Cruelty

[Zipa]

This reminds me, I've cleaned my PC plenty of times but never took out my 4 year old GTX 580s to clean them specifically. I'm really worried I'll tear the sli bridge or just break something else.

Should I be worried about taking them out to clean the fans or am really overstating how fragile Graphics Cards are?

GPUs are fairly robust pieces of kit, removing them to clean shouldn't do any damage. As for your SLI bridge, you can remove it from one of the cards before taking the card out of your PC. That way you don't have to worry about damaging it or trying to take out both cards at the same time.

 

[LordLundar]

This reminds me, I've cleaned my PC plenty of times but never took out my 4 year old GTX 580s to clean them specifically. I'm really worried I'll tear the sli bridge or just break something else.

Should I be worried about taking them out to clean the fans or am really overstating how fragile Graphics Cards are?

Eh, you're overstating. Simple procedure really to remove a card with an SLI bridge:

-Disconnect the bridge by pulling it out at the connection to the card (solid bridges you'll have to remove fully but it's the same procedure.

-Disconnect any power connections on the card.

-Remove the locking system at the plate (ie remove the screw holding or unhook the hold down in a screwless design)

-Disengage the PCI-E lock at the motherboard connection furthest from the face plate. Essentially the opposite corner of where the face plate lock is. You will either have to push down to release it or pull it to the side depending on model. ( http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/1021/gigabyte_p55_pcie.jpg the blue and orange slots on this picture are PCI-E and use the "pull away" lockdown design. http://hothardware.com/newsimages/Item17921/MSI_Z68A.jpg the blue slots on this one are PCI-E and use both the hinge lockdown that you have to push down to release and the "pull away" design)

-Pull the card straight out. It's seated fairly solidly so you will have to give it some effort. If it's not moving at all you missed a connection.

To put it back in you just reverse the process excluding the PCI-E lock. That should engage when the card is seated properly similar to how a RAM slot works.

All that said, removing the card for air cleaning is optional if you can get the nozzle for compressed air in close enough. Hold down the fan and put some blasts down the heat sink. It should be enough to dislodge most dust and debris that accumulated there.

Now back on the original topic, you know what the really sad thing is? I do system replacements for banks, stores and similar and those systems make this one look pristine by comparison. Picture systems that have been in use over 8 years (one project had systems running 95 when we did an XP swap out and that was when windows 7 just came on the market) and the last time they were clean was when they were originally installed. THAT's tragic.

 

[DJjaffacake]

...You're supposed to clean your PC?

 

[Rattja]

Aww should have used the one where she gave her the finger, liked that one. Although she has the right to be sad, no one should ever treat a PC this way, poor thing.

I really enjoyed the video, it's great fun to see how this thing is actually made and how the work process is. Everyone has their way of doing things so it is always fun to see how different people approach making something. You apparently seem to be all over the place and I love it. "Fuck it I'll draw over here on this thing now"

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't get it. I don't get what's going on in panel 2. I don't get the joke. Poking fun at old CPUs?

 

[LordLundar]

I don't get it. I don't get what's going on in panel 2. I don't get the joke. Poking fun at old CPUs?

Let me give you an analogy: You change the oil on your care, give it regular maintenance, take it to a mechanic for repairs, etc to keep it running. Am I correct? Well a computer needs that level of care as well or it will suffer a severely shortened life span and crap out well before it should. What's being presented is a computer that had the worst possible setup ie. enclosed place with no ventilation (seriously Ikea who has computer desks with a dedicated Tower cabinet and no airflow?) and absolutely no preventative maintenance done, resulting in it's preemptive "death". It's being presented like Animal rescue which shows pets being mistreated to tug at people's emotions.

 

[Skeleon]

Erin, you oddball. I'd get being upset for the loss of your own rig, but crying over a stranger's old computer? Yeah, she sees computers kind of like pets, that's the joke. But this is like getting teary-eyed over somebody's toaster breaking and even as a PC gamer it carries no emotional weight to me. Have Erin cry over her own computer starting to fail, the vent rattling, her realizing she didn't take as much care of it as she should have and so on, wrecked with guilt for letting "her baby" down or what have you. Bah, I'm probably just overthinking it.

 

[lacktheknack]

...You're supposed to clean your PC?

YOU MONSTER.

OT: Now I'm watching animal rescue videos and crying. Thanks, guys.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't get it. I don't get what's going on in panel 2. I don't get the joke. Poking fun at old CPUs?

Let me give you an analogy: You change the oil on your care, give it regular maintenance, take it to a mechanic for repairs, etc to keep it running. Am I correct? Well a computer needs that level of care as well or it will suffer a severely shortened life span and crap out well before it should. What's being presented is a computer that had the worst possible setup ie. enclosed place with no ventilation (seriously Ikea who has computer desks with a dedicated Tower cabinet and no airflow?) and absolutely no preventative maintenance done, resulting in it's preemptive "death". It's being presented like Animal rescue which shows pets being mistreated to tug at people's emotions.

Thank you for the translation. And holy moly, the're 2004 join dates? I feel little.

 

[SupahEwok]

I really must take umbrage with this strip.

There's no way somebody with a CRT monitor would have a GTX 970 GPU!

Strip was a nice laugh.

Edit: Watched the video. Very interesting look at how the strip is made, along with comics in general.

 

[sageoftruth]

Time to call the ASPCPC
(American Society of Prevention of Cruelty to PCs)

 

[Alcom1]

My eye twitched when I noticed that the cooler's plates face the wrong direction.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I just hope my computer never gets on that show. ;~;

 

[Rad Party God]

As is the way of our people, I shall engage in this game of one-upsmanship.

I have two laptops which are both approaching 5+ years of age, neither have ever been formatted, neither have received a Windows Update since 2011/2012 (though to be fair, Windows Update is the worst), and the last time I used compressed air on the fans was likely over a year ago now. And I don't know how it is in other places, but Vermont is a relatively dusty state.

I do routinely wipe down the fan outer screens for my gaming laptop, though.

My HP laptop from 2004 still has Windows XP installed and I haven't formated it since ~2005.

 

[marioandsonic]

Good thing I try to air out my PC every 6 months or so.

*pats PC tower* It's the first PC I ever built, so I'd never let anything happen to my firstborn.

...My dad's PC, on the other hand...

 

[J Tyran]

Reminds me of my 14yr old nephew that removed the fan from his Xbox 360 after it started rattling and buzzing, it apparently lasted under a minute.

My friends Dad was another classic, his ageing HP Pavilion desktop was annoying him because every 5-10 mins it would shut down and he had to keep restarting it. The CPU thermal overload protection was kicking in, did he try cleaning it, attempt to diagnose the issue or replace any defective fans?

Nope, he went into the BIOS and turned off the thermal protection. It partially solved the problem I guess, he didn't need to keep restarting it because his next shutdown was the last...

 

[CaitSeith]

OMG! That owner is sick! It's too much! I can't stand what they show in there! T_T

 

[Lunar Templar]

>.> wow ... I suddenly don't feel quiet as bad about the neglect' my PC gets.


I mean I at least take an air can to it now and then, I even take the side off to do it to.

 

[Silverbane7]

i would be like....
hell i HAVE been like that once with a pc that came into work. though i have to admit there was no partialy decayed rat carcas ontop of its graphics card....it had onboard....

the worst i have ever had was a machine that had been used by a very *very* heavy smoker.
you know how the cpu fan gets covered in fluff and dust, and you can just carefully ease it away with a nail or the edge of a screwdriver?
when i did that....the plastic itself came away, leaving little almost hamster like chewed marks on the plastic. the tar and so on had eaten away at the plastic of the cpu fan....

*shudder*

 

[K.ur]

Well, my cpu is from 2009, still works and never saw an aircan. I use a bottle-brush and the vacuum cleaner.