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Dust friendly computer?

biff

biff

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Next year I'm moving to a new house, garage is nearly twice as big, so it's a clean slate to make my workshop just the way I like it. Anyway I want to put a computer out there. Primary concern is I do wood working out there and the machine will quick fill up with sawdust. I certainly don't need a lot of processing power for what I need to do. It'll be used for playing some working tunes, displaying my CAD drawings and very minor CAD work like a quick change or checking dimensions etc. saving me about 6 miles of total walking back and forth to my main machine in the basement, and a little bit of internet use.

I'll probably pick everything up used that I need, I'm sure any C2D or even an old athlon XP would probably be good enough. I've got a couple things like an old 17" LCD P.O.S. monitor. Is there and type of hardware or build method that would lend it self better than standard stuff. Should I just make a basic tower, seal up the gaps, use that fluffy filter stuff over the intake holes and call it a day?

To me that last solution probably seems the simplest but I thought I'd throw this out there incase somebody had some good ideas.
 
Something like an Atom that requires next to no cooling might be an idea, with a small fanless PSU. If it's not sucking in air, it shouldn't suck in dust.
 
if you seal everything else off, the front port of some of the basic antec cases have filters. so you would have the intake there and have air going out the back. and I would suggest the motherboard that was used in that weird cube build, it has good memory capabilities, built in GPU and really simple cooling.

EDIT : I hold by the case idea, but I just looked at the numbers on the CPU and that would probably get bogged down really quickly by CAD. so ya, keep with the C2D idea. someone else will have to make a suggestion for the PSU.
another Idea that you could use is to drill a hole into another room where there will be less dust and place the computer there and run the cables to the peripherals in your workshop.
 
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I was wondering this possible solution to avoid dust getting into a computer in general is if one used an air purifier that was stationed right beside or ontop of the computer (or the opposite side of the room whichever works better). My thoughts are that the air purifier is suppose to take out a lot of those air contaminants and dust is suppose to be one of them, i dont know if this would work or if its just a pipe dream...
 
It may be but would that help combat dust against a normal computer, i am not one who enjoys doing the ol dust clean removal (even though i do it) and would like an alternative (sorry for hijack)
 
The Atom is a good idea, you can use the case as heat sink. they do a lot of them in case that look like a care amplifier you don't need HD and DVD too..

mini-itx.com - store - Mini-ITX vehicle cases and power

markone-albums-rad-picture172-voompc2.jpg
 
don't worry too much

Sawdust gets into everything. :thumb:

Get a large heat sink for the CPU and try to find one with bigger spaces between the fins. I would put the hard drive in a bag or a sealed box to keep dust out of it.

Since it is competing with power tools I guess noise is not really a big concern. I would find a case that is mostly closed and put several fast fans blowing into the case to provide positive pressure and try to keep the fluff out. Cover the fans with some light cloth as a filter and just run the shop vac over it now and then.

If you are using used gear I would not worry too much about it. Especially if you cut down on the small fans and thin heatsink fins. Anything solid state is pretty durable. If you have all kinds of money then there are some bullet proof options in the industrial arena but it would not be worth it to me.
 
Use silk stockings to cover any fan holes and put the HDD into one. I found that the stocking make the best filters; don't worry about saw dust - the particles are too large to pass through the stockings.

Use low speed fans too to help prevent dust movement.
 
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