Cleaning off old thermal paste

BenJ

BenJ

BenJ

Associate
Joined
10 Aug 2006
Posts
704
Location
Warrington
I've recently re seated my heatsink and have been told to re apply the paste, this artic silver 5 paste has arrived today and I was wondering whats the best household product available to clean the old paste off the base of the heatsink and top of the cpu since I forgot to order the special artic cleaning fluid.
 
Got any nail varnish/polish remover? That will do the trick. That or anything with a lot of alcohol/solvent content, lynx (deoderant not anti-perspirant) works, but be sure to give it a few dry wipes afterwards to remove any residue, as does aftershave :p
 
It says on the Artic cooling website in the instructions

"Do not use nail polish remover as it contains fragrance oils and other contaminants"
 
Never caused any harm to anything I've used.

They just want you to buy their cleaning products tbh.

Personally i'd use isopropyl alcohol from a chemist, but you said "household product".
 
Cant waste aftershock on such a thing :D Ok so which would be cheaper?

Order the cleaning kit or go to the chemist and ask for some of this isopropyl alcohol?
 
Lol was just 2 dabs on some tissue nothing to get worried about. Besides i aint touched the stuff since xmas lol there was only a quater of it left and the top had gone weird with this residue stuff.
 
I might try and walk a shot home tonight if im not too smashed lol, be an achievement if i do :D

On another note, if aftershock worked then would another spirit too?
 
Yeah something like vodka would work, even more so if you use a cheap vodka and stick it in the freezer, as this would freeze out most of the contaminants and leave you with alcohol.

Back to your other post, isopropyl alcohol is cheaper per ml than any dedicated cleaning product, and comes in useful for cleaning other things too (removes permanent pen for example).
 
Ok cheers guys, Ive sent mum on a mission to the chemists. If that fails i'll have a look through their alcohol cupboard :D
 
White Sprit is probably the best thing I've used to lift thermal paste, especially that nasty glue stuff. When replacing the chipset cooler on this motherboard not long ago it had the glue stuff on it, and isoprohoyl wasn't doing much so tried some white spirit and it lifted in seconds.
 
Will kitchen roll be alright as a cloth, not sure if we have any lint free ones kicking about.
 
Why not just get the proper stuff for cleaning its only £4.70
I'v had the Akasa Citris based stuff for a few years now and its superb

Yea they want you to buy there products, but for peace of mind its safe to use

why bother buying white spirit etc. for a £1 odd or nail polish remover which is harsh stuff

Each to there own i surpose
 
The only reason i dont want to buy it is because ive just paid for the artic silver 5 paste plus £3 odd postage, and now to order the cleaner it will be another £3 odd postage, just can see the point if i can get the high purity isopropyl alcohol that they say is safe to use and available at a local chemist.

If i cant get hold of it i most likely will order the cleaner, just wondered if there was somthing that i could use today rather than waiting e.t.c.
 
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