rubbing alcohol to clean pc?

I wanna know if that's a safe method to clean the hardware. I've always gone with the paper towel and compressed air route but it's hard to remove every bit of dirt without some sort of solvent.

If you have an air compressor like for tires or something turn it on and build up a lot of pressure. You can blast out some serious dust with those.

Could this post BE any better?

Don't get too high of a PSI on that.

Really, the little specs of dirt you see won't matter. Only thing that really matters is your fans and heatsinks. Air will take care of that fine.

claptonman said:

Don't get too high of a PSI on that.

Really, the little specs of dirt you see won't matter. Only thing that really matters is your fans and heatsinks. Air will take care of that fine.

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Well yeah you don't want it like crazy high but I'm sure you can build up so more pressure than a regular can of pressurized air.

claptonman said:

Don't get too high of a PSI on that.

Really, the little specs of dirt you see won't matter. Only thing that really matters is your fans and heatsinks. Air will take care of that fine.

Click to expand...

I use 100 PSI air compressor to clean out my computer. 100 PSI wont hurt a thing and is about perfect if you ask me.

I don't have access to any air compressor though :X certain parts are harder to remove dust from, like the back of the GPU since it's horizontal and collect a lot of dust. So back to the main question, is rubbing alcohol safe? I know I should get one that is 90% alcohol or smth similar since it contain less water.

To answer the OP's question, yes, you can use rubbing alcohol to clean various parts, just wait a few minutes before powering on to make sure the alcohol has completely evaporated. You also want to make sure that the alcohol you are using doesn't have any additives such as skin lotion which will leave a residue.

I use 120 psi of compressed air, compliments of a compressor with a trigger blow nozzle. I take it down to about 100 psi when blowing out the fans though, dont wanna mess up a bearing or something stupid..

edit: use the highest concentration of alcohol you can find; ive noticed a difference in cleanliness between higher and lower percentages (i.e., the lower alcohol % the more its diluted with other crap)

Compressors build up condensation. A small amount of moisture coming from the nozzle may not be seen. A moisture filter would help.

Benny Boy said:

Compressors build up condensation. A small amount of moisture coming from the nozzle may not be seen. A moisture filter would help.

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Canned air that is used to clean out computers also does the same. But its such a small amount and the computer should be off while cleaning anyway.

One thing to be careful with though is make sure that you don't leave it on there real long it can be rather corrosive to the parts if left on there too long. and make sure you use nothing lower than 90%+ as water is really bad.

G80FTW said:

Canned air that is used to clean out computers also does the same. But its such a small amount and the computer should be off while cleaning anyway.

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lol How did I know.
Yep, kinda. It's some kind of chemical (and no I don't want to know/care what it is) so it's not technically the same..ha ha -, If its a compresssor that uses oil then you can bet it's present as well. And if its ok,,,,I'll doubt that that chemical in the can comes out with proper use since I'm sure it evaporates very quickly. I know that's next is water from a compressor will evaporate too. I'll say maybe and maybe not, it depends.

BTW I never said to use or not to use a compressor. Was said in case someone using a compressor didn't realize that draining the tank and making sure they didn't have water (or oil), could be helpful.

Benny Boy said:

lol How did I know.
Yep, kinda. It's some kind of chemical (and no I don't want to know/care what it is) so it's not technically the same..ha ha -, If its a compresssor that uses oil then you can bet it's present as well. And if its ok,,,,I'll doubt that that chemical in the can comes out with proper use since I'm sure it evaporates very quickly. I know that's next is water from a compressor will evaporate too. I'll say maybe and maybe not, it depends.

BTW I never said to use or not to use a compressor. Was said in case someone using a compressor didn't realize that draining the tank and making sure they didn't have water (or oil), could be helpful.

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Its actually one in the same. The condensation is caused by the air pressure. Both produce condensation as a result of the pressure. Im not 100% sure, but I can bet the pressure from a can of compressed air is higher than that of a normal air compressor (probably close to at least 200psi) which is alot of pressure which is why with canned air the condensation builds up quicker than with an air compressor.

As for compressors that use oil, have no idea. Never used one. But an electric air compressor that does not use oil (at least Im pretty sure mine doesnt) should not produce near as much condensation as canned air due to lower pressure (unless your using some very expensive fancy air compressor to clean your PC).

In either case, unless your spraying out one spot on your computer for a minute or 2 solid there is no worry of any condensation reaching the components. Most smaller air compressors with say a 5 gallon tank (mine is 1 gallon) will run out of pressure before any unsafe amount of condensation is built up. My 1 gallon air compressor wont put out 100psi long enough for ANY condensation to build up.

Im just trying to say, that there should be no need to worry about condensation when using air compressors to clean out computers.

After a quick google, which I probably "learned" at one point in high school but chose to sleep for that class , the reason this happens is because the air pressure in the tank (or can) is decreasing.

I assume that you are cleaning old thermal paste off the bottom side of the heatsink for re-application of a new processor.
That is the only time you should clean your heatsink with liquid, and you need to make sure its completely dry before reapplying it to the processor.

Thanks for the inputs guys! My Pc is gonna get wasted as soon as I get my hands on some rubbing alcohol (I have to visit a pharmacy to get one with high alcohol concentration :X)

@seodirectorys I wanna clean fine dust residue on my gpu. They just refuse to come off cleanly.

Nice case. I've got the 932.

Your case has filters that will catch a lot of the dust and gunk. If you keep your filters clean, a can of compressed air will do pretty good for the interior.