Methods to removing caked on TIM?

[MunkyTOS]

Hey OCers,

I've recently come to own an older P4 system built in a DTK Deft-865G mini system. After carefully removing everything and gaining access to the CPU I've noticed a large amount of old old TIM all over the chip and heatsink. I was wondering aside from isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs, what else would effectively remove the mess that is in these pictures. Prior to this I had tried cleaning a stock intel HSF that had gotten TIM on the gray metal parts with no luck removing it. Thanks in advance!

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Rubbing alcohol and a q-tip has worked for me.

The alcohol will soften it up a bit if you let it sit for a minute in some.

 

[Janus67]

Alcohol + coffee filters do a great job, or shop towels

 

[MunkyTOS]

Noted sirs, will report back with updates much appreciated

 

[caddi daddi]

brake cleaner from the autoparts store, remove the cpu and heatsink and take them outside or suffer the wrath of the little woman.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Caddi has been drinking too much of Silver's and Janus' alcohol before cleaning his heatsinks again...

I use rubbing alcohol and a napkin/qtip though.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

 

[caddi daddi]

you guys waste to much alcohol, i"ll be danged if I'm going to clean a cpu with everclear, but it might do a pretty good job.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

you guys waste to much alcohol, i"ll be danged if I'm going to clean a cpu with everclear, but it might do a pretty good job.

I use the kind you don't drink, that leaves more consumable for me!!!

 

[Aldakoopa]

I've used lacquer thinner before. Takes it off like nothing else does!

 

[MunkyTOS]

at the banter, on the bright side I had 91% laying around and took it right off with some elbow grease and didn't damage any fins or pins. I forgot to take pictures because I wanted to make sure I didn't forget how things went back together. Temperatures seem pretty good, ranging from high 20's to low 30's using some program called Everest home.

As a side note I figured I'd list the specs of this beautiful little rig.


Pentium 4 2.4ghz
Springdale-G i865 motherboard
1gb dual channel pc 32000 200mhz memory
Visiontek x1300 agp GPU
80gb WD Caviar 7200 rpm hdd


I know this is making you guys very jealous of this high end rig but please, contain yourself I have what looks to be a normal PCI slot and was wondering what you might recommend its use be. The board has from what I can tell 3 IDE, one filled by the dvd drive and 1 sata port filled by the OS drive.

 

[Robert17]

Pentium 4 2.4ghz
Springdale-G i865 motherboard
1gb dual channel pc 32000 200mhz memory
Visiontek x1300 agp GPU
80gb WD Caviar 7200 rpm hdd


I know this is making you guys very jealous of this high end rig but please, contain yourself I have what looks to be a normal PCI slot and was wondering what you might recommend its use be. The board has from what I can tell 3 IDE, one filled by the dvd drive and 1 sata port filled by the OS drive.

How about a 56k modem?

 

[runningweird]

Rubbing alcohol and a clean cloth, papertowel, or a coffee filter.

 

[Celeron_Phreak]

I bought a large bottle kit of arcticlean about seven years ago. I have used it a couple dozen times and still have more than half the bottles left. Works wonders for cleaning off thermal paste of all types, even old baked on pastes.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

How about a 56k modem?

I have a USB 56k modem if he wants it

 

[freakdiablo]

I was under the impression your typical drug store rubbing alcohol was a bad choice though, since they tend to add things that will leave a fine residue behind that will hinder future performance. I could be wrong though

 

[Robert17]

I was under the impression your typical drug store rubbing alcohol was a bad choice though, since they tend to add things that will leave a fine residue behind that will hinder future performance. I could be wrong though

Typically the bottle of drug store isopropyl alcohol will have a note on the label to the effect "90% alcohol" or something similar; the strength of solution is required by law. 100% isopropyl isn't generally found available except at specialty chemical supply distributors as it can be very harmful at that concentration. The entire alcohol family of organics is similarly constrained in public availability.

 

[EarthDog]

The higher the better, but I recall that the rest of the % is water?

 

[freakdiablo]

Typically the bottle of drug store isopropyl alcohol will have a note on the label to the effect "90% alcohol" or something similar; the strength of solution is required by law. 100% isopropyl isn't generally found available except at specialty chemical supply distributors as it can be very harmful at that concentration. The entire alcohol family of organics is similarly constrained in public availability.

Thanks, good to know.

The higher the better, but I recall that the rest of the % is water?

I thought someone around here mentioned they'll sometimes add a fragrance to it (don't know why) or some oils to it since some people will use it to clean wounds. But maybe I misunderstood.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Thanks, good to know.

I thought someone around here mentioned they'll sometimes add a fragrance to it (don't know why) or some oils to it since some people will use it to clean wounds. But maybe I misunderstood.

The odor isn't a fragrance, it's just the isopropyl alcohol.

Oil makes zero sense. At all.