cleaning AS

ok i took my glaciator 2 off to reset it and i fumbled it but i recovered it so no damage done except i toched the thermal compuond and now i have noticed i 5c rise in temps so i think it got dirty so how do i clean it to reapply compound.

use a soft cotton cloth to wipe as much off as you can and then use another part of the cloth that is wet with acetone or rubbing alcohol to get the rest off. then reapply.

From my experience, everytime you remove the CPU heatsink, it should be cleaned and fresh thermal paste reapplied.

i wouldn't clean it too much, just wipe of the excess, only clean it well when you are changing thermal compunds

Typically whenever I do the acetone/IPA cleaning, I start over with the instructions on the Arctic Silver site, small glob on the Heatsink, rub it in with a gloved finger, wipe, then apply thin layer to the core. Also, for little bits that get on your chip around the core, scotch tape takes it off fairly nicely, followed by a pencil eraser, just be careful of your L1 Bridges...
Peace
John