Did a thorough cleaning for the computer and NAS.

Foreword

I'm exhausted from the recent move

After taking apart and packing my desktop PC and NAS, I had them transported here via a cargo moving service

Tips: When a desktop computer needs long-distance transport, you must remove components like the graphics card, cooler, and RAM to prevent damage from vibrations during transit

When I was about to reassemble them, I noticed both machines were incredibly dusty, with thick layers of grime

So I decided to give them a thorough "spring cleaning"—completely removing all the dust and reapplying thermal paste

Prepare the Tools

Since I was ready to go, I immediately ordered compressed air and thermal paste.

This is my first time using compressed air; before, I'd only used it in PC-building simulators. I feel like it'll be very satisfying for dust removal.

Besides these two, there are also a small brush and an air blower, all essential tools for cleaning dust.

Here’s a special shot of them.

This is the thermal paste.

NAS

First, let's clean up the dirtiest NAS.

This NAS I have is a QNAP TS464C bought a few years ago. I even wrote an article about it back then: Personal Data Preservation Plan: (1) NAS Unboxing

Disassembly

Remove the screws from the casing

By sliding it, the casing can be removed

Remove the metal frame securing the hard drive to reveal the motherboard

I didn't expect the CPU to have no fan; it is cooled by the heatsink (散热片)

Look at how dirty this fan is, covered in a thick layer of dust

The removed metal casing looks like this

Fan

The fan is the focus of cleaning

Too much dust can prevent the fan from spinning, reducing its cooling effectiveness.

From a different angle

After disassembly

Other Components

Motherboard

The motherboard also requires dust removal to enhance its heat dissipation capability.

From a different angle

M.2 SSD Expansion Card

CPU

The heatsink requires removing four plastic pins on the back of the motherboard—just press with a flathead screwdriver to detach it.

After removal, you can see the CPU's thermal paste (硅脂) has completely dried out.

First, clean off the old thermal paste thoroughly.

Take out the thermal paste and the small tool, and prepare to apply the thermal paste.

![image-20250606001541963]

Actually, you don’t necessarily need to use this scraper either.

Once applied, just press down with the heatsink, and you’re good to go.

Summary

With that, the NAS major cleaning is complete. The next step is to put all the components back together.

Be careful not to finish the assembly and realize you have a few extra screws left over! 😃

However, after I put it back together, I found I had installed a few screws in the wrong places 😂. But it shouldn't be a big problem—as long as it fits, it's fine~

After cleaning the dust and replacing the thermal paste, the biggest difference is the quietness. This NAS has been in use for several years, and the noise had increased, with quite noticeable heat generation.

As you can see from the disassembly, the CPU doesn't have a fan. Therefore, after prolonged use, once the thermal paste dries out, the heat output becomes significantly higher.

Desktop

This was relatively simple, no major issues.

The thermal paste was indeed dried out; during the last transport, I didn't replace it, which often caused overheating and crashes.

After clearing the dust and replacing the thermal paste this time, it's much quieter and generates less heat.

However, I noticed that Huolala seems to have damaged one of my desktop's feet. 😂

![image-20250606002409364]

I found the broken foot inside the cardboard box.

The middle part snapped off and is beyond repair.

I've already opened the shopping app and started browsing for a new computer case. 😂

Summary

After the 14x was sent for repair last time, many netizens said that there was too much dust in my machine causing cooling issues.

Now I pay more attention to the issue of dust removal and cooling. After giving the machine a thorough cleaning, the improvement was indeed very noticeable, though I was completely exhausted... 😂