ArticSilver2 Versus Alpha and Oil

[dgk]

This is a quote from the Artic Silver website:

"Never use any oil or petroleum based cleaners (WD-40, citrus based grease removers and many automotive degreasers) on the base of a heatsink. The oil, which is engineered to not evaporate, will fill in the microscopic valleys in the metal and significantly reduce the effectiveness of any subsequently applied thermal compound."

One of the first instructions on my new Alpha PEP66 is to remove the oil coating on the heatsink, which is used to prevent corrosion. That oil clearly is not engineered to evaporate. So, am I missing something here or do I have to lapp the PEP because the oil has filled in microscopic gaps?

I'm going to Lapp it soon anyway because my new TB1200(200) is running at 66C IDLE!!!! with artic silver and the PEP. That thread starts now in AMD CPUs.

 

[klosters64a]

Weyell...I think you need to remove the oil that ships with PEP-66's on the copper surface of the HS. I dunno the best way to do this, I just used rubbing alcohol. The copper surface of the PEP-66 that I received was not polished to a mirror-like smoothness. Machine marks were a feature on mine, at any rate.

The instructions with your thermal glop are not really at odds with Alpha's instruction sheet. When removing Alpha's protective oil, just avoid automotive degreasers, WD-40 and citrus based grease removers. Good old isopropyl alcohol aka methylated spirits seems to work just fine.

 

[Staz]

If you are really worried about the oil then i would suggest useing a product spesifically designed to wash away oil and the evaporate. The best thing would probibly be automotive brake disc cleaner. The use alcohol to was away any residue.

 

[markedmundb]

Personally I used Acetone (nail varnish remover) as it evaporates quickly, and is good at removing most stuff from most surfaces.

The reason Alpha use Oil is to the Copper on the base oxidising, as CuO is not such a good conductor as Copper (the reason hi-fi nuts spend more cash on Oxygen Free Copper cables).