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Is it safe to remove thermal paste using water

implosiveturnip said:
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.
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Hand sanitizer contains perfumes and other ingredients that are left behind when the alcohol evaporates. I really wouldn't use that as it will be left on your CPU.
 
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beany_bot said:
Hand sanitizer contains perfumes and other ingredients that are left behind when the alcohol evaporates. I really wouldn't use that as it will be left on your CPU.
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It was 80% alcohol, and not perfumed. It really hasn't made any noticeable difference to my temps; it was probably a better idea than giving my cpu a wash in water!
 
I've always cleaned off with a baby wipe, and rubbed any excess moisture off with a dry tissue/kitchen roll. Never broken any CPU or ever had temperature problems after cleaning.
 
beany_bot said:
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.
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You would have to be a seriously incompetent person to spill any fluid on a motherboard when cleaning paste off a cpu. I've always just dipped cotton buds in girlfriends nail varnish remover and never had an issue. There is zero reason it should get anywhere near the motherboard.

My method is.

Use dry buds to remove thick stuff.
Use wet bud to clean up cpu.
Use dry buds to dry it up fully.
Job done :)
 
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I used to use that method to remove my eye brows as a kid, dunno how effective it is against thermal compound though. :)
 
beany_bot said:
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.
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Acetone will not dissolve the motherboard......

It eats certain types of plastic, sure, but not motherboards :rolleyes:
If I've resoldered something on a motherboard, I use neat acetone on a bud to clean off the flux residue. Not melted anything yet.
Bathing the board in acetone is probably not a good idea, or painting the chips with it, but otherwise fine.

-Leezer-
 
Bought a bottle of IPA with a spray plunger on the bay. Have used quite a bit for cleaning my components and case inside and out - still have loads left. It's really handy having the spray top.
 
Still got an almost full bottle of Akasa TIM cleaner that I bought to build my first pc over 10 years ago! Citrus based so my cpu smells fabulous :cool:.
 
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