Why you should regularly clean your laptops

These pics should adequately explain why regular laptop fan cleaning is necessary.

Gadgets Tech Thoughts

2 minutes

Today I would just like to share with you some results from my yearly laptop cleanse. Normally I do it earlier in the year, but the last time I cleaned my Acer Predator Helios 300 was 0001 BC (BC = before COVID).

Photos #

Here’s what it looked like immediately upon opening up the laptop:

Underside of an Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop with the case cover removed.
Hmm, is that all? Not too horrib–

Here’s the year’s worth accumulation of gunk from one of the fans:

A large accumulation of dust and debris in the laptop's exhaust fan assembly.
–OH GOD THE HUMANITY (Tech gore, NSFW)

Here’re the clumps of dust I was able to extract, this doesn’t include the loose dust that was blown away:

Some of the clumped up dust bunnies, beside a large pill.
Conzace for scale

I use my laptop elevated on a stand 100% of the time (I travel with the stand, it’s very portable) and despite that, this happened.

Benchmarks #

Before #

Anyway, immediately before cleaning, I ran an SotTR benchmark. These were the results:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark results screen showing 4457 frames rendered at an average FPS of 29.
29 FPS Avg

And here were the CPU/GPU temps, fan speeds, and core clocks:

Performance monitoring software showing CPU and GPU temperatures above 80°C while under relatively little load.
Throttled AF

After #

After cleaning the fans, replacing the thermal paste with Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, and replacing the memory module thermal pads with Thermalright Extreme Odyssey pads, these are the benchmark results:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark results screen showing 9741 frames rendered at an average FPS of 62.
62 FPS Avg

And here are the new temps, fan speeds, and core clocks:

Performance monitoring software showing CPU and GPU temperatures above 80°C, but at much more performant loads.
OMG dat GPU core clock boost

That’s all I have to share. Hopefully this drives home the importance of cleaning your things. If you have any questions, please Google first and then ask me after.

Comments: