isopropyl alcohol for cleaning

[Lautaro E]

Hi, I´m going to move my cpu to another motherboard and I don´t know if using isopropyl alcohol is a must or I can use ethyl alcohol, I find it confusing on many post that I read and I wonder your opinion. I don´t have an unlocked cpu so tempetures are not going too hot. Thanks in advance.

[W-L]

1 minute ago, Lautaro E said:

Hi, I´m going to move my cpu to another motherboard and I don´t know if using isopropyl alcohol is a must or I can use ethyl alcohol, I find it confusing on many post that I read and I wonder your opinion. I don´t have an unlocked cpu so tempetures are not going too hot. Thanks in advance.

Yes that's essentially ethanol which will also work, you can even just use a lightly damp paper towel and some elbow grease which will be acceptable. 

[nick name]

Just use the least diluted version of either that you can.  

[Sakkura]

Ethyl alcohol (ethanol) tends to be less pure and is also slightly worse as an organic solvent, so isopropanol is preferable if you have both - but ethanol does fine if it's all you have.

[thisforumsucksassdeletemya]

9 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

Ethyl alcohol (ethanol) tends to be less pure and is also slightly worse as an organic solvent, so isopropanol is preferable if you have both - but ethanol does fine if it's all you have.

It's only worse in that it may dissolve fewer things. But it dissolves different things, so it would depend on what you're trying to clean. Both are fine.

[Sakkura]

Just now, violentnumeric said:

It's only worse in that it may dissolve fewer things. But it dissolves different things, so it would depend on what you're trying to clean. Both are fine.

What we're trying to dissolve here is thermal paste, where isopropanol works really well. Ethanol is a little more polar which makes it a little worse (but still much better than water).

[ch3w2oy]

Isopropyl Alcohol is for wussies. 

 

Do it like the pros:

 

[iLostMyXbox21]

1 minute ago, ChewToy! said:

Isopropyl Alcohol is for wussies. 

 

Do it like the pros:

 

Chainsaws are for wussies

 

do it like the pros

Spoiler

 

[ch3w2oy]

1 minute ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

Chainsaws are for wussies

 

do it like the pros

  Hide contents

 

 

Some times if the chainsaw doesn't get it all, I'll throw it in the wash with my whites.. The bleach will loosen the paste up just enough for my dull chainsaw to finish the job.

 

An angle grinder will work as well if you don't have a chainsaw on hand. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

i use a couple of kleenex...wipe it off real good...make it shine...always worked #1...never used alcool on any CPU and never had any temperature issues or anything...achieving high overclocks on high end machines.