Safest Way to remove thermal paste

[LouieH]

As my computer hits temps over 90c I've ordered a new cooler, the H55, when it arrives whats the best way to remove the old thermal paste. Alcohol and cloth?

[Ad Hominem]

İlk olarak christmaS tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Ad Hominem tarafından gönderildi:

not afaik. It's got the same consistency of water or isopropyl, just like a fluid. Maybe there are some brands or mixtures that come with some grits in it for like removing paint or something though, I'm not sure. The stuff I've always seen is just a standard fluid.

Oh. Best not to risk it, some can be too strong, Isopropyl is cheaper anyways and you can find it in any local store.

Yea I would stick to alcohol. Higher % is better because it evaporates faster but I've used 70% in a pinch just fine.

If for some strange reason I was in a situation where I absolutely could not get alcohol and had to clean thermal paste, I would prob just use a paper towel dry and do a little scrubbing to get it all off.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Acetone or Nail Polish remover is never a good choice to clean any electronic devices, PERIOD!

Water, alcohol or hydrogen piroxide
If you must use plain water, make it warm water and put into a dish with a touch of hand soap mixed into it and then dip into that with a rag or paper towel

[Ad Hominem]

İlk olarak Bad 💀 Motha tarafından gönderildi:

Acetone or Nail Polish remover is never a good choice to clean any electronic devices, PERIOD!

Water, alcohol or hydrogen piroxide
If you must use plain water, make it warm water and put into a dish with a touch of hand soap mixed into it and then dip into that with a rag or paper towel

Out of curiosity, what would acetone do? Does it react badly to the silicon or something?

[Komrade]

İlk olarak Ad Hominem tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Bad 💀 Motha tarafından gönderildi:

Acetone or Nail Polish remover is never a good choice to clean any electronic devices, PERIOD!

Water, alcohol or hydrogen piroxide
If you must use plain water, make it warm water and put into a dish with a touch of hand soap mixed into it and then dip into that with a rag or paper towel

Out of curiosity, what would acetone do? Does it react badly to the silicon or something?

It can literally dissolve certain things.

[Ad Hominem]

İlk olarak christmaS tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Ad Hominem tarafından gönderildi:

Out of curiosity, what would acetone do? Does it react badly to the silicon or something?

It can literally dissolve certain things.

That's what I was afraid of.

[Revelene]

99% isopropyl alcohol and a coffee filter. Works wonders.

[Autumn_]

İlk olarak christmaS tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Ad Hominem tarafından gönderildi:

Out of curiosity, what would acetone do? Does it react badly to the silicon or something?

It can literally dissolve certain things.

So does Isopropyl.
But I am going to look into Acetone a bit.

İlk olarak Revelene tarafından gönderildi:

99% isopropyl alcohol and a coffee filter. Works wonders.

Yeah, but I've never gone wrong with just 72% iso and a bit of kitchen roll.

People really do overstress over the littlest things, you don't need a PERFECT mount unless you're XOCing, even then, I doubt a tiny bit of cloth would make that much difference.

I've used my method over 5 different CPUs a couple of times, and 2 different GPUs, all still run perfectly fine, in acceptable levels.

[Revelene]

İlk olarak Autumn tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Revelene tarafından gönderildi:

99% isopropyl alcohol and a coffee filter. Works wonders.

Yeah, but I've never gone wrong with just 72% iso and a bit of kitchen roll.

People really do overstress over the littlest things, you don't need a PERFECT mount unless you're XOCing, even then, I doubt a tiny bit of cloth would make that much difference.

I've used my method over 5 different CPUs a couple of times, and 2 different GPUs, all still run perfectly fine, in acceptable levels.

I used to work on a lot of computers daily. My go to was 99% IPA, so it doesn't render a risk if dripped somewhere other than the top of the cpu, and coffee filters to avoid lint.

The biggest problem with lower IPA is that it has water and other things that will possibly trash a motherboard and other components. And lint can get on and into places on the motherboard, possibly causing a short somewhere.

Better safe than sorry, in my opinion. 99% IPA isn't really that different in price than lower percentage IPA at your local Walmart and coffee filters are dirt cheap, cheaper than paper towls.

[Ad Hominem]

İlk olarak Revelene tarafından gönderildi:

The biggest problem with lower IPA is that it has water and other things that will possibly trash a motherboard and other components. And lint can get on and into places on the motherboard, possibly causing a short somewhere.

It's not really a problem for how fast it evaporates. By the time you get the cooler back on any alcohol that found its way off the CPU will have evaporated. Even 70% IPA doesn't stick around for long enough for it to be a problem. Even if you used straight up water it would only be an issue if you left it wet and powered it on.

As far as lint, I doub't it would matter at all. Like even with highly controlled benchmarking I would be surprised if it even made a 1 degree difference if you purposely left paper towel lint on the IHS.

But if something works for you then stick with it. No reason to reinvent the wheel.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Rubbing alcohol is safe to use to clean electronics. Acetone is not, it's that simple. Acetone can eat the surface layer off PCB like a motherboard or gpu

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

i use tissue paper and alcohol:
wipe off old thermal paste with slightly wet tissue paper
repeat 2x
wipe with dry tissue paper 2x.
(apply new thermal paste)

[_I_]

İlk olarak Bad 💀 Motha tarafından gönderildi:

Rubbing alcohol is safe to use to clean electronics. Acetone is not, it's that simple. Acetone can eat the surface layer off PCB like a motherboard or gpu

acetone can clean boards with components, but is harmful to any connectors or plastics on the board

[Autumn_]

İlk olarak Revelene tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Autumn tarafından gönderildi:

Yeah, but I've never gone wrong with just 72% iso and a bit of kitchen roll.

People really do overstress over the littlest things, you don't need a PERFECT mount unless you're XOCing, even then, I doubt a tiny bit of cloth would make that much difference.

I've used my method over 5 different CPUs a couple of times, and 2 different GPUs, all still run perfectly fine, in acceptable levels.

I used to work on a lot of computers daily. My go to was 99% IPA, so it doesn't render a risk if dripped somewhere other than the top of the cpu, and coffee filters to avoid lint.

The biggest problem with lower IPA is that it has water and other things that will possibly trash a motherboard and other components. And lint can get on and into places on the motherboard, possibly causing a short somewhere.

Better safe than sorry, in my opinion. 99% IPA isn't really that different in price than lower percentage IPA at your local Walmart and coffee filters are dirt cheap, cheaper than paper towls.

Isn't Isopropyl mixed with deionized water? (So there is not much other than pure water.)
So it shouldn't really matter if it's 70 or 100%.

And the only time I see it dropping into say the socket, is if you really load up the cloth (or whatever you use to clean.)
And it would still evaporate pretty quickly.

I'm in agreement with the better safe than sorry, if you are actually worried, 99+% isopropyl. But in my personal experience, using weaker Iso has not cause any issues, enough for me to recommend using a slightly weaker solution.

And, I don't live in America, so I don't have access to walmart. Also, can't say I've looked at the price of coffee filters, since I don't drink much coffee.
So I can't argue with you on that.

[Revelene]

İlk olarak Ad Hominem tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Revelene tarafından gönderildi:

The biggest problem with lower IPA is that it has water and other things that will possibly trash a motherboard and other components. And lint can get on and into places on the motherboard, possibly causing a short somewhere.

It's not really a problem for how fast it evaporates. By the time you get the cooler back on any alcohol that found its way off the CPU will have evaporated. Even 70% IPA doesn't stick around for long enough for it to be a problem. Even if you used straight up water it would only be an issue if you left it wet and powered it on.

As far as lint, I doub't it would matter at all. Like even with highly controlled benchmarking I would be surprised if it even made a 1 degree difference if you purposely left paper towel lint on the IHS.

But if something works for you then stick with it. No reason to reinvent the wheel.

When the IPA evaporates, it can leave behind residue that can potentially be conductive. Personally, I recommend using 90 percent or higher. The higher the alcohol, the less water and other things that remain. I mean, you don't have to and will most likely be okay... but why use the lower stuff when pricing is almost no different? We're talking cents.

Paper towels can leave lint that can indeed cause problems. If you get lint somewhere it shouldn't be, it can be a death sentence (for the motherboard or other components, not you). And just like the IPA, coffee filters are cheap. Actually cheaper than paper towels.

I've actually had a clients ruin their motherboard with paper towls or toilet paper, even ruined gpus and other components too. I've had plenty of horror stories with people taking the lazy route... granted, I would see these more often than the average joe, simply because that was exactly why people came to me.

In conclusion, do what you want and you'll probably be okay... but with the price of these things being so low and it can possibly be safer on your expensive computer hardware, why not?

İlk olarak Autumn tarafından gönderildi:

Isn't Isopropyl mixed with deionized water? (So there is not much other than pure water.)
So it shouldn't really matter if it's 70 or 100%.

And the only time I see it dropping into say the socket, is if you really load up the cloth (or whatever you use to clean.)
And it would still evaporate pretty quickly.

I'm in agreement with the better safe than sorry, if you are actually worried, 99+% isopropyl. But in my personal experience, using weaker Iso has not cause any issues, enough for me to recommend using a slightly weaker solution.

And, I don't live in America, so I don't have access to walmart. Also, can't say I've looked at the price of coffee filters, since I don't drink much coffee.
So I can't argue with you on that.

Maybe, I'm not sure. I always at least go with 90. Evaporates very quickly and has always been my go to when I was at the shop. It most likely won't hurt. Never actually heard of 70 percent causing any problems.

Now, I have heard of paper towls and toilet paper causing problems. I've had to fix them a bunch of times, actually.

I get my coffee filters either at the Dollar Tree or in bulk at Sam's Club (part of Walmart, just like Walmart but sells everything in bulk). They are super cheap. Not sure what you would have that would be similar. It is amazing how different parts of the world are. I've never traveled internationally before, but if I did, I'm sure I'd be super confused on where to shop if I needed.

[↑↑↓↓←→←→BASelect]

For many years I use 91% alcohol and brand name Qtips as they don't leave lint behind like the generic ones do.