Removing Goo from Thermo Pad ??

[sparker11]

I have a Athalon 1800+ standard heatsink and have to get a new motherboard. I have a question.

1. Should I remove the goo from the heatsink?
2. Should I remove any of the goo from around the actual chip?? It looks like it's on the side of the chip (melted). I tried this once before and it just got worse!
3. If I do have to remove the goo and re-apply thermo paste what should I use to remove the goo ?? I used nail polish remover, but it took forever to get it off.

Thanks in advance.

[purewire]

You should use Arctic Silver (II or III) for when you re-attach the HSF. Use 99% Rubbing Alcohol to remove any residual goo. Use can use the off the shelf RbbingAlchy (70%) but make sure you let it dry before you do anything with your CPU or HSF.


As far as whether you should do it at all, well, it depends ASII will reduce your temps. If you aren't going to overclock, the stock cooling should be enough. I use ASII but I overclock, and I do recommend Arctic Silver.

[sparker11]

So I guess I should remove the goo since I'm switching mboards or can i just go with whatever has already melted around the cpu and is on the heat sink??
i don't plan to overclock.

[blt]

Originally posted by purewire
You should use Arctic Silver (II or III) for when you re-attach the HSF. Use 99% Rubbing Alcohol to remove any residual goo. Use can use the off the shelf RbbingAlchy (70%) but make sure you let it dry before you do anything with your CPU or HSF.

Some of those 70% solutions contain alcohol, water, and some other substance(usually an oil of some kind). Do not use such a solution!
Make certain that 70% alcohol contains ONLY alcohol and water.

[sparker11]

Welp, I have 70% rubbing alcohol, but it doesn't say how its made up! Can I get 90% at the local store? My wife has nail polish remover .. but I'm not sure what that will contain either.

[DeathRyder]

Nail polish remover is acetone. not the same thing as alcohol. Let's just say it will immediately remove the finish off a tabletop (stained).

Not sure i want to use it to clean my cpu/heatsink.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm


I don't know why the link keeps getting screwed up when posting. Must be a problem with the software:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

keeps adding a %20 and a <br%20/> into the link which screws it up.

[sparker11]

Thanks for the link! I see they actually wanted me to remove the thermo pad BEFORE using the processor.

Doh, I used the processor and the wax/thermo stuff is all around the actual processor (melted).

Still looks like its on the processor AND headsink. When I get the new mboard can I just put the heatsink back on the processor???


I'm not overclocking ... thanks.

[DeathRyder]

I would still remove what I can of the wax using goop, wd40, ect, then with alcohol. Then apply real thermal compound.

I guess you can use acetone (nail polish remover), then alcohol to clean off the acetone

Clean the mating surfaces completely with a low residual solvent (High-purity isopropyl alcohol or acetone will work) and a LINT FREE cloth. (i.e. lens cleaning cloth) If another thermal compound has previously been applied to the heatsink, the mounting surface should be thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned with a xylene based cleaner, (Goof Off and some carburetor cleaners) acetone, MEK, mineral spirits, or 99% pure isopropyl alcohol. It is important to keep the surfaces free of foreign materials and NOT to touch the surfaces (a hair, piece of lint, and even dead skin cells can significantly affect the thermal interfaces performance, especially on modern small core CPUs as the surface area is already severely limited). In addition, oils from your fingers can adversely affect the performance by preventing the micronized silver fill from directly contacting the metal surface. (Fingerprints can be as thick as 0.005")

[blt]

Originally posted by sparker11
Welp, I have 70% rubbing alcohol, but it doesn't say how its made up! Can I get 90% at the local store? My wife has nail polish remover .. but I'm not sure what that will contain either.

Somewhere on the label (in small print) it will list the contents by percentage.