MP 7,1 Mac Pro 2019 - First Annual Cleaning (of the inside)

[paulchiu]

It's December and nearly one year since I powered up my 2019 Apple Mac Pro.
It has been running upwards of 18 hours a day, every day using most of its 28 cores and 768GB RAM, under my desk.

How good is the Apple design to keep out dust? Please take a look at this short video.

See you next year!

 

[s66]

Had an issue earlier with a faulty Vega II Duo in one of our MP7,1s and after a bit less than a year the dust was comparable to maybe a bit more than what's showing in that video.
Ours also live under desks.
I only opened them to determine that swapping the GPUs seemed to fix the issue (and to be able to add an "apple" account so I can give them an admin login to test the machine on without having to give them the normal user's credentials)
Cleaned both up before I dropped off the faulty one at an Apple authorized repair facility (Apple store was not an option due to COVID mandates that forced them closed). Since the replaced the Vega II duo, it's been running fine once again.

A somewhat regular "superficial" clean inside to remove some of the dust seems like a possible decent idea, but opening and closing the case also means you exercise the contatcs in the lid, the TB3 conenctors etc. All of that is also a risk for creating problems just as well as a bit of dust collecting inside.
At this level of dust: unless you need to open it, I'd go for a bit longer a wait and do like every two years or so only just to do less strain on connectors and the like.

 

[steve217]

? for the Arctic silver desk fan.

One of the best additions to my desktop workspace.

 

[goMac]

Oh no regular vacuum cleaners are not good for computers. Stick with compressed air or a special computer vacuum. Looked like a regular Dyson to me. Definitely would not want to use a regular vacuum to clean out a very expensive Mac Pro.

 

[paulchiu]

Oh no regular vacuum cleaners are not good for computers. Stick with compressed air or a special computer vacuum. Looked like a regular Dyson to me. Definitely would not want to use a regular vacuum to clean out a very expensive Mac Pro.

Yes, I am aware of the danger. The plastic tube you see is an extension hose into a Miele plastic canister vacuum some distance away from the Mac Pro. The hose never touches any of the components or chassis. I make sure of that with my gloved fingers being in-between and my digits never touch the computer either.

Still, the low level of dust made me reconsider doing this in the future.

I also have no interest in opening the CPU compartment, to clean.

The Mac Pro itself is very well-grounded. As a member of IEEE, I admire the extend Apple engineers went to make sure this unit is idiot-proof. (I did drop a large rubber blower onto the expansion board during the reassembly)

 

[paulchiu]

? for the Arctic silver desk fan.

One of the best additions to my desktop workspace.

This thing is so so quiet and saves so much in AC cost in the summer.

 

[IA64]

It's December and nearly one year since I powered up my 2019 Apple Mac Pro.
It has been running upwards of 18 hours a day, every day using most of its 28 cores and 768GB RAM, under my desk.

View attachment 1688508

How good is the Apple design to keep out dust? Please take a look at this short video.

See you next year!

Nice setup, what's the brand of the leather pad under your mouse? the one with the lip.

 

[paulchiu]

Nice setup, what's the brand of the leather pad under your mouse? the one with the lip.

Thanks. Not real leather, but mouse glides better on it than with real leather pads. This one is from IKEA. Been using i for 2 years. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/rissla-desk-pad-black-40246156/

 

[vel0city]

How do you like the Kef speakers @paulchiu? Been looking at a pair myself.

 

[paulchiu]

How do you like the Kef speakers @paulchiu? Been looking at a pair myself.

over 5 years and still loving it. I just read in Stereophile that the successor, also $1500/pair is even better.