Cleaning Thermal-pad residue off a CPU

[Noriaki]

How do I go about cleaing the residue from a thermal pad off my CPU?

I don't know what I was thinking when I just left the thermal pad on....it was of course fine at first, but as soon as I took the HSF off to clean the dust out I broke the good seal.

So now I want to clean it off and use some arctic silver.

The Heatsink itself is no problem...but what about the CPU?


On the subject, does anyone know if the Swiftech MC370 HS is suitable for Athlon XPs?

It was suppose to be for Socket 370 CPUs...but it's got a nice thick base and big beefy pins that can get lots of airflow over them with a good fan.

It looks alot more impressive than that dinky HSF than is on their now....but it's what came with the CPU (I was given a Retail boxed Palimino 2100+ for Xmas one year).

 

[penceman]

Use rubbing alcohol and a paper towel.

Almost forgot. Put the rubbing alcohol on the paper towel, not the processor, then rub it off.

 

[Noriaki]

That will work alright for the CPU too? Alright, easy enough. Thanks.

 

[Matrix21]

I Think People use the 99% Rubbing alcohol on a bit of cloth.

 

[Kogan]

Some thermal pads are very sticky (like gum or old tape) and you should use some sticky-removing type product. I actually like to use WD-40 since it's cheaper and has other uses.

 

[Noriaki]

Curses, why did I ever use that stupid thermal pad.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Kogan
Some thermal pads are very sticky (like gum or old tape) and you should use some sticky-removing type product. I actually like to use WD-40 since it's cheaper and has other uses.

If the pad's sticky, put it (the HS or CPU, whatever it's stuck to) in the freezer for bit. It'll get hard and can be scrapped off with a credit card or peice of hard plastic.

Clean the remaining residue off with Isopp alchohol.

If you put WD-40 on there, you'll to clean that off real good. The oils will hamper the thermal conductivity of the AS5.

Fern