Thermal Paste Removal

[Andaho]

I'm about to replace my motherboard so I'll need to remove the CPU and apply new thermal paste, I got some thermal paste, and I'll go to my chemist to buy some Isopropyl Alcohol BUT....

How should you remove the thermal paste before the stage of wiping it with Isopropyl Alcohol? I've read somewhere on a quick search to use a plastic tool... what kind of plastic tool? a plastic knife from a picnic set? then what should you wipe it on with? HEN, I imagine there will be bits of it on the surface, what do you wipe it off with?

[Webby]

I clean mine off with a bit of tissue, then IPA soaked tissue, then lint free cloth with a bit of IPA, done!

[TAKTAK]

just get some Arcticlean off ebay, works wonders. mine should arrive in approx 12hours from someone called cheesefeet

[Betty_Swallocks]

People get really anal about this. It's almost like the people who insist that they need to spend hundrends of pounds on a power cable for their hifi.

I always just clean the thermal compound off with a bit of kitchen towel and put the new stuff straight on and I have never had a problem. I have never had a CPU fail at all let alone because it has overheated.

[TAKTAK]

People get really anal about this. It's almost like the people who insist that they need to spend hundrends of pounds on a power cable for their hifi.

I always just clean the thermal compound off with a bit of kitchen towel and put the new stuff straight on and I have never had a problem. I have never had a CPU fail at all let alone because it has overheated.

yeh but arcticlean smells lemony fresh thats gotta be good. like i saw of a forum somewhere, what do you get if you leave acetone on a thermal pad for an hour?
a thermal pad
if you use arcticlean the thermal pad turns to gloopy goodness which can be removed easier, then you just use the second bottle to remove the first

[DDY]

Solvents e.g. IMS, IPA, Acetone aren't necessary but really, really, useful as they dissolve thermal compound so you can wipe it off rather than scrub it off with some kitchen towel.

[Fraz]

I can't believe this extremely tedious thread has been revived. Maybe we can have another 4 pages of "answers" to a question that was answered within the first few posts...

[GoNz0]

HP use alcohol wipes, and they have been making PC's a lot longer than akasa have been conning people out there hard earned cash for there TIM rip off.

[Andaho]

I can't believe this extremely tedious thread has been revived. Maybe we can have another 4 pages of "answers" to a question that was answered within the first few posts...

Yes I revived the thread, to ask more detail about how it's done, which still hasn't really been answered, and yes, people do keep posting the same stuff that's been mentioned earlier in the thread. - Better than starting a new thread I thought.

I manged to get some Isopropyl Alcohol from the chemist, but it was hard to get hold of... first of the chemists I went to said they didn't have any, second said they're not allowed to sell it anymore because they only get it in huge 10ltr bottles. A 3rd chemist offered to order it in for me and it would cost £9 for 500ml, so I said I'd go back to them if I couldn't get in anywhere else... Finally after getting those responses from the big chemists, I thought I'd try a tiny local one, and finally, they sold me a 500ml bottle for £5.20, of course after asking what it was going to be used for.

[DDY]

Get some methylated spirit next time, easier to find, it's in Woolworth's, B&Q etc.

It's not as nasty as acetone, turpentine or white spirit, it doesn't dissolve plastic, very low toxicity (just don't drink it) and consists mainly of ethanol which ticks all the boxes for an all round solvent. Chemically very similar to IPA so what IPA does, ethanol can.

[Webby]

The advantage of IPA is that it is easier to get a pure supply, ethanol tends to have water mixed in and gets very expensive if you want 99.9% pure (because it forms an azeotrope with water) where as IPA is more easily separated from water and so is cheaper to buy. Less water also means less chance of a short should some of the solvent get on your sensitive electronic equipment.

Personally I wouldn't use Meths it has a purple colour which isn't caused by the ethanol or the methanol (or the other solvent to make it not pure alcohol, and avoid having to pay duty on it ) so it must be a different molecule which is likely left behind on your CPU or what ever you have cleaned when the solvents evaporate. Since you are trying to clean the surface that is far from ideal.

[amjedm]

How should you remove the thermal paste before the stage of wiping it with Isopropyl Alcohol? I've read somewhere on a quick search to use a plastic tool... what kind of plastic tool? a plastic knife from a picnic set? then what should you wipe it on with? HEN, I imagine there will be bits of it on the surface, what do you wipe it off with?

Yes I revived the thread, to ask more detail about how it's done, which still hasn't really been answered, and yes, people do keep posting the same stuff that's been mentioned earlier in the thread. - Better than starting a new thread I thought.

I'll have a go at answering your question

I use Acetone to remove the thermal paste (if it's hard), it can however damage components (states 'attacks plastics' on the bottle - 99p from chemists if you're brave ). I've bought some of the Akasa TIM Remover from Scan but not used it yet.

If you're going to use Acetone, dip a lint free tissue in it and then use it to remove the paste. If the paste is really hard then use a credit card first to scrape some of it off. Then use Acetone or other TIM remove - you might have to let the liquid soak in.

Once the surface is clean, I use Isopropyl Alcohol with lint free tissue to give it the best finish before applying new thermal paste.

[Thorsson]

I use an old plastic card - not usually a live credit/debit card - for the initial scrape.

[DDY]

Personally I wouldn't use Meths it has a purple colour which isn't caused by the ethanol or the methanol (or the other solvent to make it not pure alcohol, and avoid having to pay duty on it ) so it must be a different molecule which is likely left behind on your CPU or what ever you have cleaned when the solvents evaporate. Since you are trying to clean the surface that is far from ideal.

Tis' true, methylated spirit is also doped with denatonium and handful of alkaloids, most of it will evaporate eventually and the trace will be so small it will provide a negligible effect. Most of it will be wiped off anyway.

One last thing though, all this discussion about various chemicals and cleaning methods. What ever happened to the bit of slobber and finger nail method? Works a treat!

[Andaho]

an old credit card is a good idea, thanks