(Image credit: Future)
I don't remember the last time I actually took a duster to my own rig. But in my defence, I only recently upgraded my motherboard and that required I remove pretty much everything out of my PC in the process of ripping out an old ASRock mobo I could no longer trust in favour of an Asus. So, that basic action meant that I had cleaned my PC by proxy in the past couple of months, though without actively cleaning it.
Which has me straddling both camps of PC Gamer reader, it seems. Because, while the biggest single majority of readers we polled can't remember when they last cleaned their PC, either, a healthy 45% of readers have actually given their rig a thorough once-over in just the past six months.
Now, I get that you have to change your bedding/towels/pants more often than that, but six months is but a mayfly's daydream in the life of your gaming PC. So, I applaud all of you taking rig maintenance so seriously.
This all came off the back of a recent weekly poll where we asked the question: When did you last dust/clean your gaming PC? Sure, over a quarter of you are living in filth, but I'm still proud of the rest of you.
Wholesome
When did you last dust/clean your gaming PC?
Votes (%)
Time immemorial (I don't remember and I'm annoyed you even asked)
Fairly recently, at least in the last 6 months
Pretty recently, in the last 4 weeks
Sometime in the last 12 months
Just now (in the last 24 hours)
| Time immemorial (I don't remember and I'm annoyed you even asked) | 26 |
| Fairly recently, at least in the last 6 months | 23 |
| Pretty recently, in the last 4 weeks | 17 |
| Sometime in the last 12 months | 15 |
| Over 12 months ago | 14 |
| Just now (in the last 24 hours) | 5 |
Along with the 26% who can't remember, there are another 14% of readers who haven't lifted a finger to dust their PC in over a year. Then there are the paragons of virtue, the children of the light, the 5% who cleaned their PC only that very day they saw the poll. Blessed ones.
But if you look at the numbers in total, we are a culture in balance. There's a healthy 45% of readers who have cleaned their machines in the past six months, and on the other side another 40% of readers who haven't touched their PC with a duster in over a year, with a 15% fulcrum in the middle who have spent time cleansing their rig in the past 12 months.
Equilibrium is everything, but where do you sit on the cleanliness teeter-totter? And how important is it to you?
This week we want to know something else about good PC hygiene, but not of the physical variety, more of the firmware side of the equation. So we're asking: When was the last time you updated your main PC's BIOS?
