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Best way to remove thermal paste?

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TeKiZeRo

Registered
Joined
May 31, 2004
I am getting a new heatsink for my computer, and I was wondering what is the best way to remove thermal past off the cpu chip? I used Q-tips in the past but I am not sure if that's the best way. Thanks
 
Q-tips with acetone. Few things work better. It will not harm your cpu at all :)

If you need pure acetone, it's at walmart by the paint.
 
Are you sure about brake clean? some stuff might eat the packaging...I know acetone doesn't.
 
Yeah, it's the isopropyl alcohol that works, I got some myself, cheap and works great, and evaporates quickly. Make sure it isn't the scented kind and it is pretty pure, like 91% or more.
 
99% alcohol and q-tips will usually work, except I had a ****** hard time taking off that stock heatsink gunk.

Edit: Its funny how on the isoplypl w/e alcohol they say: Not meant to be used or to replacr grain or ethyl alcohol, who would be dumb enough to try to drink that stuffto get drunk?
 
The best kind of alcohol is 99% ethanol you find in most hospitals/labs. Rubbing alcohol is ok if you can't get the ethanol. Still, there are things like thermal pads and tape that alcohol will have no effect on. Thats when you need a petroleum based solvent like acetone, mineral spirits, etc.
 
Q-tips sometimes leave residue, I use coffee filters, or put coffee filters over Q-tips

Yeah they used coffee filters as a reference on the arctic silver 5 site. I cut a coffee filter to a smaller size and used that with some rubbing alcohol. It worked pretty well, but I'll try the filter with a Q-tip next time for more accuracy.
 
Hey guys im new to the site, I was just wondering...havnt tried it yet but would a Mr. Clean magic eraser posibly be effective at removing thermal compound?
 
I use a arcticlean set, with the remover and the purifier.. Works fine for me, and the purifier you can tell does a decent job as to the difference between the tone before and after its used. But eh.
 
I wouln't use a Magic Eraser. I think those are sort of abrasive, which is a bad thing when combined with delicate electronics.

Stick with alcohol or acetone... if you have some really tenacious goo, like some of the stuff OEM machines use, it may take some paint thinner (on a qtip, don't slather the whole chip with it), followed up with alcohol to remove the residue. But abrasives... no, not a wise idea.
 
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