Jump to content

How to remove thermal paste

Joelbanks5
 Share
Posted
3 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

How do I remove thermal paste safely from my CPU? I plan on upgrading soon so I'd like to know, I also haven't looked yet so I'm not sure if it's dry and crumbly or not so says to get it off both ways would be nice.

 

Just use a tissue and some rubbing alcohol.

Quote me to see my reply!

SPECS:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X Motherboard: MSI B450-A Pro Max RAM: 32GB I forget GPU: MSI Vega 56 Storage: 256GB NVMe boot, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue HDD PSU: Inwin P85 850w Case: Fractal Design Define C Cooling: Stock for CPU, be quiet! case fans, Morpheus Vega w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 2 for GPU Monitor: 3x Thinkvision P24Q on a Steelcase Eyesite triple monitor stand Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 Keyboard: Focus FK-9000 (heavily modded) Mousepad: Aliexpress cat special Headphones:  Sennheiser HD598SE and Sony Linkbuds

 

🏳️‍🌈

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

You wipe it off with some paper towel and a bit of water or alcohol.

NEW PC build: Blank Heaven   minimalist white and black PC     Old S340 build log "White Heaven"        The "LIGHTCANON" flashlight build log        Project AntiRoll (prototype)        Custom speaker project

Spoiler

Ryzen 3950X | AMD Vega Frontier Edition | ASUS X570 Pro WS | Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB | NZXT H500 | Seasonic Prime Fanless TX-700 | Custom loop | Coolermaster SK630 White | Logitech MX Master 2S | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Pro 512GB | Samsung 58" 4k TV | Scarlett 2i4 | 2x AT2020

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
10 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

Would it be best to clean it off while it's still in the socket or to take it out and clean it off? 

I wouldn't remove it from the socket, you'll risk damaging pins.

 

Just get a paper towel and some isopropyl alcohol to wipe it clean.

 

You could get all fancy and use some of the thermal paste removal solutions from Arctic Silver or others, but you'll more than get by with just iso.  The stuff from AS does work better on thermal tape though.

SFF-ish:  Ryzen 5 1600X, Asrock AB350M Pro4, 16GB Corsair LPX 3200, Sapphire R9 Fury Nitro -75mV, 512gb Plextor Nvme m.2, 512gb Sandisk SATA m.2, Cryorig H7, stuffed into an Inwin 301 with rgb front panel mod.  LG27UD58.

 

Aging Workhorse:  Phenom II X6 1090T Black (4GHz #Yolo), 16GB Corsair XMS 1333, RX 470 Red Devil 4gb (Sold for $330 to Cryptominers), HD6850 1gb, Hilariously overkill Asus Crosshair V, 240gb Sandisk SSD Plus, 4TB's worth of mechanical drives, and a bunch of water/glycol.  Coming soon:  Bykski CPU block, whatever cheap Polaris 10 GPU I can get once miners start unloading them.

 

MintyFreshMedia:  Thinkserver TS130 with i3-3220, 4gb ecc ram, 120GB Toshiba/OCZ SSD booting Linux Mint XFCE, 2TB Hitachi Ultrastar.  In Progress:  3D printed drive mounts, 4 2TB ultrastars in RAID 5.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author
1 minute ago, Phate.exe said:

I wouldn't remove it from the socket, you'll risk damaging pins.

 

Just get a paper towel and some isopropyl alcohol to wipe it clean.

 

You could get all fancy and use some of the thermal paste removal solutions from Arctic Silver or others, but you'll more than get by with just iso.  The stuff from AS does work better on thermal tape though.

It's alright if I touch the bottom of the CPU while I'm grounded correct? That's what someone else said as long as I don't squish it. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
5 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

It's alright if I touch the bottom of the CPU while I'm grounded correct? That's what someone else said as long as I don't squish it. 

Just leave it in the socket.  You only need to clean off the top of it, and not get excess thermal paste everywhere.  It's already held in place nicely by the socket.

 

You should ground yourself to the computer's chassis, although I've gotten away without a wrist strap for years just touching a metal part of the chassis before reaching in to touch anything, and periodically grounding myself again.

SFF-ish:  Ryzen 5 1600X, Asrock AB350M Pro4, 16GB Corsair LPX 3200, Sapphire R9 Fury Nitro -75mV, 512gb Plextor Nvme m.2, 512gb Sandisk SATA m.2, Cryorig H7, stuffed into an Inwin 301 with rgb front panel mod.  LG27UD58.

 

Aging Workhorse:  Phenom II X6 1090T Black (4GHz #Yolo), 16GB Corsair XMS 1333, RX 470 Red Devil 4gb (Sold for $330 to Cryptominers), HD6850 1gb, Hilariously overkill Asus Crosshair V, 240gb Sandisk SSD Plus, 4TB's worth of mechanical drives, and a bunch of water/glycol.  Coming soon:  Bykski CPU block, whatever cheap Polaris 10 GPU I can get once miners start unloading them.

 

MintyFreshMedia:  Thinkserver TS130 with i3-3220, 4gb ecc ram, 120GB Toshiba/OCZ SSD booting Linux Mint XFCE, 2TB Hitachi Ultrastar.  In Progress:  3D printed drive mounts, 4 2TB ultrastars in RAID 5.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
30 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

Would it be best to clean it off while it's still in the socket or to take it out and clean it off? 

Either one is fine IMO.

NEW PC build: Blank Heaven   minimalist white and black PC     Old S340 build log "White Heaven"        The "LIGHTCANON" flashlight build log        Project AntiRoll (prototype)        Custom speaker project

Spoiler

Ryzen 3950X | AMD Vega Frontier Edition | ASUS X570 Pro WS | Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB | NZXT H500 | Seasonic Prime Fanless TX-700 | Custom loop | Coolermaster SK630 White | Logitech MX Master 2S | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Pro 512GB | Samsung 58" 4k TV | Scarlett 2i4 | 2x AT2020

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

You can also use some cleaning Petrol instead of isopropyl alcohol.

Main PC: R7 3700X / Gigabyte X570 I Aorus Pro Wifi / Radeon RX 5700 XT / 32GB DDR4-3200 / 250GB & 2TB Crucial MX500 (in HP Prodesk 400 Case)

Laptop: R5 2500U / Radeon Vega 8 / 8GB DDR4-2400 / 500GB SK Hynix BC501 (HP Envy x360 13)

My little Server: i7-7700 / Asrock H110M-ITX / 24GB DDR4-2400 / Samsung 860 Pro 250GB & Seagate Firecuda 2TB / VMware ESXi 6.7

(Don't tell me i should Name them, i don't want to ^^)

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory

×