Is this a good way to remove thermal pad?

[lazerin]

I used dish washing detergent to take the melted thermal pad from my hs n cpu when I applied ASIII. I just went to have a look at the AS website and they say "Never use any oil or petroleum based cleaners (WD-40, citrus based cleaners and many automotive degreasers) on the base of a heatsink." What really got to me was the citrus based bit....does this mean detergent is bad?! Will this decrease the cooling potential of ASIII and my heatsink or worse, decrease the life of my CPU????

How did you guys remove the pad other than alchohol and goof off?

 

[Malakai]

that works fine, just lap it after cleaning.

i just do one 10-20 minute run with 600grit, it does the trick for me, and gets a nice mirror finish

 

[FunkDaMonkMan]

Or, you could just clean it off with some rubbing alochol. I think you are supposed to use 90% isprolic alochol. Wal-mart sells 91% for like 70 cents.

but lapping it would definately do the trick.

 

[mbigna]

I like to use Goof Off (tm) which is a xylene based petroleum product to get rid of those nasty thermal pads (TIM's). It seems to evaporate completely, but if you rinse thoroughly with alcohol or water afterward, you should be fine.

Of course, lapping after the fact will get you back to perfectly pure metal (copper or aluminum). If you are planning to lap anyway, it will be easier if you get rid of the TIM before hand. It will save you a bunch of gummed up, useless, ruined sandpaper.

 

[MajinSSJVegetto]

Try to avoid WD-40 or anything like that. It will dig itself into the metal.

 

[Army_Of_1]

I used Rubbing alcohol for the Celeron 700 and it worked fine... I was just thinking maybe adding some rubbing compound would smoothen it out (the equivalent to 5000 grit sandpaper in case ya don't know)... I have some lying around from my recently painted case

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Alcohol works good. I use that all the time to remove my AS2. A steel wool thingy should work good too. It'll also remove any rust on the heatsink if it is copper.

 

[lazerin]

Try to avoid WD-40 or anything like that. It will dig itself into the metal.

What is WD-40?

 

[looktall]

A steel wool thingy should work good too. It'll also remove any rust on the heatsink if it is copper.

copper doesn't rust.

i'd be a bit worried that the steel wool would create scratches on the base of the heatsink.
scratches = bad.

i just carefully scrape off as much of the pad as possible (without scratching the base) and then use 100% isopropyl alcohol to remove any of the pad left on the heatsink.

 

[MajinSSJVegetto]

What is WD-40?

Lubricant mainly. It also is often used by people to removed goo and stickers or stuff.
Although, with Goo Gone and stuff, its pretty much just a lubricant nowadays.

That is what makes it bad for this. It is made to stay in place for a long time. It clings on and gets in all the little notches and bumps. That stops thermal compound from getting in there, and it hurts thermal transfer.

 

[lazerin]

Lubricant mainly. It also is often used by people to removed goo and stickers or stuff.
Although, with Goo Gone and stuff, its pretty much just a lubricant nowadays.

That is what makes it bad for this. It is made to stay in place for a long time. It clings on and gets in all the little notches and bumps. That stops thermal compound from getting in there, and it hurts thermal transfer.

So, dish washing detergent doesnt do that?

 

[looktall]

dish washing liquid is water soluble. wd-40 isn't. it's oil based.

oil based cleaning products, while good at removing old goo, are not so good at being removed themselves. you could use alcohol to remove them, but if you have alcohol, why not just use that to begin with?

 

[lazerin]

oh...phew

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Actually, my experience with steel wool is that it didn't produce any "feelable" scratches on the sink, but did very effectively remove corrosion on my sink. Didn't affect temps at all. I guess you could gently use some sandpaper and do a mini lapping job if you were worried about that the scratches were of significance.

 

[TuanSupreme17]

Oh, I also have experienced with the thermal paste when I cleaned my HSF. That paste was kind of yellowish. I didn't know much about this stuff so I just put HSF back exactly where it was after got it cleaned. I don't know there would be an potential danger if I did that. The computer still runs ok, a little cooler, I guess. Anyways, what do you guys think of that? Is that good or I am in a risk of failing CPU (Pentium III, very stable)?

Thanks for your responds.

 

[packratbob]

I used Rubbing alcohol for the Celeron 700 and it worked fine... I was just thinking maybe adding some rubbing compound would smoothen it out (the equivalent to 5000 grit sandpaper in case ya don't know)... I have some lying around from my recently painted case

becareful wat rubbing compound u use though most will have polishing porperties that adds layers of wax while u rub. and it really effects the TIM.