Cleaning the Alpha PAL8045

I've been using the Alpha PAL8045 for around 2 years and it has since collected much dust on its pins. Now I have some time to spare and would like to do a cleaning for the dirty heatsink, is it possible to use water?
Not sure whether it's the hotter weather, my 1700+ overclocked to 2.2GHz 1.65V is idling 52C~53C with a case temp of 35C (All temps from 8RDA sensors), room temp around 29C to 30C.

Anyone cleaned heatsinks before? Will it do any damage to it? Thanks a lot!

take the fan off, then scrub it with water and a toothbrush. that should do the trick.

Also used some compressed air for remaining dust particles.

Is it OK for the copper plate at the bottom to come in contact with water? Also, I see some stains on it which can't be washed away with alcohol, shall I use some metal (copper) cleanser?

those stains are just a little tarnish - they won't affect performance at all. you could lap the base to get rid of them, or a light polish with metal polish on a flat surface would probably do nicely.

As far as I know, you shouldn't use metal polish on the copper base as the residue will hinder your thermal compound's ability to conduct heat away from the CPU...best advice is lap it or ignore it...

If dust and crud is exceptionally thick, I have found that a good old pipe cleaner works wonders when attempting to clean the cooling fins (or pins in your case) of a heatsink...Go easy and you will be just fine...

use compressed air first then brush the remaining dust off
after that, use a rag with some alcohol
(thats what i usually do)