How to clean off thermal paste on cooler?

[LTTFan16538228]

So today I am building my first PC and I am using an Optiplex which was refurbished from eBay. I want to replace the CPU and I know I have to replace thermal paste. But as I try to clean off thermal paste on the cooler, it makes a really grey smudge. I am using 99% isopropyl alcohol with a kitchen paper towel but it doesn’t seem to work. See attached pictures.

[Guest]

It seems like there`s a thermal pad on the cooler. what happens if you try to scratch it with your nails?

 

[LTTFan16538228]

1 minute ago, James Evens said:

This isn't 99.9% IPA. It is actually 40% EtOH and 19% IPA (by mass). Bauhaus sells for 1/3 of the price 90% alcohol solution and a variant with glycerin for hand disinfection.

 

Smearing is normal. Just wipe rub with the towel  as good as you can. Anyway replacing the thermal paste is overrated. In normal environment just keep it using until you notice something is wrong (most likely never)

Ok. I am actually upgrading the cpu from an i3-2120 to an i5-2500k and I didn’t think smearing wasn’t normal because until now I haven’t seen anyone’s CPU smear as well. Thanks for the advice!

[Somerandomtechyboi]

7 minutes ago, LTTFan16538228 said:

I am actually upgrading the cpu from an i3-2120 to an i5-2500k and I didn’t think smearing wasn’t normal because until now I haven’t seen anyone’s CPU smear as well. Thanks for the advice!

Yea dont bother with the k cpu, unless you fancy volt modding via the cpu pads and overclocking via throttlestop with the vrms potentially burning up if you go too far with the oc

 

Though if you can use tstop to oc and willing to voltmod then 4.5ghz should be acheivable with 1.3v so atleast the vrms wont catch on fire

 

Also if you happen to set max volt then the only worry is the mb vrms catching on fire cause 1.52v is not deadly for a 32nm sandy, deathzone is ~2v so yea youll kill your board but not the cpu

[LTTFan16538228]

12 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Yea dont bother with the k cpu, unless you fancy volt modding via the cpu pads and overclocking via throttlestop with the vrms potentially burning up if you go too far with the oc

 

Though if you can use tstop to oc and willing to voltmod then 4.5ghz should be acheivable with 1.3v so atleast the vrms wont catch on fire

 

Also if you happen to set max volt then the only worry is the mb vrms catching on fire cause 1.52v is not deadly for a 32nm sandy, deathzone is ~2v so yea youll kill your board but not the cpu

Well I’m not overclocking it, because the cooler is our very special OEM stock cooler which well isn’t great. I’m wanting to clean off the thermal paste off my cooler.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

12 minutes ago, LTTFan16538228 said:

Well I’m not overclocking it

 

Its already bad to leave a k cpu at stock, even worse when its an old one that needs to be overclocked to get any decent performance out of it (literally all k cpus before coffee lake)

 

Well you could prob just overclock with stock volts so atleast its not that bad and so the cooler doesnt die but at the ~1.2v stock the i5 runs at youll be fine upto 100c tbh, tho temps only increase if you increase volts so just raising multi via tstop isnt gonna raise temps assuming volt stays stable, basically just run prime95 small(est) ffts and just raise freq till it errors

 

If you dont need the extra performance then undervolting would be prefferable cause lower temps and better efficiency, set the freq at a static freq like 3.6ghz or 3ghz and lower the voltage from there via throttlestop

[mariushm]

I have to agree with the first guy that answered.  Looks like there's a thermal pad applied on the cooler.  Look at the edges of the circle and grab the thermal pad and peel it off. 

 

That spray is not just isopropyl alcohol, look at the ingredients. Either way, if you want something stronger than isopropyl alcohol, go get some acetone.. look in shops for nail polish remover, which should be mostly acetone and some perfume, but you can also find acetone as pure acetone in bottles. 

You could also look for paint thinners at the local hobby or construction material stores... they usually have a bunch of solvents that are stronger than isopropyl alcohol.   

[LTTFan16538228]

1 hour ago, mariushm said:

I have to agree with the first guy that answered.  Looks like there's a thermal pad applied on the cooler.  Look at the edges of the circle and grab the thermal pad and peel it off. 

 

That spray is not just isopropyl alcohol, look at the ingredients. Either way, if you want something stronger than isopropyl alcohol, go get some acetone.. look in shops for nail polish remover, which should be mostly acetone and some perfume, but you can also find acetone as pure acetone in bottles. 

You could also look for paint thinners at the local hobby or construction material stores... they usually have a bunch of solvents that are stronger than isopropyl alcohol.   

I know there isn’t a thermal pad. It was definitely thermal paste because when I pulled out the old CPU it had thermal paste. 

[tkitch]

If it's super dried on it may take a bit more work:

 

If 99% iso isn't cutting it, then step up some:  Goo Gone

 

That shit will clean almost anything.  (DO NOT USE IT ON A CPU!)

It should clean everything off your heatsink easily.  Just make sure you thgoroughly clean it again with ISO after using goo gone.

[another_user]

isopropyl alcohol usually works, but it can take more than one turn. you can get isopropyl alcohol for like 3-5 € in your local pharmacy.