Cleaning Dust of GPU

Hey all!

So it's been a while since I last cleaned my GPU. I usually very careful use a vacuum cleaner to get the dust out of the fan. I know this isn't the safest option but nothing has happened yet!

This time I want to do it with a air compressor to try and clean out all the dust without having to dissemble my card.

I have a stock Leadtek GTX 570. My temps idle from 40c and when I'm gaming go to 86c. I did some research and apparently the older cards where designed to run hotter or at least the hotter temps where normal but I still want to make sure and clean it out in case there is a build up of dust.

Mind you it's pretty hot and I am upstairs as well.

Any tips of direction, where to start, where to finish, anything at all is appreciated :)

Thank you :)

Ghot said:

Hello @Vellaura

Use an oil-less air compressor,
Hold the fan(s) still, with a pencil, and blow the dust off. Try to angle the airflow so that it also blows through the heat sink.

Letting the fan(s) spin at air compressor speed will tear up the fan bearings.
And yes, the 500 series cards ran very hot.

If you haven't already, use MSI Afterburner to set a fan curve to keep that card cooler.

Thank you very much for the well informed reply!

Just to confirm, so I point the compressor aiming at the fans towards where i plug in the monitor right? And have the dust/air go out that way? Should I try any other angles?

OfficeWorks (I see you're in Australia) have cans of compressed air specifically for this purpose. I use it all the time. Point it, and blow!!

ooooo, is there a particular brand or type or do they only have one? And thank you.

Ghot said:

You want to point the compressor at the fans...so the dust goes out the rear of the vid card (where the connections are).

Okay awesome thank you, how well does this usually work in regards cleaning up dust or a significant build up?

Ghot said:

It all depends on the build up. If done, say once a year or so, it will keep the vid card clean.
If you smoke ciggs...that will make the dust tend to stick to everything, and cleaning will be much harder.

Just blow the dust out, then use MSI Afterburner (free) to set the fan curve, or even a fixed fan speed.
I had a GTX 580 and just set the fan speed to 60% all the time.

Nah definitely don't smoke aha. Okay will do that, i'm happy with my idle temps but the under load 86c feels a bit high, i feel like i'd be happy with around 75, but I dunno. I've only ever lightly vacuumed the fan area so there might be a build up of dust in the heatsink area is what I'm thinking.

Also i should do this with the card removed or its fine in the case with mobo?

okay awesome, lucky last question (i promise). Is it safe to use the compressed air on the back of the card (where all those exposed nodes and stuff are?) Because I have a lot of dust build up on that.