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Removing thermal paste

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natedagw821

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Jun 21, 2006
hey guys,
I'm installing a new heatsink in the next week or so,,,,and im taking my stock heat sink off. What stuff is good to use to remove the thermal compound on the CPU???? Rubbing alcohol???ive heard that's good stuff to use. anything else?

thanks for any feedback u provide.
 
either a high purity rubbing alcohol (91% or greater)
pure acetone (not nail polish remover, it has impurities)
arcticlean (svc.com, newegg.com, etc)
 
rubbing alcohol will frankly always be the best cleaner, its cheaper than dirt (60c per bottle at grocery for 91%), strong and no mess (evaporates). And for sticky labels I use lighter fluid
 
What I used was Articlean which can be bought less than $10.
there are two bottles and you put like 4 drops on the compound and wipe it off after like 30 second later and repeat if there is more compounds.
Other ways are buy acetone or manicure remover or something but it won't work good as special stuff designed to remove thermal compounds.

GL installing new heatsink
 
I use a 50:50 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and xylene, which is an industrial solvent which I get from work. Great stuff, doesn't harm anything and cleans any type of tim, but stinky. :D
 
pik4chu said:
rubbing alcohol will frankly always be the best cleaner, its cheaper than dirt (60c per bottle at grocery for 91%), strong and no mess (evaporates). And for sticky labels I use lighter fluid
Click to expand...


Hit the nail right on the head. Nothing gets rid of sticky better than lighter fluid... well, other than the lighter itself to burn the label off :D
 
adamwinn said:
careful not to get the xylene on any plastics- it eats them alive!
Click to expand...

This industrial mix I use doesn't affect any processor I know of. I've been using it for years. And AFAIK, it doesn't affect the plastic oarts on a mobo either. I guess if you soaked something in it, it might mess it up but as a cleaner on a rag or paper towel it's great and evaporates very fast.
 
In my experience, xylene decimates most solvent based coatings (paint, lacquer, etc) as well as plastics. IE: I accidently used some xylene to clean a clear plastic bezel and when I went to wipe it off the top layer of the bezel came with it o_O
 
I use mint green alcohol 99¢ and recycled cofee filters for tinting and removal. Just remember if you're using conductive paste make sure you're not fingering it everywhere on the board by accident.
Edit.... on an nvidia card they had these giant pads of something, I used a library card for that, and the pink stuff under a DFi northbridge I used a blowdryer. And just to make sure the previous stuff comes off the CPU when you pull it, do it right after a shutdown, when it's hot. If it's cold it may have hardened.
 
Last edited:
High grade isopropyl, plus lint-free lense paper (local pharmacy total $4).
 
Rubbing alcohol. There is no reason to spend more money on anything else. Unless you are lazy. Things like Arcticlean have a detergent that help with foreign article removal. Personally, a 70c bottle of isopropyl versus a $20 package of "Whatever Kinda Awesome Thermal Compound Remover" remover works for me. I've used it on several CPUs, GPUs, memory modules and chipset blocks.
 
i just used some 75% rubbing alchol. worked perfectly. and its hella cheap.
 
Sorry, folks. 100% Acetone beats them all for cleaning ability. The fastest evaporation rate of any solvent, 100% volatility means no residue whatsoever, it will disolve any compound, glue or other foreign material in its path, plus it's available everywhere and goes for around US$3-4 per quart. Just don't smoke while using it. :eek:
 
I use Acetone, then 70% alcohol, acetone again, 90% alcohol. Dont know why but i like to gradually increase the strength of the alcohol then Acetone. I get everything for like 99 cents :D per bottle or buy a big jug of it for a even better value

Btw Jame, thanks for the coffee filter idea i was looking for something that creates less lint at a low price

Also SSS told me about lightly lapping it after taking the paste off is a good idea
 
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