What is an alternative for 99% alcohol?

[Sandwich121]

Hi, 

I just ordered my CPU Cooler and a tube of arctic silver 5 paste with it, however my cpu already has the stock paste on it. 

I know that inus uses 99% but I don't have that in my household.

I have Vodka & Nail Polish remover, as well as some other cleaning products.

What can I use instead of 99%?

Thanks!

[C0LL0SS0S]

if you have 75% its still fine, not sure about nail polish remover since there may be some things in it that you don't want on a CPU

[MegaDave91]

I've used 70% repeatedly.

[r1Ns3]

I used methylated spirits and it worked fine, no tissue however. And don't get it on your motherboard pins either

 

I can't tell if anythings gone wrong, been a few months and it hasn't played up since

[Josephdalepi]

9 minutes ago, Sandwich121 said:

Hi, 

I just ordered my CPU Cooler and a tube of arctic silver 5 paste with it, however my cpu already has the stock paste on it. 

I know that inus uses 99% but I don't have that in my household.

I have Vodka & Nail Polish remover, as well as some other cleaning products.

What can I use instead of 99%?

Thanks!

DO NOT USE OTHER THINGS

70% works fine

vodka does not

just go get some 70%

[TheGamingBarrel]

You can do what I do, clean it off with nothing else, then clean the microfiber cloth.

[Streetguru]

40 minutes ago, Sandwich121 said:

Hi, 

 

 

You could use 70% to 100%

 

otherwise most other things are going to leave residue that you don't want

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

The difference between doing it properly with 99% alcohol and doing it with a simple paper towel is around 0°C on idle and 0°C under load.  The alcohol simply makes it a bit easier to clean it off. 

Oh, and yes, it'll clean out those miniscule imperfections if you're really that OCD or naive enough to think that it makes a difference.

[techguru]

53 minutes ago, Sandwich121 said:

Hi, 

I just ordered my CPU Cooler and a tube of arctic silver 5 paste with it, however my cpu already has the stock paste on it. 

I know that inus uses 99% but I don't have that in my household.

I have Vodka & Nail Polish remover, as well as some other cleaning products.

What can I use instead of 99%?

Thanks!

brake cleaner

carburetor cleaner

both work awesomely

[jj9987]

5 hours ago, Captain Chaos said:

The difference between doing it properly with 99% alcohol and doing it with a simple paper towel is around 0°C on idle and 0°C under load.  The alcohol simply makes it a bit easier to clean it off. 

Oh, and yes, it'll clean out those miniscule imperfections if you're really that OCD or naive enough to think that it makes a difference.

I gotta second this. I haven't bothered to buy any proper alcohol bottle to clean off the thermal paste. I've wiped it clean with a paper towel, sometimes just a microfiber cloth, temps are just fine and haven't had any issues.

[Sandwich121]

Thanks everyone, will look into 70%!

[MeDownYou]

7 minutes ago, Sandwich121 said:

Thanks everyone, will look into 70%!

Yep any thing that's just standard rubbing alcohol will work well without much worry. I've used acetone (also contained in nail polish remover often) and the risk there is that it will eat through your motherboard if you do accidentally spill it on the board or something. 

 

What you want is just a substance that evaporates and leaves no residue (vodka leaves potato junk ect.) and it's nice to have a substance that won't eat your components even if you majorly F**K up, so rubbing alcohol with a coffee filter it is (again you don't want to leave paper towel bits down there ect).