Cleaning Quad core – isopropyl alcohol?

[craige]

Well, I just got my new intel quad core and my brother had imprinted the front(face side) with fingerprints and hand dirt !

So how shall I clean it ?
First cleaning with, acetone and then with isopropyl alcohol…. Is it the best method?

For wiping the ISP & acetone – cotton or ear-buds are good ?

Also, in future if I would like to remove old thermal grease, the above procedure will work great ?

 

[CGR]

70% or greater isopropyl is fine for cleaning. I usually just use a paper towel.

 

[jason4207]

You can skip the acetone unless your cleaning the grease off of video card RAM sinks.

For thermal grease I like to wipe the bulk of it up w/ a paper towel, and then use something lint-free like coffee filters w/ some 90+% isopropyl on them to clean it up good.

I did some labs in the clean room where I went to school, so I tend to be a bit anal about keeping everything clean and lint/dust free while I'm working in that area. I'm sure CGR's advice is sound as well. Depends on your level of OCD.

 

[benbaked]

For thermal grease I like to wipe the bulk of it up w/ a paper towel, and then use something lint-free like coffee filters w/ some 90+% isopropyl on them to clean it up good.

Interesting, I'll have to try the coffee filters idea. I always try to use 99% isopropyl alcohol, usually with cotton swabs. Are alcohol-dipped cotton swabs inefficient for cleaning heatsinks, dies, and heatspreaders?

 

[BioTuned]

Artic Clean is good for removing gunk on vidoe card memory modules and removing TIM. But to remove fingerfints just a paper power or other towel that won't leave lints on the processor and some alcohol will do the trick.

 

[jason4207]

Interesting, I'll have to try the coffee filters idea. I always try to use 99% isopropyl alcohol, usually with cotton swabs. Are alcohol-dipped cotton swabs inefficient for cleaning heatsinks, dies, and heatspreaders?

Cotton works OK, and I use Q-tips alot. Sometimes there are fine cotton hairs that get left behind, though, so I like to use something lint-free as the final step. I'm very anal about this actually. After the area is cleaned I wipe it again w/ a clean lint-free cloth soaked in isopropyl, fold the towel, and then place it over the CPU...do the same w/ the HS. Once I'm ready, I remove the cloth over the CPU, wait a second for it to dry, and put a dab of TIM on the CPU. Remove the cloth from the HS, wait for it to dry, and then mount. I do this rather quickly so that dust won't have any time to settle on the surfaces. OCD at its finest!

I actually use Kimwipes (get them free from work). These are used to clean the ends of fiber-optic cables after termination. Coffee filters should be comparable, though, and more easily attainable.

 

[CGR]

Any lint can be blown off easily enough... and even IF there was small particles, it wont affect performance.

 

[karkas]

Any lint can be blown off easily enough... and even IF there was small particles, it wont affect performance.

...and replaced by little bits of spittle and other nasties

 

[CGR]

...and replaced by little bits of spittle and other nasties

I was referring to a can of compressed air...

 

[karkas]

Much better option now that we are clear