Cleaning a CPU

[Bobby Manus]

Hey guys I got a cpu with some thermal grease on it and I need to clean it up becuase I'm selling it. I want to be very careful with this and I do not want to do any harm to it, just clean it up a bit make it look nice and pretty so the guy doesnt get a trashy looking cpu. Any recomendations as to what to use to clean this off? There is thermal grease and fingerprints... I do have rubing alchohol and I do have nail polish removber some with acetone some without, and if there is something else beter let me know I might have it.

[Jetset]

The both of those should do just fine especially the nail polish remover.

[Bobby Manus]

should i use nail polish remover with aceton or one that is non aceton...

[sfa ok]

Dish soap works for getting the thermal goo off the ceramic. I use rubbing alchohol for everything else.

[Bobby Manus]

Ugh dish soap?? ... then again the whole top part is waterproof becuase of the coating but still...

[ReTiCuLeX]

You can use some nail polish remover any kind doesn't matter if its scented or has acitone , then when your done geting that thermal greese off go over your cpu again with any kind of rubbing alcohol.If you don't remove the nail polish it can make your temps very high cause when you reapply the thermal greese it won't make good contact with the cpu.So go remove it with the alcohol gl.

[!-=sky=-!]

i used tissue to remove the thermal grease that is seen then use nail polish to remove the remaining thermal grease

[M@€$†®Ö™]

I use Alcohol to clean the CPU and a lint free towel As I do the same with any HSF I use as well.

Maestro

[Amedeo602]

for the ceramic the artic silver instructions say to use dish soap

for the center (and for HSFs too) i use monitor wipes. there's pieces of tissue paper with isopropyl alcohol on them, which is what the arctic silver website recommends to clean with. i got a big container at wal-mart for around $5..."Endust Electronic Wipes"...pretty handy IMO.

[Rob Cork]

I just use a tissue to clean up as much of the thermal grease as I can, then a pencil eraser to get rid of the rest of it. Works fine, doesn't seem to damage the chip as far as I can tell. Also leaves you with a nice silver coloured rubber :)

[killem1x1]

I use the same, nail polish remover, alcohol, and then a camera lense <sp> cleaning cloth. They cost a bit more, but leave the absolute cleanest finish :)

[Blue Jester_2112]

Lighter fluid works really well too on cpu's.
It's also the best thing I've found for removing thermal paste and tape from HS/F's.