Dust is bad

Decided to do some cleaning on my Athlon 1.2.

Since the fan on the heatsink of the processor has been so noisy, I decided to try to replace it with the fan on my smaller heatsink. Unforetunately after looking at the two fans, it was clear that they were different sizes. What was also obvious was that the heatsink would really benefit from a cleaning. I'm kicking myself for not taking before/after photos, but trust me, the dirt was CAKED on. I spent a good 20 minutes cleaning the whole thing.

After putting everything back together, the computer started up with a reassuring whine. Immediatly there was considerable improvement on sound. Though still loud, the fan was no longer as high-pitched. An unexpected improvement came in the temperature department. Before the cleaning, the Athlon 1.4(running at 1.2) was a constant 43C (CPU) under full load. After the cleaning, I'm getting 36C (CPU)max full load, with a 26C case temp. That is a great improvement.

Of course it's possible that the sensor is faulty. I compared the temperatures with my sister's 1800+ and she's getting 40C cpu with a 32C case. The almost 10 degree difference in cpu temp can be attributed to the different architecture (Thunderbird vs. Palimino) and situations (1800+ running at stock 1.53ghz and 1.4Ghz processor underclocked to 1.2ghz). But the difference between case temperatures seems a little strange. The 1800+ is in a more enclosed case and the case itself is in a more enclosed location, but they are still in the same room.

All in all, the I would say the cleaning was a complete success.