There are many factors that can lead to system failures and issues. But the combination of dust and heat can be your number one enemy. By being proactive, and making sure your system fans are clean, your system will have better air circulation and you'll get increased reliability. Your system inside generates a lot of heat. The cooler the system is, the better the system is going to perform.
So you want to keep it clean. You've got to realize you've got electronic parts in there, some moving parts, which is the internal parts of the hard drive. It's going to build up static. You're going to capture dust in the environment in the room. This is why you don't want to usually leave your system sitting on the carpet and things of that manner. Your fans help keep that cool. There are fans in there on video cards, there's fans internal inside the system that keep your processor cool, there's fans that pump the air in and some that pump the air out.
You always have to have good air circulation inside your system to keep it good and cool and also clean. It's a good idea to keep a can of compressed air on hand and periodically open up your system and clean your fans. Do not use a vacuum. You won't think it was such a good idea when you end up sucking out parts of your PC, and believe me, digging through vacuum bags is no picnic.
One of the best environments for a system, any system, whether it's a portable system, a desktop, a server or what have you, wherever your system is sitting, the ideal place for it to sit is on a static pad that you can purchase just about anywhere. It helps keep the static from your system.
I don't know that it would really help repel dust and debris in the air, but it's not going to allow it to collect to the bottom of your system. It's going to give you a little bit more room around the system to keep it clean and cool.
