Is it safe to remove thermal paste using water

Uncle Petey · 13 Nov 2015 at 19:06

Gotta be honest, a bit of kitchen roll is all I ever bothered with. Does the trick just fine.
Nowt wrong with being a bit more thorough though.

MadMouse101 · 14 Nov 2015 at 08:05

I use ArctiClean thermal remover, Good stuff.

Shampoo · 14 Nov 2015 at 10:18

99.9% alcohol. Cheap as and you get enough in the bottle for a lifetime. Why take the risk on anything else - ESPECIALLY WATER!

KelDG · 14 Nov 2015 at 10:30

I just take it into the shower with me, a bit of Loriel shampoo brings it off a treat, use Loriel tho because its worth it.

Seriously tho, its expensive kit, get a microfiber (glasses) cloth and some iso-propyl on it.

lamboman · 14 Nov 2015 at 14:27

The specialist products are pointless really, isopropyl or nail varnish remover and a cotton bud or microfibre are what you want.

To be honest I wouldn't worry too much about the alcohol content of the isopropyl too much, 70% will be fine. Just as long as you're putting the stuff on the cleaning material and not directly on the CPU, of course!

Orangey · 14 Nov 2015 at 18:47

Surprised to see nail varnish remover mentioned so much, I thought it had harmful/corrosive chemicals?

Blackjack Davy · 14 Nov 2015 at 18:55

Orangey said:
Surprised to see nail varnish remover mentioned so much, I thought it had harmful/corrosive chemicals?

You'd be better off with pure Acetate which is the active ingredient. Or better still IPA.

lude1962 · 14 Nov 2015 at 18:55

alcohol wipes , ask at your local pharmacist they gave me a handful for free

lude1962 · 14 Nov 2015 at 18:57

Blackjack Davy said:
You'd be better off with pure Acetate which is the active ingredient. Or better still IPA.

Chemistry: a salt or ester of acetic acid.

You'll be thinking of acetone (nail varnish remover), not an ideal solvent for removing thermal grease.

rossiboy001 · 15 Nov 2015 at 10:14

I always use a cotton bud tipped in white spirit to remove the fine residue, maybe repeat until no more appears on successive buds.after using dry buds or tissue to get the main bulk removed, then re wipe with dry tissue to ensure its fully dry and polished off.

jpod · 27 Jan 2016 at 02:31

White spirit! It is oily! No............

Rubbing alcohol (Chemist) or hand disinfectant alcohol.

Hagar · 27 Jan 2016 at 10:20

MadMouse101 said:
I use ArctiClean thermal remover, Good stuff.

+1 lasts for ages, nice lemony smell as well.

Jamesyboyjim · 27 Jan 2016 at 11:27

I used to buy these handy little alcohol-wipes from ebay but nowadays I just use kitchen towel, it comes off completely no problem.

Troezar · 27 Jan 2016 at 12:46

Bought some Artic clean too. False economy not to considering the price of CPU's.

implosiveturnip · 27 Jan 2016 at 13:34

I've used alcohol-based glasses/lens cleaner and alcohol hand sanitizer with some kitchen/blue roll.

Articlean really does the trick though. I wasn't a believer in it until I tried it out recently myself, after delidding my 3770k.

arc@css · 27 Jan 2016 at 13:37

NoobCannon said:
Kitchen roll.

That's what I used.

Tee Hee Johnson · 27 Jan 2016 at 13:56

Kitchen towel then some 95% Alcohol on another bit of kitchen towel.

redshirt41 · 28 Jan 2016 at 09:03

I use one of those green/yellow scouring pads with a little water. I wasn't planning on applying the new paste until the next day though

Blackjack Davy · 28 Jan 2016 at 09:16

White spirit, no! It stinks for days and leaves a residue.

IPA impregnated wipes is what I use but a bottle of the stuff and a kitchen towel will just as well.

beany_bot · 28 Jan 2016 at 10:07

Please don't use nail polish remover. It is Acetone which is extremely aggressive. In fairness it won't harm the CPU metal but it will dissolve the mobo if spilt on it!

Can't say I've ever needed anything other that tissue paper and time. Takes a little longer than using a fluid but still works fine. If you have to use a fluid then IPA is defo the way to go. But you really dont need to.