Thoroughly cleaning a motherboard!

[SullyATX]

Hey everyone! As the title states, I'm interested in the best way to thoroughly clean an old (~5 years) motherboard. I just built a new rig and want to use my old one as a test subject for things I haven't tried yet in my 22 years of building. I have yet to delid a processor or run a custom loop - I'm not sure I'll waste the money to run the custom loop on this (i5-4670k, Maximus VI Hero), but I just ordered my Rockit 88 and some CLU to attempt my first delid. The plan is to completely disassemble the old comp, clean EVERYTHING to like-new condition, delid/relid the 4670k, put new thermal and thermal pads on the GTX 770 and use it as a Linux box. I have read dozens of articles, watched dozens of videos, etc. I'd rather have a discussion here with user's actual experience and opinions. The board is not bad, but it's not great either. It's past the point of blowing everything off with my Metro Datavac. I'm currently considering the Hosa CAIG DeoxIT 5% Spray Contact Cleaner, WD-40 Specialist Electrical Contact Cleaner and CRC QD Contact Cleaner. I would like the board to look as new as possible without having to use a brush on the PCB. I think a soft nylon brush will be okay for a few of the components but I'd rather not take a brush to much else. Does anyone have experience with any of these products? It seems simple enough - you get as much off as you can with air, then use contact cleaner to saturate the motherboard and let dry completely. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! One of the videos I watched, the guy was Australian and unfortunately I can't order what he used. He finished everything off with this board laquer that really made everything look like new. I can't find anything like it on Amazon. Hope to hear from you guys soon! Have a great day and Happy Mother's Day! 

[Sam3000]

Hey SullyATX,

 

Made an account just to weigh in on this, even though it's been a while. I recently refurbished a system as a bit of an experiment and I thought the results were pretty interesting.

I started off with an air can just as you mentioned, but actually followed it with a deep clean using Dettol Antibacterial wipes. Seriously. The ones with all the strong cleaning chemicals in. I was curious if the system would live and amazingly it did without any detectable negative impact, visible or otherwise. I think this suggests system components are actually tougher than many of us think, provided you're careful about getting stuff in ports or physically bending things. 

Anyway, onto the actually useful stuff.

 

I follow the steps: Air Can >> Makeup brush >>  WD-40 Specialist Electrical Contact Cleaner

Makeup brushes are very fine, soft and small, so don't cause scratches and pickup dust pretty well. I always wear an ESD strap though and tap the brush on it for added safety very often, which is probably borderline superstition but hey, no harm in being over cautious.

I haven't tried anything other than this particular WD-40 cleaner as it's so good I haven't needed to, but do be aware there's a minor risk it'll eat away at some of the text labels/decorations on some electronics according to other users, never seen it happen myself though.

In my opinion a good soaking with the WD-40 cleaner gets the good-as-new look so I have never even looked at a board laqueur, I can see that being a lot of effort but maybe see what you think once you've got this far.

Which you probably have already given this is a few weeks late...

[Santo22]

I use canned air and rubbing alcohol and an old clean toothbrush. I just also did this recently with an older am3+ board that was owned by someone with pets because the motherboard was loaded with dog or cat hair. It came out like new by the time I was done. I like the idea of the makeup brush too. Might try that next time.