 3700x | RTX 3070 | Vengeance Pro 32gb Dec 30 '22
Dude you’re either full of shit, or you are going to develop lung cancer just because of the air quality in your area. That’s insane
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u/Zankeru Dec 30 '22
I'm ex-military. Air quality has to get in the back of the line for who gives me cancer, lol
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u/Senna_65 Dec 30 '22
Smoke dust is a disgusting brown, not black like OP's picture. Source: was a smoker for 10 yrs and currently cleaning an old 3770k desktop to give to a friend's nephew for minecraft
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u/lacgibra Dec 30 '22
How thoughtful, I never thought the CPU cooler could be used as grill for barbeque.
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