Best way to remove thermal paste?

[johnboy1998]

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.

+ 1 Great stuff!

 

[Ahgemon]

Usually thermal paste has hardened if the heatsink and fan system have been on a long time, if it is hardened I usually get a razor blade and carfully carve it off, the hardened material acts as a gap between your new heat sink and the surface heat spreader of your cpu, and if left on, the heat transfer will be inefficient and your system will shut down, I have had it happen before.

If your thermal paste is still gooey, then you do not have to clean it off, once the two surfaces come in contact it will bind the two as it should and heat will transfer from one surface to the other.

 

[BlueMax]

Hey guys, new to the site..

I use 99% alcohol with some Q-Tips, works good.

 

[vlaszlo]

Brake Cleaner or Isopropyl Alcohol

 

[T1Cybernetic]

Where do all you guys get your alcohol from?

I had some from lens cleaning tools from some car boot sale i got ages ago but i am almost out

Im in the uk too

 

[cyberfish]

I have always used mineral spirit with Qtip, and it seems to work quite well, too.

 

[Jolly-Swagman]

Where do all you guys get your alcohol from?

I had some from lens cleaning tools from some car boot sale i got ages ago but i am almost out

Im in the uk too

Usually you can get Isopropyl Alcohol from most chemists

 

[Archer0915]

I did not see it but alcohol based hand sanitizer gel is awesome used with a paper towel.