Using Methylated Spirit to Clean Thermal residue off CPU?

Robbo123 · 17 Jan 2006 at 19:38

can u do this?

MINERALISED METHYLATED SPIRIT (PURPLE COLOUR)

pegasus1 · 17 Jan 2006 at 19:43

Ive heard that it leaves a residue that affects performance, i use ISOPROPYL ALCHOHOL (IPA 170) which costs about £3 for a 400ml spray can, available from a well known highstreet electrical shop.

dale1uk · 17 Jan 2006 at 19:58

won't do any harm, might affect your temps by 1'c but thats about it. If you can easily get ahold of anything better then do so but if not don't worry about it that'll be fine.

daven1986 · 17 Jan 2006 at 21:18

do a search, i made an exact thread like this a while back - had loads of replies.

robinbredin · 23 Mar 2026 at 10:50

I seen a thread where the reply was, he did not have the Isopropyl, so he used alchohol to clean the CPU.

JonRGV250 · 23 Mar 2026 at 11:25

20 year old necro, well done.

Mr-White · 23 Mar 2026 at 19:24

It's still too soon to tell. Check back in another 20.

cavemanoc · 28 Jun 2026 at 22:24

Pity this forum doesn’t have the notify me bots - be good to set a 20 year reminder to see how it pans out :cry:

niggyg · 29 Jun 2026 at 19:29

It contains dyes that theoretically will leave a residue. It will be fine though, I'm sure it's better than baby wipes that I've used before.

labbby · 29 Jun 2026 at 19:31

I think there was a thread about this 20 years or so ago

BUDFORCE · 29 Jun 2026 at 21:59

niggyg said:
It contains dyes that theoretically will leave a residue. It will be fine though, I'm sure it's better than baby wipes that I've used before.

Last time I just used a combination of anti bacterial wipes followed by glass cleaner and a microfibre cloth.

Absolute fine.