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Paint + metal flakes from case screw holes, very worried. (Silent Base 802)

Joined
Jul 11, 2023
Messages
165 (0.28/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard Asus Strix B550-A
Cooling Be Quiet! Dark Rock 4
Memory Gskill Trident Z DDR4-3200 (16GB x 2)
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX 7900 XT 20GB
Storage Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVME 1TB (Boot), Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVME 2TB, Samsung QVO Sata 2Tb
Display(s) Aoc 31.5" 1440p 75hz; Asus 24" 1080p 75hz (secondary)
Case Be Quiet! Silent Base 802 White
Power Supply Corsair RM750X 2021 w/ Corsair Type 4 Sleeved Red Cables
For reference, I'm very careful with the case screws on my PC and I also like to keep it regularly cleaned with compressed air.
My PSU is a Corsair RM750x, fan oriented downwards.

I've noticed on a couple of builds so far the sometimes case screw holes can have little bits of paint flake off them with a metallic backing stuck to them, especially when using or removing from said screw hole in a newly manufactured case. I always do my best to get rid of these, but I can never be 100% sure I got them all.

It's no different with my Be Quiet! Silent Base 802, except maybe I'm noticing it more (or it had more modular bits and pieces to play with than previous chassis) but I've noticed a couple of these paint chips w/ metallic "bits" stuck to them have settled in the recesses under the screw holes. Some of these recesses are near impossible to reach.

Because of my case's design, any dust or paint particles that get blasted off my CPU cooler, GPU, case etc will tend to fall down into the "basement" area of the chassis. I'm just terrified one of them might get sucked into my PSU and fry my entire system from shorting something.

I'm hesitant to remove the PSU to do some kind of "deep clean" of that area because:

1. That might create more "screw dust", right next to the PSU itself.
2. Some of these tiny little flecks are in places I can't reach except with a magnet on a stick (which I don't have), if I can reach them at all.
3. I have a feeling that these little specks might be unavoidable when building or modifying a PC, so I don't know if I'm being paranoid and should just not bother. I'm not rough with any of my components and I'm careful to make sure the threads line up.

Thoughts? Has anyone else noticed these wee shavings? What'd you do about them, or did you just let them be?

I managed to get one with my magnetic screwdriver that was about 1.5mm long at most. All the others are much smaller.
 

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Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
29,082 (6.86/day)
Given your cleaning methodology and the care you seem to take, you have little to nothing to worry about.

Continue to be diligent in your cleaning efforts and you'll be fine.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 11, 2023
Messages
165 (0.28/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard Asus Strix B550-A
Cooling Be Quiet! Dark Rock 4
Memory Gskill Trident Z DDR4-3200 (16GB x 2)
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX 7900 XT 20GB
Storage Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVME 1TB (Boot), Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVME 2TB, Samsung QVO Sata 2Tb
Display(s) Aoc 31.5" 1440p 75hz; Asus 24" 1080p 75hz (secondary)
Case Be Quiet! Silent Base 802 White
Power Supply Corsair RM750X 2021 w/ Corsair Type 4 Sleeved Red Cables
Given your cleaning methodology and the care you seem to take, you have little to nothing to worry about.

Continue to be diligent in your clean efforts and you'll be fine.
Thanks. I did take the PSU out and give the "basement" area a good vacuuming, so I'm hoping that's enough for now.
 
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