Thermal paste removal

[Theral]

So I received my new fan from amazon today but then realised that i don't have any of that propylol alcohol thingy (to remove the thermal paste) but I have got some white spirit which does have the right amount of percentage alcohol level so would this work???. I'd prefer to have it done by today but can wait to buy or aquire some of this alcohol. Also could someone tell me the correct name of it. 

Help is appreciated.

[FatPenguin]

use an advantage rag

 

Edit; or underwear 

[multifrag]

Spirit will work, even just toilet paper will work

[NeatSquidYT]

DO NOT USE WHITE SPIRIT. It's called Isopropyl Alcohol, and you need 80% alcohol at least really.

[Frankie]

The white spirit could leave some residue. The proper name is Isopropyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol.

[Notree]

You can literally use anything to remove it. Just got to make sure its properly dry before installing the heatsink. And its isopropyl alcohol.

[W-L]

So I received my new fan from amazon today but then realised that i don't have any of that propylol alcohol thingy (to remove the thermal paste) but I have got some white spirit which does have the right amount of percentage alcohol level so would this work???. I'd prefer to have it done by today but can wait to buy or aquire some of this alcohol. Also could someone tell me the correct name of it. 

Help is appreciated.

 

I would recommend getting some isopropyl alcohol since white spirits is basically a type of paint thinner it will need to flash off, and possibly leave a residue as Frankie said, you can however use a barely damp paper towel, it won't clean deep into the pores of the metal but won't have any effect on heat transfer.

[Bussinateur]

I even used water before on my CPU cooler lol

[Just Monika]

I used one of these kinds of alcohol wipes to clean dried paste when I replaced my stock cooler. They wipe off paste like a dream with a bit of quick rubbing, and they do it cleanly as well. With one wipe and using both sides, I was able to clean it to a shiny polish. Because they were 70% IPA wipes, there were some tiny drops of water that needed to be evaporated or wiped, just smaller than a size of a quarter of an uncooked grain of rice.

[Williamchan87]

White Spirit works, but its better to just buy rubbing alcohol, should cost you like $1-3USD and last you a life time, since you can use it to remove sharpie marks on tables etc, if yuou cut yourself to clean wound,  clean yout tablet/phone screen like Luke does.

[Theral]

Ok thanks guys I think I will wait for the Isopropyl 

[SkilledRebuilds]

Lighter fluid works pretty well too... instantly weakens the layer and makes it super easy to wipe off...

 

But..."Do as they say, not as I do"

[AStateOfTrance]

lemon juice works

[Awkward Turtle]

100% serious you can use wd-40 to remove the grease and then johnny walker blue label whiskey after that. Ive used it 6 times and have perfect thermals.

[meet269]

Better get some rubbing alcohol or advantage rag like from scrapyard wars series

[tomas710]

methylated spirits (10% methanol in 90% ethanol), lighter fluid, xylene solvents, they all work, BUT you still need to wipe it off with 70%+ isopropyl alcohol in the end since the purpose is to not leave any residue so basically, why bother using anything else (Unless you got really hard dry thermal paste to remove) However, not everything works, NEVER use any acetone or ethyl acetate based solvents, this can disolve many plastics, and unless i know the exact chemical composition of every polymer used on a CPU and motherboard, i would keep them away from my electronics.