[gururafiki]

OK, so I had in interesting thought. The G5 has 7 or 8 (I think) fans that cool it innards. These fans suck a lot of air in through the front of the G5, along with any flying debris (i.e. dust). And dust, as I understand, is a computer killer. So, since the G5 has all these fans sucking air in, you are bound to get dust inside your G5. Is this something that might affect the life of a G5, especially when compared to other computers that don't have as many fans?

[The Placid Casual]

Dust will always get in, no matter what, and how many fans you have!

I was shocked at how much dust there was in my Dual 450, and my Athlon box (8 fans) sucks in ridiculous amounts of stuff! (heck, I'm sure people get sucked toward it sometimes! )

The only way to solve the situation is buy vent filters and stuff, but even this would not be an option on the G5...

My solution would be to get a can of compressed air and just blow all the dust out of the G5 every few weeks depending on build up...

[jcadam]

I remember opening my //e after a few years of not messing with the innards. Gawd, I've never seen that much dust inside a computer since. Of course, it still worked. But then I don't think overheating was an issue with that 1MHz 6502.

[jamesa]

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
I was shocked at how much dust there was in my Dual 450, and my Athlon box (8 fans) sucks in ridiculous amounts of stuff! (heck, I'm sure people get sucked toward it sometimes! )

You know that Apple G5 ad where the guy gets blown out of the house?

I have it on good authority that all Apple had to do for that ad was reverse the fan direction.

-- james

[djohnson]

[gururafiki]

After seeing the inside of my friends G4 450, and all the dust it has, I started to worry about the G5 a little. Because of how the fans suck air through the tower like a wind tunnel, is it going to have a shorter life span then say a G4 because dust has an easier time getting in? Or am I worrying too much?

[Vader�s Pinch of Death]

I have never heard of a computer that died from dust. It is not like they have allergies.

I have seen plenty of 10 year old Mac's crammed full of dust that still work 100%

But, I do want to keep the G5 sexy so after a couple months use it had some light dust so I just blasted it away with compressed air.

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by Vader�s Pinch of Death:
I have never heard of a computer that died from dust. It is not like they have allergies.

I have seen plenty of 10 year old Mac's crammed full of dust that still work 100%

But, I do want to keep the G5 sexy so after a couple months use it had some light dust so I just blasted it away with compressed air.

I've heard of loads of machines that have died from dust! (Well Ok, not *loads*, but more than 5... )

Temperatures can go *way* up in a short time span when the Heatsink and fan gets covered in a layer of dust, but it takes lots of dust to kill a whole system.

Unless you are planning on using the machine in Baghdad or something, you'll be fine gururafiki...

[djohnson]

My beige G3 is what I still use and it is full of dust and dog hair. I dont feel like cleaning it out and it still works great! One of these days I will get some compressed air and the vacuum cleaner and go to town, until then though, it will stay full of dust!

[fizzlemynizzle]

Something to ponder.

Open up a computer that's full of dust and lint and crap from just a few years of constant "breathing".

Now think about what your body's air intake system must be looking like considering it also breathes 24/7 and chances are is far older than your computer.

[Vader�s Pinch of Death]

Originally posted by fizzlemynizzle:
Something to ponder.

Open up a computer that's full of dust and lint and crap from just a few years of constant "breathing".

Now think about what your body's air intake system must be looking like considering it also breathes 24/7 and chances are is far older than your computer.

Your nose has filters and your body can break down waste unlike computers.

Just like if you scratch your finger it heals but if you scratch your car it does not.

[rhogue islander]

I've had my Dual G5 for four months now. I recently opened it to check for dust buildup and was surprised at how little there was.

My PC's seem to gather dust much more quickly. Perhaps this is due to the higher rpm's of their fans.

[gururafiki]

Originally posted by rhogue islander:
I've had my Dual G5 for four months now. I recently opened it to check for dust buildup and was surprised at how little there was.

My PC's seem to gather dust much more quickly. Perhaps this is due to the higher rpm's of their fans.

Or maybe because of the design of the G5 the dust is blown out of the back easier?

[rhogue islander]

Yeah, that's an interesting idea. With all those compartmented thermal zones served by fore and aft fans, perhaps dust that enters is just as quickly expelled for the most part

[chris v]

Due to the nature of the t-shirt biz, (think lint) my work computers exist in a very dusty environment. Every six months or so, I drag them out near the compressor, and blast all the dust out at 150 PSI. The ensuing cloud can make it hard to breathe for a few minutes. They get really, really dusty. One of them is 4 years old, and the other is almost 2. Just keep up with it, like any other housekeeping chore, and there shouldn't be any reason to worry.

CV

[billybob128]

there was very little dust in my G5 after around 3 months but i got the duster out and cleaned anyway. no-body seems worried bout the iMacs or laptops though i say just clean every now and then and it should be ok but without a compressor how do we clean behind the heatsinks?

[ryju]

I'm allergic to dust, so maybe it could kill ME.

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by billybob128:
...but without a compressor how do we clean behind the heatsinks?

Buy yourself a can of compressed "air" duster from your local computer store or office store and blast away. Very effective.

[Deestar]

Not sure how true this is but from this thread on Macrumors since the new G5 firmware (5.1.4) was released, the fans actually reverse thrust from time to time to blow out dust.

Pretty cool if true

MacRumors Forum

"According to our independent analysis, the fan now spins at a higher rpm, but uses less electricity and kicks on less frequently. It also runs more quietly and with lower torque. Furthermore, from time to time it now automatically spins backwards for 30 secs at a time, thereby reducing the accumulation of dust on the fan blades, and preventing dead air hot zones within the cpu tower."

[Commodus]

It's my opinion that the G5 is actually less likely to accumulate dust, because the case was designed to have a constant flow of air through it. Most cases might have fewer entrance points for dust, but they also don't tend to have a constant, unidirectional airflow in all parts of the case.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by Deestar:
Not sure how true this is but from this thread on Macrumors since the new G5 firmware (5.1.4) was released, the fans actually reverse thrust from time to time to blow out dust.

Pretty cool if true

MacRumors Forum

"According to our independent analysis, the fan now spins at a higher rpm, but uses less electricity and kicks on less frequently. It also runs more quietly and with lower torque. Furthermore, from time to time it now automatically spins backwards for 30 secs at a time, thereby reducing the accumulation of dust on the fan blades, and preventing dead air hot zones within the cpu tower."

Well I really haven't noticed anything like that. The only change I see is that when you start into firewire target mode the fans don't go loco.

[olePigeon]

And the moral of the story is: clean your computer.

[daydreamer]

once in a year will be enough.

[cdhostage]

If you immerse your G5 in Flourinert then dust will not accumulate. Of course, getting to the FireWire ports would be difficult, but it's a small price to pay for A CLEAN SOUL!!!!!

[gururafiki]

Originally posted by cdhostage:
If you immerse your G5 in Flourinert then dust will not accumulate. Of course, getting to the FireWire ports would be difficult, but it's a small price to pay for A CLEAN SOUL!!!!!

what is flourinert?

[Madison]

It's a liquid that you can actually immerse electrical components in, and they'll keep running. Of course, it's EXPENSIVE, and evaporates if you give it a real mean look.