Isopropyl Alcohol

[Chugle]

What percentage, or whatever, should I get for removing thermal paste from a CPU/heatsink.

 

Edit: Oh and where can I get some in Canada?

[AlwaysFSX]

70+%, any higher just dries quicker so it's not really worth any extra money if it costs a lot more.

[Leonard]

Higher than 80% is just fine.

[LukaP]

well i used to use "rakija" which is basically 60%(ish) drink, and it was fine, so id say any high content alcoholic drink liquid will do

[FireFox]

As pure as possible though quick drying isn't really an issue. I use 99.9% and it gives me plenty of time to clean the paste off before evaporating. Ideally mate you want the highest percentage you can get your hands on.

[STRMfrmXMN]

I use either 70 or 99%

[Bordermick]

70 worked fine for me.

[EpicGeekonFire]

The higher percentage the less chance of killing anything.

 

In the phone repair world we use 90-99%

 

Also try to only use a minimal amount on the cloth so its only damp not soaked. 

[Elfuego]

99.97% .

[Chugle]

Could I use Ethanol instead? Or would that be corrosive or something. 

[iain]

I use vodka and have had not issues on the 100's of cpus I have cleaned and installed. (Make sure its not favoured lol)

[MG2R]

The higher percentage the less chance of killing anything.

Chance of killing anything? How would any mix kill anything?

[XTankSlayerX]

What percentage, or whatever, should I get for removing thermal paste from a CPU/heatsink

 

Edit: Oh and where can I get some in Canada?

Shoppers Drug Mart has 99% isopropyl 500ml for 5 bucks or something.

[EpicGeekonFire]

Chance of killing anything? How would any mix kill anything?

More or less water means something, doesn't it?

[MG2R]

More or less water means something, doesn't it?

Nope. I could dunk my CPU in a bucket of water and it'd be just fine (provided I dry it properly before trying to use it). Water doesn't kill electronics as long as they're not powered on.

 

I recently spilled about a full glass of water on my motherboard whilst filling a water loop. Dried it off and it's still functioning perfectly.