I’ll be straight with it. I’m a smoker, I smoke inside, I have a PC that is also inside. I want to clean my PC thoroughly to buy it a few more years. I know about the q tip method, and the compressed air, and general methods of cleaning out gunk and junk from PC parts. But this boy is way too gunked up for a regular cleaning. So, I reckon, the easiest way to clean it is to dunk the dirtiest parts in a bath of isopropyl alcohol. I was considering acetone at first, but it’s way too strong of a solvent, and alcohol should be better at dissolving organic residues. Is this a good idea?
I hereby submit this query to the council, and await judgement.
Its not just the dirt that the alcohol will eat away. It’ll eat your thermal paste and any adhesives used in manufacturing. Pretty sure it will eat at basically any material if left submerged.
I’m mostly cleaning heat sinks, surfaces, and circuit boards. I can’t reach into some spots even with a q tip, so I’m looking for alternative solutions. I’m pretty sure 10 to 15 minutes submerged in 96% alcohol wouldn’t dissolve my PC like styrofoam in acetone. Although I could be wrong, I’m not an expert.
I just wouldn’t submerge the entire thing. Take it apart. Be ready with new thermal paste even for the GPU. Most importantly: stop smoking inside or none of this will matter at all.