Cleaning thermal paste off of CPU and cooler

[Mantimestwo]

Okay, so I'm planning on removing and switching out my CPU cooler from a wraith prism to a CM 212 black edition due to giving the prism to a friend to be put into his first proper PC whenever I have time to put it together. Question is, what would be a fine enough way for me to clean off the stock paste off of the CPU and the cooler? It's been sitting there for about 9-10 months, so I don't know how dry it'll be exactly, but I'll see.

 

I don't think I can find 99% or whatever other percentages isopropyl that easy where I live (tried googling around a bit for places that sell it here in Finland, didn't find much), so any other good ways of scrubbing the old paste off? Thinking of using coffee filters for swiping, but if hand sanitizer etc is fine instead of isopropyl I should have some around.

 

I'd also like to confirm that I should stress the cpu out a little before removing the cooler to warm the paste up and not have it take off the cpu with it and having that damage the cpu, correct? don't really want to destroy my my 2700x 

 

cheers!

[ajaxburger]

7 minutes ago, quakeguy said:

Except hand sanitizer uses ethyl alcohol, and also contains additional stuff like water, fragrance, and glycerin.  The isopropyl percentage remainder is just water, meaning it will take longer to dry.  You can use 90% isopropyl or 50% isopropyl alcohol if you're brave.  Coffee filters are better than cotton swabs or paper towels to clean thermal paste because they leave less fibers behind.

I've used 70% isopropyl alcohol on everything with no issue. As long as you're careful when you're cleaning the IHS and other parts, even paper towels work.

[NineEyeRon]

I got a smaller cleaner spray on amazon and use cheap disposable lint free wipes.

[ajaxburger]

1 minute ago, quakeguy said:

I first started using cotton swabs to clean thermal paste years ago, which isn't a great idea because it leaves a lot of cotton fibers behind.

I assume we're both talking about cotton balls? Or maybe you mean things like QTips.. I've always gravitated towards balls because that's what I have lying around.

[ajaxburger]

1 minute ago, quakeguy said:

Q-tips or cotton balls work to clean thermal paste, hell you could even use a sock (I wouldn't want to keep it), but cotton seems like it would just leave fibers behind.  It doesn't seem like thermal paste and cotton mix well.

It's a bit tough to work with but gets the job done I suppose. Funny that I can justify spending hundreds on a system but not on proper cleaning equipment for the mobo and CPU.

[Bananasplit_00]

T sprit should work if you have that or any other fuel ment for alcohol stoves. Fairly cheap for the amount you get, I am not even close to having used half my bottle since I bought it a few years ago

[Mantimestwo]

Main point of my question was mainly to ask if there are alternatives to using isopropyl, I do know that it's the best choice when it comes to cleaning off paste.

 

Did some more digging anyhow, some people on different Finnish forums suggesting getting some antifreeze etc that is around 90% and up isopropyl/isopropanol (Supposed to be the same stuff, I should know this stuff since I study chemistry, but I didn't eh). That should be pretty easy to find and I should check if we have something suitable sitting around, if not I'll go grab some when I can.

 

I guess that stuff would be safe to use, no?

 

Edit: also like I said, getting something that doesn't have additives and things like that are kinda hard and kinda expensive around here 

[Bananasplit_00]

14 minutes ago, Mantimestwo said:

Main point of my question was mainly to ask if there are alternatives to using isopropyl, I do know that it's the best choice when it comes to cleaning off paste.

 

Did some more digging anyhow, some people on different Finnish forums suggesting getting some antifreeze etc that is around 90% and up isopropyl/isopropanol (Supposed to be the same stuff, I should know this stuff since I study chemistry, but I didn't eh). That should be pretty easy to find and I should check if we have something suitable sitting around, if not I'll go grab some when I can.

 

I guess that stuff would be safe to use, no?

If it is actually 90% isoproanol then yah that should work

[Mantimestwo]

Someone mentioned that the one I was looking at having lubricants mixed in ever so slightly in there, so I still gotta look around a bit, probably

[ajaxburger]

21 minutes ago, Mantimestwo said:

Main point of my question was mainly to ask if there are alternatives to using isopropyl, I do know that it's the best choice when it comes to cleaning off paste.

 

Did some more digging anyhow, some people on different Finnish forums suggesting getting some antifreeze etc that is around 90% and up isopropyl/isopropanol (Supposed to be the same stuff, I should know this stuff since I study chemistry, but I didn't eh). That should be pretty easy to find and I should check if we have something suitable sitting around, if not I'll go grab some when I can.

 

I guess that stuff would be safe to use, no?

 

Edit: also like I said, getting something that doesn't have additives and things like that are kinda hard and kinda expensive around here 

From your post, I assume you're in Finland? Try your local pharmacy. That's where the sell isopropyl alcohol in the US and would make sense that they do it similarly across the pond.

 

I won't say it's a bad idea because it likely would work, but using alternatives seems far riskier with expensive equipment than using what is essentially the industry standard.

[Mantimestwo]

Yeah, guess I'll have a look around the local pharmacy we have in town. Figured that was the place to go for the safest bet, but figured I'd ask if there really is any safe cheaper alternative

 

Thanks for the tip

[Dubba]

Yes they do sell isopropyl alcohol in Apteekki Haven't actually used that myself because it has been faster to just grab something from my storage which suits for cleaning most of the unhealthy stuff around but those aren't exactly clean, being based on oil as far as I know. And I use dishrug towels or whatever they are called. Some types don't leave any fabrics behind and you could always use canned air to blow those away.

[Mantimestwo]

I attempted to look around online still, mainly looked at the page for 100% isopropyl 100ml on the online store of the Helsinki university's pharmacy, but seems like they don't sell that stuff anymore. There are some legit looking cleaning/electronics based companies etc that seem to sell 100%-99.9% isopropyl, so those could be an option, price is not that bad either. I have a feeling the local pharmacy might not be a place I'll find some, but I'll go have a look anyhow most likely today. 

[Dubba]

I think you have to ask for it, it may be one of those hidden items. They're not going to ask you hard proofs of the use case for that kind of stuff, I'm sure.

 

Once when I was into vaping and my liquid delivery was late I went to the a local pharmacy and asked for vegetable glycerol and some syringes and they were a bit like "Huh?" but laughed when I explained what I was doing and that I'd prefer the biggest and dullest needles

[Mantimestwo]

Alrighty, guess the plan is to see if they sell that stuff. If not, guess I will see about those shops selling some, mainly a store focused on speaker and other sound related electronics and components was selling 99.9% 

 

Thanks for the replys thus far ^^

 

[Mantimestwo]

Okay so, I'll most likely get a little of 99% pure alcohol from an acquintance who works at a local hospital's labs, the sort of stuff that is used for disinfecting needles etc., so don't have to buy any hopefully.

 

I suppose that is something that would be completely perfect for this?

[G00fySmiley]

Honestly i would not use vehicle coolant to clean a cpu. tldr version of why is... there are other things in antifreeze. I have been working on cars my whole like and some of the stains it has left in plastic being drained in... just no.

 

that said I have found the best thing i have found for cleaning thermal paste off is just those little alcohol wipes (prep pads or hand wipes). usually found in every drugstore or pharmacy section has them and its a piece of gauze/paper with the alcohol right on there. the pad wipes up the paste so its kind of all in one cleaning. usually I can find the hand sanitizer wipes at 90+% alcohol and zero water so maybe look for those if the water content concerns you that much. That said even the tiny bit of water in isp 70% will evaporate and not damage anything provided you wait for it to dry before runing any power to it. 

 

another odd soarce I used to grab "printer head cleaning wipes" from work, basically large pads of 99.9% IPA. a lot of electronic stores used to carry them and still might. we had them in the tech room and used em for cleaning just about everything. 

[Dedayog]

4 hours ago, Mantimestwo said:

Someone mentioned that the one I was looking at having lubricants mixed in ever so slightly in there, so I still gotta look around a bit, probably

Do you have Mass Air Flow Sensor cleaner at your local auto parts store?

[Mantimestwo]

Just now, jstudrawa said:

Do you have Mass Air Flow Sensor cleaner at your local auto parts store?

Don't really go to those so I honestly have no idea.

 

Won't probably go hunting for other solutions since that lined up 99% alcohol is probably perfect for the job

[Dedayog]

Just now, Mantimestwo said:

Don't really go to those so I honestly have no idea.

 

Won't probably go hunting for other solutions since that lined up 99% alcohol is probably perfect for the job

Might be worth checking out, since it's certified non-residual and safe for plastics too.

 

Plus it's like $10 for a huge can.

[Mister Woof]

I got a bottle of 90% isopropyl for like $1 at Walmart pharmacy area.

[ajaxburger]

Still don't seem to understand why you want 100% isopropyl alcohol. 70% is perfectly fine and far better than alternatives.

[Mantimestwo]

 

10 hours ago, ajaxburger said:

Still don't seem to understand why you want 100% isopropyl alcohol. 70% is perfectly fine and far better than alternatives.

To be honest, naught in particular. It was just mainly what I was able to find online besides products that had other things mixed in, and nothing more. I could've settled fine on something with less % had I come across it, and now that I've pretty much secured a bit of pure isopropyl alcohol for the single cleaning I don't really need to hunt down more.

 

Edit: I now have a bottle of about 100ml of 80% ethanol that is used for disinfecting stuff in a hospital. That should probably do the trick alright.

[HumdrumPenguin]

On 8/16/2019 at 3:11 AM, Mantimestwo said:

Okay, so I'm planning on removing and switching out my CPU cooler from a wraith prism to a CM 212 black edition due to giving the prism to a friend to be put into his first proper PC whenever I have time to put it together. Question is, what would be a fine enough way for me to clean off the stock paste off of the CPU and the cooler? It's been sitting there for about 9-10 months, so I don't know how dry it'll be exactly, but I'll see.

 

I don't think I can find 99% or whatever other percentages isopropyl that easy where I live (tried googling around a bit for places that sell it here in Finland, didn't find much), so any other good ways of scrubbing the old paste off? Thinking of using coffee filters for swiping, but if hand sanitizer etc is fine instead of isopropyl I should have some around.

 

I'd also like to confirm that I should stress the cpu out a little before removing the cooler to warm the paste up and not have it take off the cpu with it and having that damage the cpu, correct? don't really want to destroy my my 2700x 

 

cheers!

I've done everything you can imagine, and haven't destroyed anything so far (aside from my grandma's motherboard 12 years ago).

I've used both kitchen alcohol and 91% isopropyl alcohol (that's what I use nowadays).

I use either paper towel or coffee filters to clean it up.

I've done the warming up and no warming up to remove the cooler, and warming up does make it easier.