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Thread: Akasa TIM-clean or Isopropyl? (Cleaning CPU etc.)

  1. #17
    Will work for beer... nichomach's Avatar
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    TIM clean's worked well for me, and also worked for removing permanent marker off a wood veneer desk without leaving evidence - took some elbow grease though .

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    Senior Amoeba iranu's Avatar
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    I thought you could get isopropanol from Maplins. It's the best stuff to use because it won't attack plastic like some acetone based nail varnishes. I loot mine from work.
    "Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be." Frank Zappa. ----------- "The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." Huang Po.----------- "A drowsy line of wasted time bathes my open mind", - Ride.

  3. #19
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    I also keep a bottle of Akasa TIM clean handy, smells a bit more orangy imo thou, its mostly the citrus acid. whatever, all I care about is the perfect finish it leaves.
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    Studmuffin Flibb's Avatar
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    I use isopropanol, we have it in 1000L IBCs at work and have to tak samples for testing, along with 200L acetone, DCM, methanol, toluene, etc.

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    I use ArctiClean and it works pretty good. The first bottle sounds like the same stuff as TIM, it smells lemony The second bottle just evaporates everything so its all nice and dry!

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    Quote Originally Posted by iranu
    I thought you could get isopropanol from Maplins. It's the best stuff to use because it won't attack plastic like some acetone based nail varnishes. I loot mine from work.
    You can, it's what I use and it works fine.

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    root Member DanceswithUnix's Avatar
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    I bought a bottle of pure acetone from the local chemist for well under a pound. The nail varnish removers all seemed to have additives which sounded like they would leave a residue and they were more expensive.

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    I got some isoprop from the pharmacy of our local (big!) Tesco's I cant offhand remember how much it was tho, but it didn't seem too much at the time!

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    Senior Amoeba iranu's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix
    I bought a bottle of pure acetone from the local chemist for well under a pound. The nail varnish removers all seemed to have additives which sounded like they would leave a residue and they were more expensive.
    Acetone will attack some plastics. I would not advise using it unless you have tested a tiny proportion of the pcb substrate to ensure it does not eat it away. Probably will not be too much of a problem with the IHS on AMD 64's with careful handling but on an athlon xp it's liable to knacker the chip's pcb.
    "Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be." Frank Zappa. ----------- "The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." Huang Po.----------- "A drowsy line of wasted time bathes my open mind", - Ride.

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    sneaks quietly away. schmunk's Avatar
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    Meths (or turps subtsitute) will do the job just fine.

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    Banned Smokey21's Avatar
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    Speaking to viperJohn, Akaska Cleaner only gets rid of thermal compound grease.

    To remove bond of memory chips etc you need Lacquer Thinner or Acetone and i dunno what they are, or where to get em from?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Smokey21
    Speaking to viperJohn, Akaska Cleaner only gets rid of thermal compound grease.

    To remove bond of memory chips etc you need Lacquer Thinner or Acetone and i dunno what they are, or where to get em from?
    Cheap nail varnish remover will be ~ 100% pure acetone.

    More expensive stuff will have loads of scents etc...

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    root Member DanceswithUnix's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iranu
    Acetone will attack some plastics. I would not advise using it unless you have tested a tiny proportion of the pcb substrate to ensure it does not eat it away. Probably will not be too much of a problem with the IHS on AMD 64's with careful handling but on an athlon xp it's liable to knacker the chip's pcb.
    It was an XP-2100 that I used it on (Palamino).

    Got used quite a few times too whilst I tried to find something that could keep that thing cool without being too loud.

    I think it was some Arctic Silver instructions that suggested Acetone (as well as alcohol).

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    Akasa TIM Cleaner is excellent - removes everything from thermal grease to double sided tape to sticky heat transfer pads to ceramique etc.

    Its a combination of citrus, petroleum and other chemical compounds.

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    I use both. I give the CPU a good clean with a swab of cotton wool and Akasa TIM-clean and follow up with a heft squirt of IPA and a lint free cloth. The lint free cloth and IPA clean off the last of the residue and also get rid of any fibres left by the cotton wool.

    Seems to get it pretty clean to me.

    Cheers,
    Stephen

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    Quote Originally Posted by davidstone28
    Akasa TIM Cleaner is excellent - removes everything from thermal grease to double sided tape to sticky heat transfer pads to ceramique etc.

    Its a combination of citrus, petroleum and other chemical compounds.
    Not according to an Ex ATI engineer.

    Email to me:

    "Your Akasa cleaner may clean off the compound from the GPU but so will a dry paper towel. Resin cased chips (memory) have a different issue.
    When the chips are encased a silicone mold release compound is used and there will be
    a residue from that on the chip surface. That residue is what prevents good bonding of
    adhesives/thermal epoxies used on the chips and that is the #1 cause of bond failure over
    time. The silicone residue is very hard to remove and only Lacquer Thinner or Acetone
    will get it off completely"

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