Cleaning IHS/Heatsinks etc

[nevbie]

Why is it recommended to clean IHS or heatsink surfaces with isopropyl alcohol in various cases? What does the alcohol do that water wouldn't do? What am I supposed to do with the isopropyl alcohol exactly when cleaning the surfaces? Utilizing coffee filter or Q-tips or both?

Are there any differences with GPUs and their RAM chips? No IHS there, I suppose.

It's much easier understanding the objective in the case of TIMs, most of the forum threads regarding heatsinks focus on it.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Cleaning the IHS/heatsink gets rid of any lousy pre-applied TIM they may have on there. It also gets rid of everything else, such as grease or dead skin cells that would screw up heat transfer.

Water doesn't work as well because it doesn't... clean. Just wipe the heatsink with a coffee filter or something

The RAM chips and processor for a GPU can be cleaned the same way.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

water kinda polar, and doesn't evaporate fast enough. Alcohol is a bit more abrasive and evaporates quickly- plus is a lot more polar. It just clans better. On ihs, hsf, and direct chips (in terms fo gpu and ram). You want to clean off the old TIM with it. Just use a paper towel and then use compressed air to get off lint. If you're really hardcore you could use one of those lint-free eyeglass cleaning wipes to do it- but you don't want to reuse whatever material you use. Just double over the paper towel, and put it over the bottle, hold tight, and invert. Then just wipe.

 

[CallMeJoe]

Alcohol is a far better solvent than plain water. It has the added benefits of not promoting oxidation of metals, having much lower conductivity, and it dries much faster than water. Plain paper towels are not recommended because they tend to shed a lot of fibers. Coffee filters are cheap, common, and almost completely lint free.
I like to wash the surfaces with acetone (an even stronger solvent than alcohol), then rinse with isopropyl or denatured alcohol (91% or purer). I use cotton swabs for the wash and rinse, then wipe thoroughly with a coffee filter to remove any stray fibers. Use finger cots (kind of like little condoms for your digits) or something else if you must handle the chips or heatsinks after your cleaning, to prevent recontamination of the contact surfaces with skin cells and/or oils.

 

[darkxknight]

is metal polish any good?

 

[CallMeJoe]

Depends on the polish. Some of them may have oils or other ingredients that would leave an undesirable residue on the HSF or CPU IHS. If, for whatever reason, I were to use metal polish on my HSF or CPU, I would certainly clean it with acetone and isopropanol after.