Maintaining my computer

malikrthr

New member
I have been using my new computer for about a month now. It runs trainz 2010 pretty good. I have a cat in my house and dust gathers up pretty quickly. About every week, I just dust the exterior of my system case and my work station where my monitor and keyboard are. Now, it has been a month since I looked inside the case. Earlier this morning, I opened up one of the doors so I can see the inside of my case and the power supply, graphics card, and some empty spaces have gathered some dust. I would like to know, if anyone with a desktop computer ever really goes inside the case to clean it out. I am a bit afraid of actually going in there to clean out the dust because I do not want to break anything. Does anyone clean the inside of their computer or would it be best to just leave it along. For now, I just dust off the exterior of my system case almost every night.
 
Once every six months should be more than enough even with cat. If you have central air or forced air heating then a 3M Filtrete air filter should reduce the amount of dust in the whole house so you only need to think about cleaning the PC every year or so.

Basically try not to touch anything inside, so a gentle blow should work well. I use human lungs, you can get special attachments for a vacuum cleaner with a very small nozzle that can be used as well, but don't use something that attaches itself to one of the cards and then dislodges it.

Cheerio John
 
If you are worried that you might damage something then go to computer store. I take mine in every 12 months and they clean it up like new on the inside. Cost me $45 AUD last time.

Andrew.
 
Its a shame that laptops are not easily disassemblable, I would suggest a very light vacuuming of a laptop vents every couple days, in extremely dusty enviornments.
 
Thank you. I'll probably clean the inside of my computer at the end of this year. For now, I just plan on cleaning my monitor and outside of system case every week.
 
I have a question for the desktop that I built a while ago. Today, somebody gave me an ASUS 9500GT video card. I would like to know if it would work along with my super clocked EVGA GTX 550Ti video card. Would I get more fps or a performance increase if I have the 9500GT video card with the GTX 550Ti video card as opposed to just running the GTX 550Ti video card by itself?
 
No, to use SLR the two cards have to be the same model and Trainz will show little or no performance increase.
 
I have a question for the desktop that I built a while ago. Today, somebody gave me an ASUS 9500GT video card. I would like to know if it would work along with my super clocked EVGA GTX 550Ti video card. Would I get more fps or a performance increase if I have the 9500GT video card with the GTX 550Ti video card as opposed to just running the GTX 550Ti video card by itself?

You would need 2 GTX550ti's to use SLI. They don't have to be from the same manufacturer, you could have an ASUS and an EVGA for example, but they have to be the same model and memory. Also, if they are of different speeds, say one is overclocked, they will run at the slower speed when linked together.
 
Well, you could configure 9500GT to run other applications in the background and 550Ti to handle the main Trainz Graphics. so even its not an SLI, It will show some improvement, thats what I did with my 8600 GTS
 
Thank you. I'll probably clean the inside of my computer at the end of this year. For now, I just plan on cleaning my monitor and outside of system case every week.

You could just get rid of the cat.......:eek:

*Just joking, I'm a dog person.
 
In that respect it should be avoided using the extra card just for Physx, not necessarily trainz related however using the slower card tends to slow down the faster one by bottlenecking it.
 
In that respect it should be avoided using the extra card just for Physx, not necessarily trainz related however using the slower card tends to slow down the faster one by bottlenecking it.
Not really all tests I have seen and done myself actually have improved FPS. Even with an ancient card matched with a 660TI improved its average fps by 2 or 3. It isn't a lot but in some cases it is noticeable.
 
Hello everyone:). Recently, I got a GTX 570 graphics card. Even though this is an older graphics card, I have heard many great things about it. I was thinking of using the GTX 570 card as my main Trainz graphics card and the GTX 550Ti as the PhysX card. Below is a list of what I plan on doing as far as setting this up. I am sorry for the long list and all the details. I think this will make for a good Trainz computer with this graphics card configuration and the slightly overclocked RAM. I think there will be a lot less stuttering in heavily detailed areas and an increase in fps. I look forward to running my computer with Trainz: A New Era once it's released.

1. Uninstall the current graphics drivers so I can start off from fresh. Afterwards, go to the Nvidia site and download the latest driver for the Geforce 500 series graphics cards. I was thinking about checking the site every month or so and if a new driver comes out, I'll uninstall the previous driver.

2. Turn the computer off and let it cool off for several minutes. Unplug the GTX 550Ti card from the PCIeX16 slot.

3. Put the GTX 570 card in the PCIeX16 slot and put the GTX 550Ti card in the PCIeX4 slot

5. Go into the BIOS. Currently my RAM is set to 1333 MHZ. I was going to overclock it to 1600Mhz.

6. In the Nvidia Control Panel, configure both graphics cards
 
I finally got the GTX 570 in my PC. Right now, my Major Tri State Area Project is running even smoother than before with even more detail and some antialiasing. Still a couple of micro stutters here and there but I don't mind. Below is a picture of my computer now. I look forward to running Trainz A New Era once it's released.

 
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Re. cleaning the PC - I've very neurotic about static and I was advised not to take a vacuum cleaner anywhere near it!

Paul
 
I finally got the GTX 570 in my PC. Right now, my Major Tri State Area Project is running even smoother than before with even more detail and some antialiasing. Still a couple of micro stutters here and there but I don't mind. Below is a picture of my computer now. I look forward to running Trainz A New Era once it's released.

<image removed>

Nice and clean!

Great new PC and video cards. I wish you lots of good luck with your machine. :)
 
Thank you JCitron. I try to keep the PC clean every now and then when I get the chance. First, I make sure I turn the power off on the PC and disconnect it from the wall. Then I use a can of compressed air on the inside and outside of the case.
 
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