Hydrogen peroxide

[JohnTheDawn]

I have one simple question, can i use hydrogen peroxide as whiping alcohol and clean my old thermal paste on the cpu ? 

[Adreyu]

I've used it a few times. It hasn't given me any problems.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, JohnTheDawn said:

I have one simple question, can i use hydrogen peroxide as whiping alcohol and clean my old thermal paste on the cpu ? 

I would not recommend it. Hydrogen peroxide is much more volatile than isopropyl alcohol. It could easily react with your thermal paste and is very conductive. Basically, it would work, but is has a greater likelihood of damaging a component.

[Gaub]

Not a good idea. Rubbing alcohol and hydrogen both work to disinfect wounds but the hydrogen peroxide you can get in stores is 97% water so it won't do anything.

[aisle9]

11 minutes ago, JohnTheDawn said:

I have one simple question, can i use hydrogen peroxide as whiping alcohol and clean my old thermal paste on the cpu ? 

I wouldn't. Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizer, and as such it's capable of many wonderful and amazing behaviors that you don't want occurring around your expensive components. Also, the stuff you buy in stores is 95-99% water. True hydrogen peroxide is used as rocket fuel for a reason.

[SCHISCHKA]

hydrogen peroxide turns things white and kills germs but killing germs is not the kind of cleaning you are after. Iv always cleaned thermal paste with a cloth no solvent is really required

[JohnTheDawn]

@aisle9i already cleaned off the thermal compound with the hydrogen peroxide but i did not apply any thermal paste, can i just buy rubbing alcohol and clean again ? Or did i already damage it ?

[Mooshi]

Nail polish removal and hand sanitizer are more sensible than peroxide if you don't have rubbing alcohol on hand..even plain toilet paper would work. 

[aisle9]

3 minutes ago, JohnTheDawn said:

@aisle9i already cleaned off the thermal compound with the hydrogen peroxide but i did not apply any thermal paste, can i just buy rubbing alcohol and clean again ? Or did i already damage it ?

As long as you're not letting the hydrogen peroxide sit on your motherboard or components, you're almost certainly fine.

1 minute ago, Mooshi said:

Nail polish removal and hand sanitizer are more sensible than peroxide if you don't have rubbing alcohol on hand..even plain toilet paper would work. 

Acetone? Really?

 

But yeah, I'm not too proud to admit that I've just taken a paper towel and used that to wipe off thermal paste before reapplying in the past.

[JohnTheDawn]

@Mooshii already did clean off the thermal compound but i did not apply any thermal compound so can i just clean it off with a paper towel or toliet paper ?

[JohnTheDawn]

@aisle9ok thank god, i did whipe it off with a paper towel after i cleaned the thermal with the hydrogen compound, i also did put the cpu in the motherboard, but the cpu was dry, am i still fine ?

[Gaub]

3 minutes ago, JohnTheDawn said:

@aisle9i already cleaned off the thermal compound with the hydrogen peroxide but i did not apply any thermal paste, can i just buy rubbing alcohol and clean again ? Or did i already damage it ?

Worst that could happen is some oxidation on metal surfaces like your processor's lid or more likely copper on a heatsink. As I and others have said, store bought hydrogen peroxide is very low purity and high volatility so probably did nothing. just clean it off with water or any other solvant you can find. Just make sure everything's dry before reinstalling.

[JohnTheDawn]

@aisle9i already cleaned off the thermal compound with the hydrogen peroxide but i did not apply any thermal paste, can i just buy rubbing alcohol and clean again ? Or did i already damage it ?

[JohnTheDawn]

@aisle9l sorry sent it twice, but anyway i dont have thermal paste rn tomorrow ill get thermal paste so it will have a day to dry and i did whipe it off real good 

[aisle9]

46 minutes ago, JohnTheDawn said:

@aisle9ok thank god, i did whipe it off with a paper towel after i cleaned the thermal with the hydrogen compound, i also did put the cpu in the motherboard, but the cpu was dry, am i still fine ?

It's not going to blow up. As long as you didn't go pouring it in the socket, you're fine. Stop worrying, but also try to avoid using hydrogen peroxide in the future. I find that the little prep pads that come soaked in alcohol and sealed in individual packets (the ones nurses wipe your arm with before drawing blood) work wonders as little individual thermal paste cleansing pads.