Messed up with thermal paste :(

[BunnyKraken]

Okey, im ''building'' or rather messing up my PC at the moment. I tried to install the Noctua NH D-15S and it required a lot more force than I anticipated, so I struggled to get it tighten for about 15minutes. I moved the cooler quite a bit around so the thermal paste moved also. I looked with flashlight and I see that there is some spillage to the sides, not a lot just like 1-2mm or so. Will this spill more when the PC is heated up ?

Would this be an issue, or should I wipe it clean completely and try again ?

 

Secondly I have no idea how some thermal paste got on to the CPU Fan headers/socket basically also underneath it, and Fan header/socket. I think I didn't spill at all. So my question is the motherboard or the sockets now ruined, or can I try to clear them with toothpaste or alcohol or what ?

 

The paste I used was NT-H1, also how tight should the cooler be, feels like it required a lot of twist to get it tighten. Can it be too tighten I have no idea how to tell ?

[Skiiwee29]

non issue. 99.9% of modern thermal pastes are non conductive so it wont hurt your system at all with spillage and is common to spill some outside the IHS when mounting a cooler. 

[BunnyKraken]

7 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

non issue. 99.9% of modern thermal pastes are non conductive so it wont hurt your system at all with spillage and is common to spill some outside the IHS when mounting a cooler. 

Thanks for your reply, do you think its safe to install the CPU fan + case fan to the header with it having that much thermal paste underneath the socket, and a little on the tip of the metal, I tried to scratch it off gently ?

Also should I just leave the termal paste like that, even with a little side spill, im afraid it would spill down from the sides when it gets warm. But I would not like to take the cooler off and use alchol to clean it.