Best way to clean off thermal paste.

[NotABigGamer]

What is the best way to remove thermal paste? should i use a paper towel with something on it or do i need something special?

 

 

[NotABigGamer]

Thanks for your time!

[amdorintel]

use a lint free paper towel then use isopropyl alcohol and a horse hair bristle brush or q tip

[NotABigGamer]

1 minute ago, amdorintel said:

use a lint free paper towel then use isopropyl alcohol and a horse hair bristle brush or q tip

Ok i will do that. Thanks for the time!

[Sorenson]

I just use a regular kitchen paper tower with isopropyl alcohol to get a majority of the paste off. Then I clean the lint off the cpu with a microfiber cloth and more alcohol and then blow it off with some compressed air. IDK who has a horse hair brush lying around their house @amdorintel but I wouldn't spend money getting one to clean off a CPU. 

[Bitter]

13 minutes ago, Sorenson said:

I just use a regular kitchen paper tower with isopropyl alcohol to get a majority of the paste off. Then I clean the lint off the cpu with a microfiber cloth and more alcohol and then blow it off with some compressed air. IDK who has a horse hair brush lying around their house @amdorintel but I wouldn't spend money getting one to clean off a CPU. 

Yup, that's the way I do also and have been doing for a long time. If it's SOLID old OEM stuff I may warm it with a hair dryer to soften it, but that's mostly a vintage part issue not with newer parts. The blue 'shop rag' paper towels or the Viva paper towels work the best in my experience, strong, low to no lint, and very durable when wiping things.

[Sorenson]

3 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Yup, that's the way I do also and have been doing for a long time. If it's SOLID old OEM stuff I may warm it with a hair dryer to soften it, but that's mostly a vintage part issue not with newer parts. The blue 'shop rag' paper towels or the Viva paper towels work the best in my experience, strong, low to no lint, and very durable when wiping things.

If you want to save yourself the hassle of using a hair dryer (or you don't have one) you can also run a cpu stress test for a minute or two before removing the cooler. 

[Mister Woof]

coffee filter + 90% isopropyl alcohol 

[TheInfinityBacon]

13 minutes ago, Bitter said:

If it's SOLID old OEM stuff I may warm it with a hair dryer to soften it, but that's mostly a vintage part issue not with newer parts.

If this is the case and you don't want to heat it up, I usually use an old t-shirt (worn out), as it is stronger than a paper towel for that really cooked on paste. This in combination with isopropyl alcohol does wonders.

[NotABigGamer]

Thanks for all of the help!

[Bitter]

1 hour ago, Sorenson said:

If you want to save yourself the hassle of using a hair dryer (or you don't have one) you can also run a cpu stress test for a minute or two before removing the cooler. 

That's a solid plan for something that's currently socketed, but if you're like me and working on things that are taken apart already then a hair dryer works fine for that old style waxy compound that doesn't dissolve with rubbing alcohol. Sometimes you can just scrape it off with plastic or a finger nail but if it's squished out into the circuit board that's not gonna work.

[Otto_iii]

6 hours ago, Plutosaurus said:

coffee filter + 90% isopropyl alcohol 

^this, microfiber towels, most towels will still leave small amounts of debris, coffee filters (comparitively) don't and can be had in large quantity if you somehow don't already have them on hand for like 1-2$

Lint free towel or Microfiber is easier to get large sum of paste off initially, but its best to do another cleaning with coffee filter to get any teeny tiny lint etc off after the fact.