Posted 09/28/2008 at 10:44:42am

A request from old irons here to write your favorite video card manufacturers and ask them to make video cards with easy-open access to the internal cooling fins (heat sinks).  I live in a fairly clean non-smoking home and I still need to open my PC and clean the dust out of it every 3-to-6 months.  I use a can of compressed air (platic straw) and a vacuum cleaner hose (plastic nozzle) to grab the dust clouds the compressed air blasts out.  I've tried PC mag's (and my own) designs to filter the air intakes, but any mesh fine enough to stop small dust particles significantly reduces air flow.  PC case manufacturers have been making tool-less entry for some time, but video cards are getting larger and tighter with more heat sink fins (and internal fans) making them particularly difficult to clean.  Even after a good air blast, surface dust residue can remain and trap heat.  Like washing a car, you really need physical contact to remove that heat-insulating surface layer.  I sometimes use a soft 1-inch paint brush, something with non-static bristles, to wipe while I vacuum.  Hopefully, water-cooling will reduce these issues.  Meanwhile, please ask nVidia, ATI, and other heat sink manufacturers and users to focus not only on the factory-new performance they advertise and sell, but making products we can maintain at that performance level for a reasonable extended time at home (at least 3 years PC warranty?).  Thanks!