How do you clean CPU thermal paste off the cpu????

[Gamer1238]

That's why isopropyl is used (by old people) to clean video and tape heads.

I know the feeling well, although I now have to consider myself "old." hah

Before I got my first cd burner when they were first available, I'd store my .mp3s to highest quality vhs tapes I could find.

thank you all for your help I am very pleased with this forums help and how friendly everyone is

so isopropyl alcohol is a good choise? I have a glasses and the stuff i clean my glasses is isopropyl alcohol not sure if its got other stuff added tho

 

[Norwester]

That's why isopropyl is used (by old people) to clean video and tape heads.

I know the feeling well, although I now have to consider myself "old." hah

Before I got my first cd burner when they were first available, I'd store my .mp3s to highest quality vhs tapes I could find.

Don't worry - I'm so old I've owned a "Walkman"

Now there's a once-ubiquitous term which has gone the way of the Dodo.

Pshaw! My first video game was Pong and I've gotta tell you it was absolutely amazing on a color TV!
I use isopropyl alcohol and it works fine. I've never worried about using grounding straps,just be sure to touch something metal before you stick your hand into the case and you're fine.
Probably not a good idea to shuffle your feet on the carpet while you're elbow deep though. And don't go too wild with the paste,too much is NOT a good thing here.

 

[Gamer1238]

I know the feeling well, although I now have to consider myself "old." hah

Before I got my first cd burner when they were first available, I'd store my .mp3s to highest quality vhs tapes I could find.

Don't worry - I'm so old I've owned a "Walkman"

Now there's a once-ubiquitous term which has gone the way of the Dodo.

Pshaw! My first video game was Pong and I've gotta tell you it was absolutely amazing on a color TV!
I use isopropyl alcohol and it works fine. I've never worried about using grounding straps,just be sure to touch something metal before you stick your hand into the case and you're fine.

Awsome thanks.... should i use paper towels to wipe the paste away??

 

[alexium]

I'm surprised to know you can't buy etanol. Here in Ukraine it's not a problem, 96% etanol is used in medicine, it's sold in pharmacies.
Sorry for bad advice anyway.

 

[Gamer1238]

I'm surprised to know you can't buy etanol. Here in Ukraine it's not a problem, 96% etanol is used in medicine, it's sold in pharmacies.
Sorry for bad advice anyway.

Na its ok just different countries is all

 

[Norwester]

Awsome thanks.... should i use paper towels to wipe the paste away??

Yeah I just use tissues and a few q-Tips. The stuff can be messy.I was nerve racked the 1st time I redid mine too.

 

[H2SO4]

I'm surprised to know you can't buy etanol. Here in Ukraine it's not a problem, 96% etanol is used in medicine, it's sold in pharmacies.
Sorry for bad advice anyway.

I've never been to Ukraine, which is something that I aim to eventually rectify, but in most western countries you can't buy pure ethanol for the simple reason that it makes you blind drunk and it's safe to drink - in the sense that it's not immediately poisonous. If they allowed the sale of pure ethanol (grain alcohol), people would buy vast quantities of it and get blotto for a buck or two (ethanol is cheap to manufacture).

Instead, your buck or two will buy you a litre of what's menacingly called "methylated spirits", which is almost pure ethanol with some methanol (wood alcohol) purposefully added for its toxicity. Internally consumed, methanol is dangerous even in relatively small quantities, and its presence in your beverage results in evil hangovers. It doesn't put off everyone though - Australia has its fair share of "bogans" who drink methylated spirits mixed with OJ.

To get back OT, ethanol/methylated spirits would be perfectly fine as a cleaning solvent in this case, but isopropyl is even better.

 

[alexium]

I've never been to Ukraine, which is something that I aim to eventually rectify

offtopic: I don't think you'd like this country too much. Not that I'm not a patriot, but we don't do many things that we should. For example, we don't add metanol to etanol. And we have serious problem with alchoholism in our country... i beleive there is a correlation between these facts.

 

[torrentg]

Haha this is seriously why the web is awesome to me.

 

[vram]

U use Goo Gone to remove the thermal paste and then clean the CPU, heatsink and fan with alcohol to to neutralize the Goo Gone (its greasy). If you try this, DO NOT soak the CPU in Goo Gone, just use a little bit and gently wipe it off a bit at a time till its clean. Go over everything several times with the alcohol to make sure its all clean. Also, make sure not to touch the cpu or the bottom of the heatsink once its clean as the natural oils on your fingers will contaminate the surface. Being your first attempt at this, I would take it to someone with experience or at at least get them to oversee you doing it.

 

[Gamer1238]

U use Goo Gone to remove the thermal paste and then clean the CPU, heatsink and fan with alcohol to to neutralize the Goo Gone (its greasy). If you try this, DO NOT soak the CPU in Goo Gone, just use a little bit and gently wipe it off a bit at a time till its clean. Go over everything several times with the alcohol to make sure its all clean. Also, make sure not to touch the cpu or the bottom of the heatsink once its clean as the natural oils on your fingers will contaminate the surface. Being your first attempt at this, I would take it to someone with experience or at at least get them to oversee you doing it.

awesome thanks for that Vram.... you guys totally rock with the info i am getting

 

[Gilly]

simplist way is just use a firm piece of kitchen roll

 

[Gamer1238]

simplist way is just use a firm piece of kitchen roll

hmmm ok thank you Gilly

 

[jasjeet]

I used ArctiClean by Arctic Silver to clean the Thermal paste off, then used Arctic Cooling MX-2 for the new compound. Idle at 30*C, Load at 60*c (Prime95) and general usage like gaming it gets to about 50*c. Q6600 OC'd to 3.4Ghz. Ambient is 21*c.

Dont buy an anti static wrist strap or anything. Just leave the Power supply cable connected, but turn the switches off. Then touch the unpainted part of your case to remove static/earth yourself.

Then do what you need.

Also at what load do you face 65*c? Whats the ambient/room temp?

 

[Frank80]

i used Vodka the last time i cleaned my cpu
only problem was that there was a lot remaining in the bottle
*some for the food and some for the cook*

but worked like a charm.

 

[patio]

Arctic Silver, Inc. - Instructions

Best Instructions i've used...

 

[niteowl2k]

thermal grease

You don't really need anything substance to clean the cpu. Use a paper towel and q tips. Lap it carefully after if you want to be extra nice.

This is accurate. Slow and easy is the method - using paper towels and a lot of patience gets the job done. Just be sure to not bend any pins!

Oh, and WD-40 works very well to get grease off your hands afterwards. I would NOT recommend it to use on the CPU, though.

 

[Gamer1238]

I used ArctiClean by Arctic Silver to clean the Thermal paste off, then used Arctic Cooling MX-2 for the new compound. Idle at 30*C, Load at 60*c (Prime95) and general usage like gaming it gets to about 50*c. Q6600 OC'd to 3.4Ghz. Ambient is 21*c.

Dont buy an anti static wrist strap or anything. Just leave the Power supply cable connected, but turn the switches off. Then touch the unpainted part of your case to remove static/earth yourself.

Then do what you need.

Also at what load do you face 65*c? Whats the ambient/room temp?

air temp would be able 18 to 20*c or there abouts

 

[Gamer1238]

I bow down to all who have posted thank you so very much, you are the best forum tech group cheers all

Gamer1238

 

[Prefontaine]

I used MEK, available at lowes, or acetone, which is basically fingernailpolish remover. Both are basically fingernailpolishremover. MEK evaporates much quicker and I like it. Not really-- terrible fumes. But I think it's safe to use. I've done it on 1 build to remove thermal tape, and just recently I did it on this computer because I needed to take the heatsink off to clean out the dust. So I figured I would redo the grease. Use a rag at first then ear swabs like someone mentioned, get some compressed air too, so you can blow off any small particles you may of gotten on the cpu surface while you were handling it.