Arctic Silver 5 & removal

danceMB · 15 May 2006 at 09:38

I have some sub-standard thermal paste currently on my SI-120 (not fitted yet) and I want to remove the current thermal paste & use the Arctic Silver 5 (said to be the best).

What is the best things to use to completly remove the old stuff ready for the new? Will I need any special cloths?

TaKeN · 15 May 2006 at 10:11

A Tissue

Or if its realy stubborn, some nail varnish remover on a tissue

Be careful not to slop it everywhere though

deadeyedic30 · 15 May 2006 at 11:01

If you are to use something to clean of the old thermal paste use cotton buds to apply the cleaning fluid. I use the Tim clean OCuk sell, applying some to a cotton bud then wipe the cpu with it, then use tissues to clean that off. Then start again til it is all cleaned.

Socaddict · 15 May 2006 at 11:03

IPA.

works a treat, and dead cheap.

Shiz · 15 May 2006 at 11:29

You can use loads of things:

Paint stripper, nail varnish remover, petrol, barbecue fluid, white spirit etc.

danceMB · 15 May 2006 at 11:36

Would a tissue be a good idea though? Because surely a tissue could rip quite easily, leaving bits of tissue on the heatsink. Thinking about the safest stuff to use, what about this Arcticlean? I seen that on the products page and looks like the easiest stuff to use that removes all tracres of thermal compound

TaKeN · 15 May 2006 at 11:39

Waste of money, i would say 80% of the people on here used a tissue

Phemo · 15 May 2006 at 11:42

Kitchen roll is better to use than toilet roll as it doesn't leave little bits behind. Haven't had any problems and I've been using kitchen roll to clean my CPUs for years.

danceMB · 15 May 2006 at 11:59

I will use strong kitchen roll like bounty then, just to be sure, and then cotton buds for the sensitive CPU carefully.

Would Arcticlean be a good thing to use? Looks like it protects the heatsink in some way after its been cleaned as well from what I can see?

fornowagain · 15 May 2006 at 13:00

IPA and don't use anything oil based like white spirit.

Messiah Khan · 15 May 2006 at 13:59

I use IPA, toilet roll and cotton buds. As mentioned, don't sue anything that leaves a residue.

SuperBeast · 15 May 2006 at 14:31

I take it IPA = Isopropyl Alcohol? That's what i've been using for years.

danceMB · 15 May 2006 at 14:36

Can you buy IPA off of here?

hp7909 · 15 May 2006 at 14:44

danceMB said:
Can you buy IPA off of here?

Any pharmacy but, they might have it in 5 liters

Recommend checking-out the Arctic Silver gude here

Messiah Khan · 15 May 2006 at 15:00

SuperBeast said:
I take it IPA = Isopropyl Alcohol? That's what i've been using for years.

Yup. Its one of the best things to use. My dad managed to get a decent sized bottle of the stuff from work.. which was nice

I use it to clean all sorts of stuff now, even the outside of my case.

brocksta · 15 May 2006 at 16:20

akasa tim cleaner works a treat. though the smell of it gets to my head after a while

Foehammer2003 · 15 May 2006 at 17:10

brocksta said:
akasa tim cleaner works a treat. though the smell of it gets to my head after a while

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

GStueyXR · 15 May 2006 at 19:56

Use pre-injection swabs (sterets)

Fantastic and no oily residue as you get with oil based products.

danceMB · 16 May 2006 at 00:28

Looks like there are several cleaners. Although it looks like IPA or Arcticlean. Even though nobody has mentioned the latter, is that stuff any good? It looks good from what it says on here, does anyone agree with it?

locutus12 · 16 May 2006 at 00:49

i used nail varnish remover and cotton wool buds