No alcohol to remove thermal paste?

[MacWas]

'Ello!
I'm getting a new PC and I wanted to ask if you NEED alcohol to clean off thermal paste from a CPU cooler. I don't care about the CPU, only about the cooler because I want to remove pre-applied thermal paste to replace with my own and want to know if it's safe to do it without alcohol because... it's just a CPU cooler.

:3 Thanks

[W-L]

1 minute ago, MacWas said:

'Ello!
I'm getting a new PC and I wanted to ask if you NEED alcohol to clean off thermal paste from a CPU cooler. I don't care about the CPU, only about the cooler because I want to remove pre-applied thermal paste to replace with my own and want to know if it's safe to do it without alcohol because... it's just a CPU cooler.
:3 Thanks

You can use a cloth that is barely damp, it just won't deep clean like isopropyl alcohol and get into the pores of the metal. Also since it's the CPU cooler if you have acetone that also works, just becareful around plastic. 

[Windows7ge]

You don't NEED it but it makes the removal process easier and helps to ensure you get the best temperatures possible when reapplying.

[DrM]

you dont NEED alchohol; you can do it with water too. its just that alchohol dries a lot faster, but since its just a cpu cooler, wipe off the TIM with water and just let it dry.

[MacWas]

44 minutes ago, W-L said:

You can use a cloth that is barely damp, it just won't deep clean like isopropyl alcohol and get into the pores of the metal. Also since it's the CPU cooler if you have acetone that also works, just becareful around plastic. 

 

44 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

You don't NEED it but it makes the removal process easier and helps to ensure you get the best temperatures possible when reapplying.

 

44 minutes ago, DrM said:

you dont NEED alchohol; you can do it with water too. its just that alchohol dries a lot faster, but since its just a cpu cooler, wipe off the TIM with water and just let it dry.

Can I do it with a tiny bit of water on a paper towel and wipe it off? I would guess so. I don't want to ruin the cloth (Kappa)

[W-L]

Just now, MacWas said:

Can I do it with a tiny bit of water on a paper towel and wipe it off? I would guess so. I don't want to ruin the cloth (Kappa)

Yes as mentioned that will work. 

[ThomasD]

You do not need any solvent if you are going with any sort of ordinary thermal paste - they are all grease based and the tiny amount of the original that remains will not substantially change the performance of the new product.

 

If you were going with something like a eutectic metal then yes, you should use something that will fully degrease the surfaces in order to allow the metals to properly wet the surfaces.

[LogicalDrm]

I've always used only dry soft paper towels for it. You need more pieces because paste is so greasy. But works just fine.