Problem cleaning a cpu heatsink

[Calidus]

Hello all, I've got a problem cleaning an old Titan Fenrir Evo I had stored in a box for many years. I've tried Akasa Tim clean, Arctic Silver ArcticClean and 99% isopropanol and nothing has worked so far.

 

Here's some photos of the heatsink surface in question, the nikel parts are pretty good, its just the copper pipes which still don't look so great.

 

Not sure what to do and I hope the images show the issue, my phones camera isn't so great.

[yaya1]

Looks fine to me, maybe a little "dull"-ish...

[Calidus]

Certainly dull, some what look like water marks and some stubborn black marks on the bottom copper pipe which refuse to shift, will it still be fine you reckon? It's going to cool a FX 8350 which is why I'm concerned.

 

Edit: Also be using Arctic MX-4 for the thermal compound.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Calidus said:

Certainly dull, some what look like water marks and some stubborn black marks on the bottom copper pipe which refuse to shift, will it still be fine you reckon? It's going to cool a FX 8350 which is why I'm concerned.

 

Edit: Also be using Arctic MX-4 for the thermal compound.

These are no problems.

[Calidus]

So I'm probably worrying for nothing, thanks to both of you.

[meenmeen1103]

Cleaning that won't really make any difference. If you absolutely needed to satisfy your OCD though, metal polish cream, a microfiber cloth and about 5min would get that better than new. I've done just that before using Blue Magic polishing cream from local auto parts store. Use that on all sorts of metals.

[Calidus]

4 minutes ago, meenmeen1103 said:

Cleaning that won't really make any difference. If you absolutely needed to satisfy your OCD though, metal polish cream, a microfiber cloth and about 5min would get that better than new. I've done just that before using Blue Magic polishing cream from local auto parts store. Use that on all sorts of metals.

That's good to know for any future stuff I may want to sell so it looks good, thanks for that. With this cooler as it won't make any difference on performance I'll just install as is.

[LogicalDrm]

1 hour ago, Calidus said:

So I'm probably worrying for nothing, thanks to both of you.

Unlike aluminium, copper does have some visual reactions with oxygen. Mainly becoming darker over time. You could get some metal cleaning stuff, but as those are just visual things, they don't have any significant performance issues related.

[Calidus]

2 hours ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Unlike aluminium, copper does have some visual reactions with oxygen. Mainly becoming darker over time. You could get some metal cleaning stuff, but as those are just visual things, they don't have any significant performance issues related.

That would explain why the Nickel (or is it aluminium) plate next to it doesn't show any dark patches and this cooler is many years old. (bought before the first i7 release, core2quad days)