How do I go about remiving rock solid/baked on thermal paste?

Akagi · 20 Sep 2013 at 15:15

Hi all, as title really. The Northbridge of my Core 2 Quad system has started overheating to the point where the system cuts out to avoid damage. (north of 90 degrees)

The board is an Asus Striker II Formula, which even back in its hayday was notorious for having a very hot running northbridge. I have stripped the board of its heatsinks and exposed the chips, but the thermal compound is baked on and more rock solid than anything I have encountered before. I have tried carefully scraping it off with a plastic edged implement, but even that is doing absolutely nothing.

Any ideas?

I was considering firing the system up so the northbridge gets quite hot and then removing the thermal paste, but i'm not convinced it will do the trick.

cs2000 · 20 Sep 2013 at 15:24

Hmmm, perhaps unplug all connectors and have something damp (but not wet) just sit on it for a while, may absorb some of the water and aid.

Something like a dish sponge that's just about wet to the touch, you can cut this to the exact size of the NB too

Akagi · 20 Sep 2013 at 15:46

I managed to get it off, but I fear that if I say how, i'll be banished from the world of computers forever

Oh and i've noticed the typo in the title. :rolleyes:

swiftmetal · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:05

Next time just use this

YOUR BASKET
1 x Akasa AK-TC TIM Clean CPU & Heatsink Cleaner £5.99
Total : £9.90 (includes shipping : £3.26).

oceaness · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:08

+1

I find that or the Artic stuff get's just about any paste off no matter how tough it is with just a wipe.

mushtafa · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:23

acme15 said:
I managed to get it off, but I fear that if I say how, i'll be banished from the world of computers forever

Oh and i've noticed the typo in the title.

We NEED to know how you did this in the end

Posted from Overclockers.co.uk App for Android

swiftmetal · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:31

Indeed i am just trying to think of the interesting ways he could have done this and why it would be so embarrassing.

JonJ678 · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:34

An embarressing way to remove thermal paste...

Whisky would be bad, on the grounds that you should have drunk the whisky. I'd have used a razor blade, which is fraught with implementation difficulties.

What did you go with?

Orch · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:38

Blow torch?

swiftmetal · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:41

Only embarrassing thing I can come up with is a womens hygiene product to remove it lol lets hope he did not go that way/

darael · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:41

If you're really careful, a flat blade screwdriver. :eek:

Akagi · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:53

I neglected to mention it because it was brutal and un-refined, not because it was embarrassing

I used a hairdryer on the hottest setting to heat up the thermal compound and a flat bladed screwdriver to aggressively chisel away at it.

It is fine now. Northbridge temperatures have dropped from 93°C (with the CPU at stock 2.4GHz) to 56°C with the CPU at 3.5GHz

swiftmetal said:
Next time just use this

YOUR BASKET
1 x Akasa AK-TC TIM Clean CPU & Heatsink Cleaner £5.99
Total : £9.90 (includes shipping : £3.26).

Unless it is pure acid, I dont believe that it would have worked. I accidently took a gouge out of the copper base of the heatsink, and that was many times easier than chipping away some of the 'paste'. Should give you a good idea of how hard I had to go at it :rolleyes:

oceaness · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:57

acme15 said:
Unless it is pure acid, I dont believe that it would have worked. I accidently took a gouge out of the copper base of the heatsink, and that was many times easier that chipping away some of the 'paste' and give you a good idea of how hard I had to go at it

You'd probably be quite surprised.

Sometimes you have to let it sit on it for a few seconds but it's never failed me yet. It literally just dissolves the compound.

I firmly believe no system builder should be without it in their arsenal. It's so cheap and about 2 or 3 drops have removed the hardest baked on thermal adhesive pads I've encountered.

bignev72 · 20 Sep 2013 at 16:57

Nail Varnish remover is always good.

oceaness · 20 Sep 2013 at 17:01

bignev72 said:
Nail Varnish remover is always good.

I've heard that but I believe you need to be careful though as it will also dissolve the PCB?

panyan · 20 Sep 2013 at 17:04

oceaness said:
I firmly believe no system builder should be without it in their arsenal. It's so cheap and about 2 or 3 drops have removed the hardest baked on thermal adhesive pads I've encountered.

really? ive always just used IPA but if it is that good i might give it a go

oceaness · 20 Sep 2013 at 17:10

Does IPA usually require a bit of scrubbing?

tjp148 · 20 Sep 2013 at 17:54

power sander?

nutsnut · 20 Sep 2013 at 18:09

Still got my akasa Tim, bottle still going 5 years ok, great stuff.

pastymuncher · 20 Sep 2013 at 19:28

None of those would have worked on the stuff that Asus used back then. It's almost like concrete. A hairdryer is just about the only way it will come off. I had a P5E X38 board and read the horror stories with this paste/glue as it was'nt actually very good at aiding thermal transfer and that once warmed up it glues the heatsink to the chipset. First thing i did when i bought the board was to get a hairdryer on it and seperate it from the chipset then gently chipped away at the stuff with a chisel. There were a few people at the time who ripped the chipset out of the board trying to remove the heatsink!! That's how strong this stuff is.