Top 5 ways to make your PC faster for FREE!

[@TitaniumLegRay]

Motherboard bios 0:40 Enable XMP-DOCP 2:32 MSI Afterburner Power limit & Fan Curve 5:52 System clean up + Memory 7:52 Clean the entire physical System 10:50

[@47575344]

doing gods work

[@zangtokyo1]

W human

[@kalestra4198]

Saved me 15min, thanks

[@squalley]

or, watch all the way through 🤔🫢🤭🫶🏾🥃

[@prozoomy]

And download more ram

[@obiwanceleri]

Pro tip : if you're using compressed air from a can, PLEASE always use the can vertically since you might have liquid air coming out from the nozzle and it can be VERY COLD and BREAK COMPONENTS (It happened to one of my favorite sound cards years ago!) Another point to consider with air from a can : don't use the air stream on continuously! Use a series of small 1-2 second shots so it will not get too cold (and damage your components). One last thing. If you do use XMP / DOCP, you NEED to test your system RAM for a while. Memtest86+ comes to mind. Failure to do so might result in ram errors and corrupt file transfers (since they are copied to ram when the system copies it from media to media).

[@schnickoman]

also, don't shake the can, almost as bad as using it upside down, learnt that from linus, i thought it was just normal for the can to be less effective towards the end but turns out the drop off shouldn't be that bad

[@notreallyme425]

I just used my battery powered leaf blower on lowest speed and about 3 feet away. Worked great.

[@trentonbennettVO]

Very good point. I bought a cheap blower from Amazon and haven't had to use a can for years. Really handy because no propellant involved. :)

[@notreallyme425]

@@trentonbennettVO yep, just needed to vacuum the carpet afterwards. Probably shouldn’t let the dust get that thicc!

[@scottbowman8405]

I do not use canned air anymore, but when i did, i always made sure to let the system sit for at least a good half hour after blowing it out. canned air in my experience always produces moisture. It's very possible to cause a short in your system because there is moisture in the wrong place. i think it would really suck to try to take care of my system by cleaning it but end up causing a time consuming (and probably expensive) system broken scenario.

[@carbon_no6]

Thanks to this channel I’ve finally built my first PC! Nothing special to anyone whose ever built one before, but I’m not them, I’m me. For being 36 years old, I’ve come to grips that I will forever be unimaginably ignorant when it comes to computers. Either way, this channel has given me enough knowledge to be able to build my system!

[@eddiec1961]

Well done we all built our 1st pc at some stage.

[@xerowolf4242]

I built my first PC in June of last year at 38 years old but just upgraded it to what I really wanted last month. I found it to be a lot of fun going through the process of learning from youtube vids during the GPU shortage and then finally getting to build one was so rewarding. I wish I took the leap into PC building 10 years ago but better late than never.

[@Taylor377]

Congrats man...there is always a 1st time...i've been building my rigs for years and it's very rewarding...when you hit the power button and you get a post...best feeling in the world!!

[@JimKJ3N]

I've been building PCs for as long as you've been alive. Damn, I feel old.... oh wait, I am. 🤣 Oh, and Get Off My Lawn, kid. 😉🤣

[@darkstorminc]

I built my first PC when the internet was still a novelty and everyone was still struggling with 56k modems. No helpful KZbin videos back then.

[@watchraventhehostage5938]

My go-to blower tool is a basic hair dryer. DON'T use the hot setting. My basic Revlon comes with a boost trigger that boosts the fan while turning the heat off. I also use a soft bristle paint brush to loosen the dust buildup on the fan blades and air cooler crevices beforehand. I do the same with my keyboard. It's worked well so far.

[@smo7089]

Isn't the air from hair dryer potentially charged with static?

[@watchraventhehostage5938]

@@smo7089 If it was, wouldn't your hair be a frizzy mess by the time it was done drying? Knowing my own hair, one blow dry & I'd be able to blow up a car battery.

[@phenomanII]

Mine is a bicycle tire pump. Lower pressure than a compressor, more eco friendly than canned air and a free workout. Just use one that has a hose so you don't end up stabbing anything with the nozzle while pumping.

[@watchraventhehostage5938]

@@phenomanII That's cool. My Schwinn gets 85 fps on 4k medium settings. 😁

[@georgejones5019]

They make blowers like this for PCs, I've used them for work.

[@pupaepedorra]

Mr. TwoCents, we need a "Top 5 ways to make your PC slower for FREE!" video, it will be a novelty.

[@mauirixxx]

Would make for a good April Fools video 😂

[@smartgorilla]

Add rgb software and cc cleaner

[@F4llen4ngel130]

It would only take installing limewire lol shït would give your computer aids lol

[@cael_1303]

lol I picture it as basically doing the opposite of everything in this video. Of course one of the opposite steps in this one could leave your pc bricked.

[@byCDMC]

Use wallpaper engine, that's one.... lol

[@Matt43]

Good tips on blowing out a system, I use a small blower like you guys do. Since I blow out systems fairly often and only take fans off to wipe down the fins every 3-6 months, depending on the system... For the times I'm not taking them out, I hold a finger on the fan(s) or between the blades while blowing out the area around them to prevent them from spinning up.

[@Smudger006]

Always good to revisit stuff like this so thank you. I am sure it’s been mentioned before in previous videos. But my tip: If your placing your tower on a floor and it’s carpeted. Use some MDF or board as a flat hard surface. It’s easy to clean and does not suffocate your bottom fans or power supply dragging all that dust into the system. The amount of friends and family I visit and have it on carpet. Drives me nuts!!!

[@MindstabThrull]

With respect to enabling the power limit and fan curve, something I just found out: If you don't see a power limit slider on Afterburner, try changing to a different skin. I went from the default Afterburner skin v2 to default skin v3 and suddenly the slider came up. So if you don't see it - try checking your skin! (Settings -> User Interface, which is the last tab and you might have to use the arrows at the top to get to it.)

[@shri-jan021]

@shri-jan021 0 seconds ago my Win C is showing optimization not available(ssd) why?In optimization option

[@grievesy83]

Pay attention to airflow direction. I had a GTX 1070ti in a case with three front intake fans. Then I realised that GPU exhausts out the end of the card, not the sides; this means one of the case fans was blowing directly at the GPU exhaust really trapping the hot air in the GPU cooler. I REMOVED the middle front intake fan that was level with the GPU and it ran much, much better as it wasn’t thermal throttling. More fans doesn’t always equate to more cooling - pay attention to airflow direction as moving air in the right direction can be way more important than just moving more air.

[@trentonbennettVO]

Great point--this was also an issue with the nVidia 2000 series RTX cards, in particular the 2080: the nVidia reference cards didn't blow air out the back of the card, so it took some management to get the heat from two of them in SLi out of the case.

[@shri-jan021]

my Win C is showing optimization not available(ssd) why?In optimization option

[@Grainsauce]

Before you update your bios , be sure you have a way to revert back to the older bios , for example I updated mine because I hadn't updated it since I built it a few years ago and was constantly getting blue screen crash's afterwords, went back to older bios no issues, in short if everything is working fine do not update your bios .

[@jankoutecky4771]

Another tip: Make sure to not have a completely full disks of data. Specially your OS drive. It will slow down your drive and could blue screen due to Windows not being able to perform updates.

[@jondonnelly3]

Amazing how my servers i fix cause they run out of space. Yeah servers... For some bloody reason they like to use a tiny partition or os drive. So bad it won't boot in safe mode.

[@DavidDufourq]

Not with an Intel Optane drive.

[@thepathnotfound]

Worked at a aluminum smelter, the shop floor computers would not print when the hard drive got full, but back then then windows 2000 just kept running. The hard drives were tiny.

[@gecsus]

When you use air from any source to blow off fans; hold one of the fan blades gently with a finger, to stop it from spinning the fan, which can generate a back voltage in the system, which is not healthy for it. It also helps get more air through the fan to the device behind the fan.

[@DevinJHiggins]

Just wanted to thank you for your channel and content @JayzTwoCents I've been following you for about a year or so and based on the information you've provided about CPUs, GPUs, Motherboards, RAM, etc., I successfully solo-assembled my first PC two weeks ago! Got a DDR5 capable board with Ryzen 7/7700x CPU and 32GB of RAM, but the big worry was finding a decent GPU in my budget. After watching your MANY vids on the subject, I went with a Gigabyte 3060TI I got on Amazon from the company's page for about $450. So far, it's been running fantastic and as someone who never thought I'd be able to do my own build, what you do is greatly appreciated! Cheers!

[@Sergmanny46]

Crazy how the 3060 and 3060 Ti prices went down. Former is 280$ and latter is around 330-340$. It's a no brainer for anyone who wants to comfortably play at high/ultra 1080/1440p 60fps without raytracing (and let's face it, nobody cares about raytracing. VRAM size is more futureproof).

[@DevinJHiggins]

@@Sergmanny46 In hindsight, I realized I paid more than I probably would now for my 3060TI, but after a few months, I regret nothing. Meanwhile, gamers are falling all over themselves to still get 4000 series cards at super-inflated prices, just for more bells and whistles.

[@Sergmanny46]

@@DevinJHiggins Not much of a problem for me, as I'm in no particular rush of buying a GPU. 4060 Ti 16GB despite its price looks pretty much futureproof, considering everything it has to offer. 3060 and 3060 Ti are decent, but I don't want to have to lower the settings just to have a stable framerate (on new games at least).

[@MEUAR]

Hey good job building your first PC man! I'm knee-deep in first build rn too, 5 days of documenting myself and counting! It's pretty intimidating at first but so much fun at the same time! :D

[@DBW-Media]

12:25 I also tell people not to do this because an electric motor can also be a generator, so you're actually pumping reverse current back into your MOBO or fan controller! An air compressor, or for example my 5hp shop vac, can probably get those fans spinning quick enough to send back some legit voltage. Always love your vids Jay!!!

[@jerryg3652]

TLDR 1. Update Bios 2. Use XMP Ram profile 3. Overclock GPU power limit 4. Upgrade to SSD/ disable / remove programs that are starting up at boot 5. Clean dust from computer

[@casedistorted]

I swear he made this exact video like a year or two ago saying the exact same things

[@BrawndoQC]

@@casedistorted Not everyone has no life and have seen every videos. As basic it may seem to many of us, this is useful for newbies. You would be surprised how many computers have shit not optimized. I bet half the people here didn't even know you can use control-shift-escape to access task manager directly instead of using control-alt-del

[@squidwardo7074]

@@BrawndoQC That was me when i knew jackshit about computers. I remember checking task manager and seeing that my ram was stuck at 2133

[@nexusyang4832]

Sometimes updating the bios could make your system slower due to security updates to mitigate cpu issues.

[@rawj1213]

Great video! On a side note. I personally haven't had any problems with OneDrive. I just start it when I want to sync files and never have it running otherwise. It is disabled. But I do know that a lot of people have had problems with it. I like to optimize a ton so that's why I only have it run when I myself manually start it to sync.

[@zora_tech]

​@@foaed10:46 he did mention that it slows down your system rather than taking your data. I like it cause I never had an issue with it and it's just easy to set it and forget about it. Especially for someone like me that needs something that will work on my personal, work, and school computer. Unfortunately when it comes to work and school I can't really use much besides what is already installed. Otherwise I would have used an open source program instead.

[@rawj1213]

@@foaed He didn't mention anything about it taking data. But it is Microsoft. I am sure they do. Lmaooo.

[@rawj1213]

@@zora_tech Ye. It just has worked for me honestly. I don't have it automatically do anything. I had only one issue and that is the way it syncs your documents folder. Since it has so many changes going on all of the time. Open source would be dope. I should look into that!

[@ZMSaypol]

The reason he said to disable it is if you don't use it. If you do use it, don't. There are better file syncing apps like dropbox that aren't built in to Microsoft and aren't trying to steal your data. Not sure about this one but dropbox might be cheaper?

[@rawj1213]

@@ZMSaypol I don't pay for OneDrive. You get 5Gbs for free. If Dropbox is as easy and useful as OneDrive I would be inclined to give it a try! And he said "Nobody should be using OneDrive and if you are shame on you." He didn't really provide any context as to why you shouldn't use it. Microsoft stealing your data is pretty good one tho but like I said. My experience has been good with the way I use it personally. But if there is a better alternative for me I will be sure to use it!

[@nigelwright7557]

I know its not free but a massive difference for an old laptop is an SSD. Mine boots in about 30 seconds now compared to 5 minutes before. Its like a new pc now.

[@icexe1]

I disable animate windows in system settings. It makes your windows pop open instantly instead of fading in, that half a second you save when opening a window adds up to a far more responsive experience

[@desto13c]

My number one tip would be casing and air flow for non water cooling builds. I was using the old casing from 2010s which has stupid front brackets blocking the intake fans. System runs hot easily. When choosing new casing, I suggest get those with more spacing for bigger fan or AIO mounting. I made a mistake by choosing a nice casing instead of a practical casing. When I tried to put AIO into it, only to find out there is not enough space to install it at the top.

[@tomp538]

Jay, thanks for the tips. Been using compressed air from shop compressor for over 25 years to blow out the dust in TiVos and PCs. No problems encountered. Tips if you're going to use "shop air": Don't spin the fans. * Use conditioned air, that is air that is free of water. *Though I've never heard of a fan blade failing, breaking off, it is a possibility. Plus that permanent magnet motor becomes a generator when it is wind milling.

[@DBW-Media]

14:50 Tips for keeping system cool - probably the one thing people have trouble understanding for a first time build. I suggest, in general, to plan out the airflow through the case with priority going to supplying fresh air to the CPU and GPU, while maintaining positive pressure inside the case, and try not to intake air from the bottom of the case (dust). Having said that, it's pretty general, but as long as people follow that thought process, it should help. ALSO, as you noted in one of your videos a long time ago: try to avoid air bubbles in a liquid colling config (assuming they use an AIO) by mounting the radiator above the CPU or at least parallel, with the the loop inlet/outlets at the top (12 o'clock) of the CPU block to avoid air bubbles that will cause degradation of thermals and also cavitate the pump, and have the inlet/outlets on the radiator at the lowest point possible, just to ensure any air will just end up at the top of the radiator.

[@Sergmanny46]

This is too much of an advanced tip, and this video's aimed for beginners/people that've fairly barely touched a PC and don't even know what DDR4 is.

[@robertschlosser4986]

Hey Jay, thanks for your work Bro. I have been a tech for 33 years now and I have always used an air compressor to blow out the computers. He are the things that you need to do IF you decide to use an air compressor. 1) Set the air pressure to a lower setting, Not max 2) I take the tip/Air nozzle and slightly drill out the end to allow for more air at lower pressure, 3) YOU NEED TO HAVE A MOISTURE trap so that you are not spaying water mist onto or into your system. 4) No matter what you use your air compressor for, you should use the release valve on a regular basis to purge the tank of moisture that collects inside from the compression of the air.. and, if you are not going to use your compressor for an extended length of time, empty the tank. 5) I save this for last, you can use your finger to rest against a fan blade to keep the air from spinning the fan around. In most cases you do not need the fan turning to blow out the dust. This is not something you can do with the PS so I always blow air in at an angle instead of directly at the blade, and use small burst of air.. 6) Be sure that if you are buying compressed air in a can, that it is free of moisture. Some of the cheap cans of air are not and if you blow that air into your hand for about 7 seconds you will feel the moisture, No, I don't mean that the air will simply feel cold, it will feel damp.

[@Atlessa]

I have one: Make sure your screen is set to it's highest possible refresh rate. Never happened to me, but I heard Linus say that someone's screen was set to 60Hz even though it was capable of 240. Seems like TONS of wasted money (more than missing the XMP setting) to me.

[@mr.rogers4038]

An add on to this is make sure it's set in the game settings for whatever games you play. My buddy has a 144Hz monitor, but didnt have it set to 144 in game so he was only getting 60Hz

[@a.j.8926]

Hopefully, Jay pins this. I know he has talked about it before. Absolutely! Windows does not know you just bought and installed a 144hz monitor, you have to tell it. it is very easy. You just ---> right-click desktop, scroll down to advanced display settings and check your refresh rate. Jay told me this.

[@ano_nym]

Friend of mine had a similar problem. Got some 4k monitor and it was locked at 30 Hz iirc. He asked me if I knew anything so I searched around a bit. Found out that it was in some DisplayPort chaining mode (he hadn't activated it and most certainly didn't use it) which had to be disabled for it to work with faster refresh rates. Note: this was on the monitor itself, not in Windows (he was actually running Linux though iirc), so you had to go into the monitors menu and change it there.

[@shawnadams1965]

@@mr.rogers4038 Unfortunately some games break at anything higher than 60hz for example Destiny 2 anything over 60 causes you to take more damage in game, getting you one shotted at times. I'm really hoping they fix this soon. Not to mention all the Bugsheda games crap the bed at higher fps.

[@Amarrian.Spicer]

I appreciate your knowledge sir! Thank you for this.

[@surft]

You can actually just use a leaf blower on the lowest setting if you are just getting rid of dust (do it outside) . Just remember to tape the fans so they don't move.

[@ItsEmbers]

One of the best ways to make your PC faster and save power is undervolting your cpu or gpu (or both). I recommend watching videos on how to do it and it may take some time of playing around and testing for stability, but once done, it can bring decent performance uplifts at less power.

[@korone609]

trick I used for my old 1080 to get temps down a bit. I took some of the command strip velcro for hanging pictures and used it to attach an extra fan blowing air towards my GPU. Of course this will depend on your GPU's cooler and the rest of your setup but might help a bit. Also if you cable manage it well it's easy to take out if you need to get around it, then you can just stick it back on thanks to the velcro. All with no modification to the case.

[@trukr817]

Before I bought Blowymatron, I used my air compressor. The fans were not a problem, I put a zip tie through them so they couldn't spin. For the big cleaning, I took the cooler off and clean the fan blades and repasted. I also used my regulator to lower the pressure, I think I was using 30 PSI and NOT using focused pressure on components. I never, in years ever damaged anything cleaning that way. Blowymatron is just simpler to grab, I still put zip ties through fans when using that.

[@caffeinezombies]

Not sure what the complaint is with OneDrive. Of the cloud backups that I've used, it seems to ping my system the least often - so much so, that I rarely notice it even operating. Google drive, DropBox both would spend minutes to hours (at times) killing my system performance, and others have done the same. Do you have a video on this where you expand on the issue?

[@cyberknifes]

OneDrive consumes less resources. Jayz only presented his opinion, not facts.

[@caffeinezombies]

@cyberkn0t I get that, I'm asking why his opinion is the way it is. Not saying he's wrong, maybe he had a bad experience years ago. Maybe he's done testing, maybe it's just a side comment he didn't think much about, maybe he has a video I missed about cloud backup options? Don't know till I ask.

[@derrikgroves4004]

Same. No complaints with OneDrive. It's always running on all of my systems. I do, however, only use it as a separate storage forum, specifically for things I want or need to access anywhere. I don't use it to sync any of the folders between my systems (desktop, documents, pictures, etc)

[@K5Legion]

This is suuuuper specific to me but if I don't pay attention one drive will always run in the background and because Im essentially forced to use a cpu with a bad memory controller(for now, will be curious to see when I replace said cpu), when I Uninstall it, there's a noticeable difference in snappy-ness from windows operations. No clue why Jay would be saying it though. I'm sure if I actually used any other the problem would persist so it's likely not even a one drive problem.

[@tebonr]

@@derrikgroves4004 same. I use it for my work files only that need to be accessed on my iPad, phone or office computers. Doesn’t sync any of my local files. But I don’t notice any issues with it.

[@JKLauderdale]

11:48 Also, most people rarely ever drain their compressors so there's often water in your airline that you're forcibly spraying on/into your PC parts. If you're reading this and own a compressor, take it out back or run a hose to where the inevitable rust stain won't show and drain your tank

[@wile-e-coyote7257]

Thanks for the tips, Jay (and crew)! I clone my boot drive and clean intake filters 2x a month. I also do a general PC cleaning quarterly (case interior, fan blades, filters).

[@lilblackduc7312]

All the while, you're devising new ways to catch the Road Runner. "Beep Beep"!!! 🤪 😜 🤪 😁 🤣 😂

[@Sergmanny46]

What does cloning boot drive do? Does that speed it up somehow?

[@wile-e-coyote7257]

@@Sergmanny46 Cloning the boot drive to a 2nd drive of equal or greater capacity gives you a 100% EXACT copy of your boot drive. The clone copy is bootable! For years now I've been using Macrium Reflect (software) for this process. Cloning does NOT speed up or provide any maintenance improvements to your source boot drive.

[@Sergmanny46]

@@wile-e-coyote7257 So, why do you clone your boot drive every 2 weeks?

[@wile-e-coyote7257]

@@Sergmanny46 I clone before I update software, OS, and other things - so I have an immediate fallback if anything goes south on me. I could actually do this on a monthly basis and be just fine.

[@wewey5684]

You can clean your system using a 500 watt leaf blower, thats not compressed so air is not focused in one spot, but it does the job, scotch tape your fan before blowing to avoid them spinning faster than intended. Ive been doing this for 10 years now havent hurt any of my build, once done blowing dust, use a soft bristle paint brush to remove dust. this should do the trick

[@ruthlesshonor3088]

All these tips really does work really well. I've also did some upgrades along the way and I've bought a Thermaltake Core P3 case which is an open case. Its pretty much like a open air test bench but it works great. The main thing I'll have to do is dust it regularly and use an air blower like Jay has and its really simple. I do appreciate the tips you guys provide!!!!!

[@kenanthony2962]

Outstanding tips given Jay, I also live in the high desert area and a old school gamer plus over 40 years working on computers Going back when you had to solder the memory stick to the mother board. We had to keep all the heavy computer clean every quarter (LOL) I keep all my home system clean.

[@cianide99]

Winaero tweaker for disabling telemetry and Cortana. Disabling those 2 alone releases RAM and CPU usage. Also, adding exceptions to Windows Security to exclude its own folders. Windows Security checks on its own folders constantly, causing the Antimalware Service task to run constantly and consume a lot of system resources. I've had it using upwards of 1GB of RAM at startup and taking a lot of time to do so. When I excluded its own folders, I hardly ever see it go over 300MB of RAM usage.

[@Methysal]

Replying to bookmark will try tbis 2 morrow ty

[@danhle1032]

Wow didnt know that thank you!

[@emilpohjalainen2293]

Got an electric duster/air blower meant for electronics and totally love it! Think it's the only truly good solution for it. Very effective but not too powerful to harm anything. No risk of static spikes or anything either. The spray cans are so useless I'm happy I'll never need to touch one again. Read bad things about electric ocordless ones that works with batteries so got one with a cord and that is small pain in the ass but I accept it. Can highly recommend getting one🙏

[@skataneric]

100% always check the BIOS with memory, even when you flip on XMP. I had a board that would set the frequency right but the voltage/timings wrong. It would set the voltage to 1.25 on 1.35 ram and the timings would be like 16-18-18-38 on 15-16-16-36 3200MHz RAM. So I'd have to go in and manually change it all to match anyway. Also AMD has that gear down mode on the command rate that will sometimes screw with memory kits.

[@MarkJacksonGaming]

-- Air compressor is fine. Just put some distance between the nozzle and equipment, or dial it back in PSI like I do. Cleaning fans with an air compressor, I wedge a wooden dowel in there so the blades don't turn, and lightly apply air. Endust on the outside of the case, helps to repel some. A fan blowing out the bottom of the case. that creates a kind of shield from dust getting under the enclosure and finding it's way in. Cable management is good to allow the dust that gets in to flow out of your exhaust. Simply not putting your PC directly on the floor, OR your desk, but rather a plastic crate is a help. Cleaning your room/keeping clothing away, or closets that accumulate dust helps. I run desktop HEPA air purifiers in my office, two of them. Really the number one thing you can do is clean the air in your room. Even a boxfan with a couple layers of screen door mesh or mosquito netting taped to the back helps knock it down. Inside the case, you can angle fans. Take the Corsair 5000D as an example. 6 intakes (3 front, three side) Run the side fans slightly faster (easy if your pushing a 360 rad up front. Both fan systems will parse the air from media (dust etc) allowing lighter air rearward and accumulate more forward in the case. Dust has a tendency to 'fall' and settle. So filter your exhaust air on the top of the case. Fans, then filter at the very top. That settling dust will land on the filter when the system is not running, or fans are pulling 0 rpm. A little endust (anything in all cases non conductive) brushed onto your fan blades helps. And since you can never get 100 percent, think about where you want dust to accumulate that does get in. You identify those spots, or places before it gets there, sticky surface of say some duct tape angled up to catch media (though it works, you're changing it out often). Just keep your room and work area clean.

[@kyle1758]

Lmao I didn't see your comment before I commented about the same (albeit less concise) thing. Air compressor is fine if you're careful about it, I've never had a problem.

[@MarkJacksonGaming]

@@kyle1758 -- Heh. Hey no worries. Great minds think alike :)

[@joeplatz7289]

Good tips. For me, basics are XMP for sure, and with modern processors/gpus, unless you have insane cooling, a gentle undervolt or curve optimizer is huge.

[@henrym5908]

any undervolting should be stress-tested; it could be causing errors that you'll never notice until something really bad happens.

[@joeplatz7289]

@@henrym5908 I would say that any adjustment to your CPU or GPU should be stressed tested. But my experience processor undervolting tends to be tolerated quite well in modern chips.

[@Bagman57]

Also blowing air through a fan causes that fan to become a generator. if it"s plugged into the MB or a fan controller it could apply excessive amounts of voltage to that circuit burning it out. So if your going to blow air through a fan hold the fan blades so the fan doesn't spin.

[@StefGeukens_Xercium.]

Jay, when talking about XMP I think it is important to note that it might cause issues that are not apperent to be linked to the ram overclock. The problem seems to be worse with ddr5 and it does not help that ram seller sel ram kits that will never run with the current cpus at the speeds they advertise. If people da XMP, also run memtest86+ for like 4 passes to see if you don't get errors as well as TM5. If you get even one error the overclock can cause crashes, bluescreens, network problems, freezes, high temperature on cpu etc.. As tips on how to keep the pc to run smooth, I water-cooled mine, but also put it up a desk to reduce dust. Set your graphic drivers to performance. Clean temp files (Bleachbit), turn of cortana, Update all your drivers, ENABLE ALL CPU Cores, ENABLE Ultimate Performance Power Plan, Intelligent Standby List Cleaner, Fix Windows 10 stealing Bandwith in group policy, Uninstall Internet Explorer 11 from windows 10, there are so many things you can do, sure I am missing some xD. You can also ask a tweaker for a speedup. But that is no longer free.

[@TazzSmk]

8:39 - frankly the tip I should add is, with very old motherboards, some SATA ports are actually slower, so with SSD you get around 260MB/s at best - so the tip is to make sure to have SATA SSD plugged into SATAIII port on your motherboard ;)

[@hassanarzouni]

If physical possible have the boot and OS drive separate from your drive you use for content and application (especially if you are using HDD)

[@JSTheAnonymousOne]

Spinning your fans very fast with air is likely to damage them and might damage your motherboard if the fan isn't designed to avoid becoming a generator. Forcing current back into an outlet can potentially cause problems. Just hold the blades still with your hand when you go over them. If you really want to make "high RPM fan whirring" sounds, use ones you don't care about and keep them unplugged

[@Deltatwo3]

We can all agree the Asus bios is second to absolutely none! Also I wish Jay did a video for very advanced settings and optimizations for us enthusiast, pros and power users that we may or may not know about. Would be a big hit because I feel like a lot of viewers to this channel including myself are at a very advanced level when it comes to PC building and software/hardware knowledge.

[@mattrogers6646]

Disagree. My favorite BIOS is dd-wrt; so impressed with the features set, quality, and range of device compatibility.

[@Cinnabuns2009]

If you're at a "very advanced level when it comes to PC building" then you already know more than Jay. Someone like the person you're describing would never post the requests you've just made. Most the things in this video are pretty much inadvisable for a normal user if their system is already functioning correctly. They're also common sense for an "advanced level PC builder"

[@Deltatwo3]

@@Cinnabuns2009 You're really upset. I'm sorry, but unfortunately I don't care, nor does anyone else :/

[@Deltatwo3]

@@davec817 I agree, they are fantastic! Cool story as well.

[@TrumpsTrashTruck]

I always knew Asus was good but I haven’t messed with the bios yet so glad to know

[@ikwilgewoonfilmpje]

I knew all of these tips from other/previous videos except... Ctrl+Shift+Esc = direct to taskmanager. Thanks Jay. Still learned something. My tip. If you are not comfortable doing these things alone, ask a friend who is knows more about pc's and do it together. You will feel better with 2 heads in the case.

[@Im0nlyHuman]

Finally got my 240hz monitor so my 2060 super can push chess at 240fps!

[@J-J-TL]

Very nice !!!

[@junjiexie]

"Oneofusoneofusoneofus" ~bullet chess players

[@neogaming285]

Life goals right there

[@kennethhicks2113]

e4... Ruy ; )

[@StealthNinja4577]

Dusting every so often is important. Got some new thermal pads for a repair I was doing and I had an old pad that I added paste onto... not knowing you don't do that xD so when I repaded and repasted the correct components I also dusted the cooler off. Lungs are great compressed air generators outside with proper technique so you're not spitting or inhaling dust. Been using the start up, minimal programs approach for years and it's so important. If you do use a HD in 2023 you'll have a positive normal experience with a high rpm drive with no clutter.

[@SSSx30]

Who else pc already fast and just wants the extra speed😂

[@Rangerthelonewolf]

It never ends lol

[@oddsine503]

ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME

[@RepublicofODLUM]

250 fps is good, but what if it where 270!

[@DarkestSoldier]

​@@RepublicofODLUM270 fps is good but what if it was 270.89 fps!

[@RepublicofODLUM]

@@DarkestSoldier Nope, you've gone too far now

[@ddk2797]

Unless you have an air dryer on your air compressor, you don't want to use an air compressor on electronic parts. The air coming out of that hose has a very high moisture content that is inherent to compressing air. There is an issue of blowing air mixed with moisture, as well as an oil coating all over your electronics.

[@roadi7]

I do

[@Arashmickey]

Caveat: BIOS update can reduce your performance in order to patch vulnerabilities, depending on which generation CPU/motherboard you're using.

[@mattrogers6646]

I was going to write the same thing. SPECTRE and other bugs that deal with branch prediction are often mitigated by disabling specific branch prediction scenarios/features, resulting in decreased overall CPU performance.

[@noble_lemon]

Place your computer under the ceiling - there is much less dust there. There should be a slight excess pressure inside the case, this will help reduce the accumulation of dust inside. Use special air filters in your room; they should stand next to the computer and act as the main dust collector. Air humidity of 60-80% will reduce the accumulation of static electricity.

[@Hirens.]

More tips: 1. Don't fill you SSDs close to maximum capacity, that will drastically slow it down. 2. Turn off any game launcher overlays such as Steam, Origin and uPlay( I don't remember if this one has an overlay). Overlays while playing can decrease the in game performance and in some cases affect stability. 3. Have a separate drive for your operating system and a different one for other intensive applications and games in general.

[@xPaganNationx]

Do I need an actual physical separate drive or do partitions help?

[@Hirens.]

@@xPaganNationx A separate physical drive makes more sense. Because this way most of the bandwidth and processing (that the drives controller does) will be allocated specifically to the read/write requests that come from Windows and the other small software you have on that drive while not being hindered in any way by other games running, loading assets or downloading for example.

[@Hirens.]

@@xPaganNationx The only benefit of partitioning applies to HDDs (Hard Drives) when short stroked. And the benefit you would get from that it's... very small even though it's quantifiable. When it comes to any type of SSD, there is no reason to partition them.

[@derflo5292]

!!! saving bios settings before flashing bios !!! -> save to usb (or whatever external) if possible. in my case (ASUS Z690) I did save my settings to the bios slots, thats ment to be saved and after flashing, all save slots were gone and all settings lost. even if there are breaking changes in the bios that cause resetting the bios save slots, it's worth a try to restore before saved settings from usb. in many cases settings can be restored (or partly) for items that are not affected by breaking changes. and of course double check settings after flashing! again ASUS (maybe other brands as well, no experience on comparisable boards). It shows changes when saving, before saving. So save once, reenter the bios, load defaults, if saved previously your settings from usb (or vice versa) and save again. the bios shows you only the changes, before confirming. so you see all the settings you wanna check after a (breaking change) bios flash and don't have to dig to all items and sub menus.

[@MannidonnaXT]

Info for Jay: Ram Base Speed was DDR1: 200MHZ DDR2: 400MHZ and DDR 3 800 MHZ DDR4 1600 DDR5 4000. DDR5 is the first one that does not use twice the speed because they already have secified DDR4-3200 as JEDEC standard Ram Speed (NO OC!) So they start with 4000 and they should make the standard all the way up to 6400MT/s DDR6 release speed is rumored to be 12800MT/S starting base speed.... And Fun Fact: All Generations DDR1-4 launched arout 3 years later for customers and that is why sometimes the available base speed at the retailers were already a higher jedec standard than when it really came out. DDR5 is the first generation that was released to end customers beeing brand new.

[@EweToobUsername]

I actually had some DDR3-800 memory at one point. An AMD system was fine with it but the Core 2 Duo it was in didn’t like it at all.

[@grndplane]

Thank you JayzTwoCents. I checked my BIOS and sure enough XMP was disabled and memory was running at 1333MHz. I enabled it, and got 1600MHz a 12 percent increase. I would not have checked if it were not for this video. 👍

[@channelzero2252]

Make sure to clean out the cache from your browser. It accumulates rubbish really fast on a fairly mass scale!

[@MasterJediSean]

yearly thermal compound changing helps as well. plus I weekly run the sfc /scannow command in power-shell, really helps with weird system hangs, crashes etc. Try to keep your system on your desk or on a short ( 1-2 foot) stand so that it is not on the carpet , also if your computer is on the floor, one thing about pet hair and dust, it always seems to gather around the base boards allowing the pc to suck that crap up. so yes! weekly or by weekly filter cleanings. Great advice Jay! thanks.

[@pfideonow]

I'd love to hear more about undervolting to promote the longevity of your system. Also, what about air filters?

[@BillyBobDingledorf]

Undervolted my RTX 2060 and it can maintain higher clocks indefinitely while using less power. My card is an ASUS, but MSI Afterburner turned out to be the best tool. With the curve editor, you basically flatline what frequencies can be obtained with different voltages. Not that intuitive, but there are tons of youtube videos that can explain better than me.

[@TheLightLOD]

Newbie tips: If you have a school/university laptop and want to game on it after class, then do a reboot before launching your game. This especially helps if the laptop does not automatically start all the programs, dropbox and your browser don't need to run when you're gaming.

[@RobinEdwards1]

For dust problems, switch to a positive pressure case setup either by adjusting your fan curves so that your intakes are pulling in more air than your exhausts are pushing out, or by changing the installation itself. A lot of people seem to love having lots of top exhausts to show of the RGB on its best side, plus they have the rear exhaust, but have less intakes. If the fans are left like that, it's making a negative pressure inside the case, but changing the curves to slow down the exhausts or speed up the intakes can change it to a positive pressure.

[@Mr_Reaps25]

Just want to know, how does positive pressure help with dust. It seems blowing more air in would increase dust

[@RobinEdwards1]

@@Mr_Reaps25 Positive pressure guarantees that the only air coming in is through your filters. Negative pressure means that the exhausts are pushing more air out than your intakes are pulling in. Because a low pressure volume is formed, the case will suck the additional air in via the easiest path. The easiest path won't be by pulling it through the filters, but instead through the extra openings in your case, which are not filtered. Either way will have dust but with positive pressure, at least you are filtering the biggest particles. With negative pressure, you have no control.

[@Mr_Reaps25]

@@RobinEdwards1 thanks very much

[@troytaylor1913]

I put one 140mm PWM fan with a filter to create positive pressure. I decided to let Fan control control it because the filter just sucks in the dust when it doesn't need to. In the winter I don't need any cooling sometimes. I like to vacuum the dust off the filter instead of the motherboard.

[@cardsfanbj]

Follow up video idea: low cost ways to improve your system, like reapplying thermal paste, or buying an electric blower for cleaning your PC (I got one for Christmas and it was like $30 on Amazon), or adding cheap fans if you can (was in another video recently but also applies here)

[@casedistorted]

the electric air blowers.. they can be nice but a little TOO powerful, I still sadly prefer cans of compressed air for precise clearing of dust. Problem is it's becoming harder and harder to buy packs of them from our local walmart for cheap now that they want to push their crappy Onn brand of compressed air.

[@chrisjarkovsky1655]

How often should u replace thermal paste. I have a ryzen 5 3600. I upgraded the air cooler to a budget ID cooling one early last year. The max temp I saw was around high 60's. Thank You

[@chrisjarkovsky1655]

@@zonemanbobo ok, thanks for the advice

[@Nayah9]

I got an electric blower for free by using my girlfriend's hair dryer. 😎

[@Raivo_K]

@@casedistorted Depends on your living conditions. If you have really sticky dust then compressed air is about as useful as fart in the wind and even electric air blowers are too weak. I have to use a full blown compressor that goes to something like 6 bar air pressure to get most of the dust off and even then i have to clean fan blades and heatsinks manually. My fault for living in apartment with open kitchen...

[@dunder727]

I would like to add a tip i lerned long time ago, i use this on my parents pc and my own like ones a year. start the app ''run'' on you pc or press Windows button + R on the keyboard. Then you will get a little serch bar on the bottom left of you screen. Serch for ''temp'' then deleate all the temp files in that map. after that do ''@temp'' And clear that and last do ''Prefetch'' and select all the files in the folders and remove them in these 3 diffrent folders. For anyone woundering this is temporary files that windows saves for a faster boot next time, on program startups etc. but when you have been using you pc for a long time it adds upp and just clusters the startups and makes them slower. Hope this helps. :)

[@shadowwolf2608]

One thing that I would love to see you do is a video about updating the UEFI for your gpu, especially what to do if you don't have a cpu with an IGPU. This way if you do need to update the bios you can ensure that you won't push something in the bios of your mobo beyond its ability to support your gpu and have no image as a result. I'm not sure if you can update both at once (like how in the updated "what to do after you build your computer" video Jay showed how to update your bios right then an there) but that would be cool if it can be done.

[@darnon2031]

There's almost very little need to habitually update the GPU BIOS. The vendors generally don't even release incremental versions. The Nvidia Resizeable BAR update was something of a special case.

[@sigmamale4147]

Most of the time they dont even publish update to the vbios

[@Raivo_K]

GPU's rarely need their BIOS updated. And if they do it will be provided by Nvidia/AMD/Intel themselves via windows executable. Atleast that's how it's been done before. Flashing vBIOS outside of windows you better have a spare GPU laying around if you dont have iGPU.

[@ace052330]

When do you ever need to update the UEFI for your GPU? The only time Ive ever seen this done was in certain rare special cases or on older crappy AMD cards. Now days it’s hardly ever needed if at all it would be mostly a useless video because 99.9% of people would never need to do this.

[@shadowwolf2608]

@@ace052330 So the reason I bring this up is because of a video Jay made a little under a year ago about his friend's pc having this issue. Because his friend updated the bios, the motherboard no longer worked with that specific tier of gpu until Jay did the UEFI update. Figured that I should ask about it to learn how to handle this if you don't have a cpu with an IGPU.

[@jestah7251]

If you have an older system and have card readers, and lots of usbs plugged in, at start up and are not using them. Just unplug them, and that can make a difference. Also, if you are still using a spinning rust drive, ssds are pretty cheap now. Well worth the upgrade.

[@veec1539]

Can I use a background with racing strips or do I need to physically install them on the case to take advantage of the +5 speed?

[@rspanther]

They go on the case, red ones are the best but everyone is just using white because they are lazy.

[@Swift-Gaming]

Desktop backgrounds with racing stripes only boost performance if you're using at least a 240Hz refresh rate with HDR.

[@Ramog1000]

If you use a compressor and you clean the fans, you should hold them with your fingers, doesn't matter how much PSI your compressor has.

[@MinistryOfMagic_DoM]

Jay, wouldn't it be easier to explain to people how to get into their BIOS by using UEFI reboot in troubleshooter rather than trying to tell them to race their computer on start up?

[@flameshana9]

Aka holding shift while clicking Restart 🔃

[@Saabjock]

Yours are all great tips. Here's a few of mine... Pair the OS drive (if you are running a regular SSD) with the fastest SATA controller chip on the motherboard. I've seen guys buy the best equipment and then just put it all together and miss this small step. Read the manual to see where those are. Use SSDs for fast-pace and often accessed (for read) games in addition to the OS drive. Cool everything (harddrives, CPU, GPU and motherboard components) properly. It'll avoid throttling and all electronics will run at peak efficiency.

[@TimLongson]

Great tips. Can you evaluate the new PCIe5 M.2 SSDs to see if they are worthwhile, please?

[@walter_lesaulnier]

I usually replace the front mesh with a 1/4" thick foam open cell air conditioner pre-filter mounted in a "creatively engineered" bracket of some kind. You can run water through them and then hand wash them with mild dish washing liquid, rinse, dry and replace. Much more durable and easier to clean than stock filters. you can get 15" x x24" pieces for one or two dollars.

[@AnjanaLK]

If you want higher performance and don't care about the power consumption or battery life, change the power plan to "High performance" (Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options). This is set to "Balanced" or "Power saver" by default and one of the main reasons for the low performance of your PC

[@jordanlazarus7345]

high performance power plan does not increase maximum performance at all. The absolute most it will do is make your desktop a TINY bit more responsive when you have nothing open. By the time you open up a few basic programs most balanced power plans kick your clock speed all of the way up anyway. IF you're actually trying to pull out more performance, turn to actual clock speeds - power plans are a waste of time as long as your clock speeds are high.

[@doomwithaview4473]

I use an air compressor at 150psi to clean the dust build up from my work pcs but make sure you have an inline water trap/filter. Trick is to use initial short blasts from about 1m away and gradually get closer. Hold fans still before blowing them and be extra careful with the psu as you can't stop the fan without sticking something through the vent to hold it which I wouldn't recommend. Not saying you should do this but it can be done safely without killing anything.

[@WyattOShea]

About the bios part in the beginning sometimes updating a bios can cause instability and issues too like just yesterday I updated to the latest zen 4 bios on my gigabyte board and instantly had constant green screens and bios itself would freeze (all stock settings too as it deleted my oc profiles) so I had to downgrade again to have a stable system with my oc applied too.

[@TheBlueBunnyKen]

Exactly, not all bios updates make it better

[@WyattOShea]

@@TheBlueBunnyKen Yeah I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to flash back to an older bios but luckily the pc played nice long enough for me to boot in once and download the previous version and somehow by a miracle didn't crash or freeze whilst downgrading it again. Has been rock solid since then though. I do however agree with Jay that it is a good idea to update your stuff to extract extra performance out of things and have better security too but things don't always work out or go smoothly in my experience anyway (it's fine the vast majority of the time though just rarely there is something that messes with how things should work).

[@kunka592]

This is also true for any software which is why I like manually updating everything and also keeping track of the last known version that was working well. When I manually update, I can watch out for any new issues instead of being randomly surprised and flabbergasted as to why something stopped working after some secret auto-update.

[@AG4VR-PC]

I’ve also had bios updates break compatibility with hardware I had. I once had an old Asus Athlon XP motherboard that I did a bios update on and all of a sudden my SCSI card didn’t work anymore. Back in those days before SSD’s I ran a 20 gig 15000 rpm SCSI hard drive as my boot/OS drive so that bios update was a showstopper. Luckily I was able to revert to the previous build and all was working again. If you use specialized hardware like that don’t assume it’ll be working after a bios update. I tend to do bios updates on a need basis now. If I don’t need it I don’t bother with it.

[@jeroenk3570]

I use onedrive, and it's great. It's not only my off-site backup but also very handy to move files between my laptop, main PC and phone. It also backups the pictures I take with my iphone automatically. So, if your not using it, turn it off and uninstall it, but you can also use it as a handy folder you can access everywhere. I must ad that I have a Microsoft 360 account with 1TB cloud storage, I'm not sure if free accounts have enough available cloud space to make it worth while the hassle.

[@sanghelio3341]

My #1 tip for new builders is to decide if you really want RGB fans or not. For super new builders (like, first or second builds) I would recommend no RGB on your fans. The reason is because most RGB fans, (especially Corsair) you will have to manage two cables per fan. For example: I have 12 Corsair QL 120 mm fans. They look great, I love em a lot! BUT I had to figure out how to cable manage 24 cables JUST FOR FANS. Plus another two or three cables just for the control box things for the fans and their RGB! A good chunk of time I spent doing this was just looking at my rat nest of a pc having a small breakdown because I was so overwhelmed by how many cables I had Lol. In short, RGB is awesome, but frustrating. Get non-RGB fans.

[@RedBeardedJoe]

Unless you don't have the problem of Managing your Cables like me i could look at a picture of cables going everywhere and i say at least your PC works it doesn't bother me

[@sanghelio3341]

@@RedBeardedJoe That's pretty much what my uncle said when I built his pc and I installed his AIO fans with the cables toward the glass Lol

[@Dyonivan]

Nothing of your comment makes the computer run faster.

[@RedBeardedJoe]

@@Dyonivan But some people wants it looking nice me i don't have OCD i could look at a House that is different on all 4 Sides and doesn't bother me i could be beside someone that does and think wow what is your problem

[@Dyonivan]

@@RedBeardedJoe Nothing of your comment has anything to do with what I said. People are weird today.

[@NonLegitNation2]

another good thing to do is update your motherboard chipset drivers. You might have a BIOS update once a year but motherboard chipset drivers get updated usually every couple months. It's a pretty easy process with AMD mobos I'm not sure how easy it is with Intel mobos though.

[@Sandmansa]

I've done quite a few BIOS updates on my Z390 board and each time I have, it got noticeably more stable. Didn't notice any performance changes from just that though. Now Jay mentioned enabling XMP-DOCP. But I've noticed a number of Intel boards that have more than one XMP profile. So is one better than the other and which one should you enable?

[@capbuster1424]

Just go with the 1st profile...unless the profiles are with different frequencies...in which go for the one that has the same frequency as the advertised for your kit. If you're running to problems with the 1st profile then only try running the 2nd (or manually lowering the frequency after enabling a profile....*cough cough* AMD *cough*)

[@gatedfuzz]

one profile is usually the intel preset which is great when going for stability, the other profile is most likely the motherboards "optimized" preset, which may or may not work better but is usually not quite as stable unless the processor and ram itself were designed specifically for it or at least recommended by the motherboard manufacturer. id rather the processor handle that kind of optimization since its basically the brains

[@kyle1758]

Air compressor to blow out the PC is fine if you're careful, I've been doing it as long as I've been building PC's (25 years) and not had an issue. Don't hit it point blank, and hold fans steady while you blow them out so they're not free spinning. Ideally you'd want to use a compressor with a filter in-line.

[@suhy9861]

my best one that I do personally is a full reset with a fresh reinstallation of windows every 3 months, i have 1gb down internet speed so reinstalling everything i actually use quarterly isnt an issue for me, but a clean operating system gives your hardware more breathing room as well so its snappier, i just did it yesterday after i switched my XC Ultra 2080 Super for a 6900XT Red Devil (also needed to reinstall windows in order to get rid of Nvidia's garbage software, they made it difficult to switch to another gpu company)

[@kevinkhan4042]

I do this every year during down time / holidays. PC FEELS so much lighter and snappier!

[@DarkReturns1]

Every 3 months is excessive lol, but I agree with you.

[@Gryfang451]

After messing around with various tools to clean windows, etc. I've found thet the easiest and fastest thing is a clean install. Backup needed files, create a bootable flash drive, copy drivers to a folder on it, and boot from it. Remove the partitions, create new ones, and install the OS.

[@thewatcher6794]

Hey Jay, when uninstalling software I use Revo Uninstaller because not only does it use the original Uninstaller but it also gets rid of all leftover files, folders and registry entries

[@nicethaddy5955]

just said the same thing lol

[@edsayswhoa4365]

I use it too and my PC runs and loads faster

[@thepathnotfound]

Makes me think about Fedora Silver blue which has a read only operating system. No leftover files as applications are installed with flat pack.

[@aldilavokrid37]

Antivirus may slowing down your PC through unecesarry scans. Tips from me: 1. Use only one antivirus or not using one at all (Windows defender is already good) 2. Turn off any scheduled scan 3. Only allow antivirus to protect C:\ drive & external drive (antivirus often scan D:\ or other internal drive for nothing)

[@Nekminute]

I enabled XMP in bios when i put the PC for sale after 2 years of using it on default settings 🙈

[@byCDMC]

and i bet you would not feel any difference in gaming with it on or off(except some specific cases), so don't worry about it :D

[@Nekminute]

@@byCDMC it was also running on much lower speeds

[@ItsEmbers]

For anyone with a radeon 6000 card and above, and a ryzen 500 cpu with a 500 series motherboard, I would check AMD adrenaline to see if Smart Access Memory is enabled. If it isn't enabling this brings a pretty big uplift in performance as it allows the cpu and gpu to share more memory.

[@ethanbrookover5665]

Hi Jay. Not so similar topic, but do you or anybody have suggestions for a more “budget” orientated custom water cooling? Is there such a thing? I would love to custom watercool my build, but as a college student I obviously don’t have hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to spend to make water go brrr.

[@Sergmanny46]

A 20-40$ thermal paste combined with decent fan coolers will do just fine. The principles of heat dissipation are the same, and real world temp differences are negligible. Not worth in your case.

[@Jazzverso]

I clean my system with a 90 PSI air compressor all the time, but I put a small screwdriver in the fan blades so they don't spin because of the bearings and they can be generators in a way and can send power into the board. The high air pressure actually penetrates thick radiators and I blow them out in both directions then I brush dust my components after.

[@jonnyhouse58]

Dang it Jay! I thought you were going to tell me about a super secret software that I could download that would give me 30% more performance.

[@hrayz]

Well... The last AMD driver update did see a +40% increase in some games.... (This is NOT usual, but did happen at least once!)

[@Lil_Puppy]

Most of us have pressure regulators on their air compressors and adjust them based on application and if you don't have one, get one, not everything needs to be at max psi. The only reason to not use an air compressor is because it may have oil and water in the tank from expansion and compression of atmosphere and from the compressor oil.

[@techtt6213]

Could you try one for laptops?

[@kens3dandaquatics]

Same stuff applies

[@techtt6213]

@@kens3dandaquatics not completely, plus different stuff can make a bigger impact

[@ano_nym]

The pro tip with a compressor is holding your fan still when you blow on it. Then you don't risk spinning it too fast. Not had any problems with my fans when doing this. There are some other dangers with compressors to watch out for though. Like you should use an "oil free" one to have less risk of small amounts of oil blowing on your computer, and it can be good to fill up the tank and empty it one time to reduce the risk of water vapor in it. These may be overstated, but I have been following it and haven't had any problems. Or to be honest, I have skipped the empty and refill the tank some times, but have checked against a paper towel for any obvious signs of water.

[@jeremyc7825]

also, most consumer air compressors have adjustable pressure regulators. I run about 15-20psi to blow out my computer, hold the fans when in that area, and have successfully blown out multiple dozens of computers this way while never damaging a component. I've used full pressure shop air once. 20 years ago on a shop computer in a shop. The dust cloud rose like a nuclear mushroom of gross.

[@ano_nym]

@@jeremyc7825 yeah, my is only a basic one with a max of 8 bar (116 psi), but it has a regulator too. I usually use it at full effect though, but only blow in short bursts, and not to close to anything that may fly away.

[@bluephreakr]

For people with air compressors - y'know, the one that gives your pneumatic tools the ugga-duggas, put a valve on it. Limit to what you'd like you'd expect from a can of compressed air and just use that. _Also_ the reason why someone would want to do this is if they want a means of non-contact dusting which _doesn't_ smell like chemicals or constant electricity.

[@skunkling]

Life Hack inbound: I recently disassembled and deep cleaned my rig. Built it almost 3 years ago. I have a 240 AIO, and I literally ran the rad under the sink faucet. Cleaned it perfectly.

[@craigb5752]

High pressure air with pencils holding fans in place for me has never damaged a case or cpu fan for me in 30 years as a tech. However, this year I did experience my FIRST broken PSU fan from our shop air compressor. The PSU was 12 years old. NO unexperienced user should attempt it though unless you have no problem paying for the damage that Jay mentioned.

[@baza3a]

As i have used a laptop with HDD for over 5 years before upgrading 2 years ago, these are my tips: 1- Still using HDD for OS ? defrag frequently or get an SSD if device support it 2- Make sure OS is installed in SSD not HDD by mistake 3- Disable unnecessary apps... nobody will look at your interactive desktop wallpaper 4- Gaming on Laptop ? Make sure its pluged-in when gaming and its using the GPU not iGPU

[@Physics072]

I use both canned and garage air compressor. Been doing it for 20 years that way and no broken parts. You can damage the mother board with a can of air too. Drop on the board 100 times and you will damage it. I don't agree a garage air compressor is not good. They are great if you have one. You can get different nozzles and can control the flow of air if you wish. You also can vary the distance from the air to the MB. I would say both are fine just don't goof around playing with fans, that can cause issues no matter how you clean the MB. I would advise to buy a garage air compressor and save the expensive cans of air. Plus you can do tires, bikes, air wrenches many adapters. Cans of air are not better for sure.

[@Ph3arrt3]

You stated about disabling startups if using platter drives, another one to improve someones rig in that configuration is to install a second HDD and use it as the swap drive,I'm not implying a RAID config, just using 1 drive bay as a dedicated swap.

[@eskieman3948]

For my yearly physical housecleaning of the family desktops, I take each of them outside to the picnic table, remove the PC sides and front panels, and gently blow out the internals using my Echo electric leafblower (do NOT use a gas leafblower). Yes, depending upon how much dust/dirt/per hair each unit accumulates, it can look like a mini dustdevil in your yard for a minute, but it gets that garbage out of there. I finish up by gently wiping off visible remaining dust with small microfiber cloths. Wipe down the panels also with a microfiber cloth, reinstall them, reconnect the desktop, and fire it up. Takes at the most 20 or so minutes per PC.

[@shakeelahamed4677]

Re: Uninstalling and safely removing stuff from the registry Geek uninstaller is free and when you opt to uninstall something, it'll do that, then look for any remaining files that software left in your system (including the registry). It shows you what else it found, then you can get rid of those without having to risk doing it all manually.