CPU possibly damaged?

[raildogg]

Hello everyone. Recently I was taking the CPU out of the board when I got some thermal paste around the CPU area. When I took the CPU out, the paste got caught in the pins of the CPU.

I first tried to remove the paste via using IPA on towels and then on cotton swabs. Well, this method didn't work too effectively. Then I simply poured quite a bit of IPA over the pins. This also didn't help.

Then I used a toothbrush soaked with IPA and cleaned the pins. This seems to have remove the paste from the pins and I don't see any damage done to the CPU. But I'm slightly worried that pouring a liberal amount of IPA over the CPU pins might cause some issue. I cannot test whether the CPU works or not at this point. Just wondering if you guys think some damage may have occurred. Of course, the best way is to find out but I cannot right now.

Appreciate any help.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I doubt it would have hurt anything. What vintage is this CPU, I presume it's an AMD CPU, since Intel switched to "pads" on the LGA CPU PCBs, and "pins" in the socket.

 

[raildogg]

I doubt it would have hurt anything. What vintage is this CPU, I presume it's an AMD CPU, since Intel switched to "pads" on the LGA CPU PCBs, and "pins" in the socket.

Hey VirtualLarry,

The CPU is an AMD Ryzen. Just wondering if the heavy quantity of IPA poured on the CPU would create any issues. Thanks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, generally, IPA isn't going to hurt the gold contacts any, nor the heatspreader, nor the PCBA, so you should be good to go. Ryzen CPUs are soldered, so there's no TIM under the heatspreader to be concerned about, as there might be with a mainstream Intel CPU if you dunked that completely in IPA. (Would need to de-lid, and fix the TIM.)

 

[LTC8K6]

IPA evaporates rapidly, so even if it did somehow seep in around the pins, it would be dry pretty quickly.

Was it 90% IPA or 70%? 70% has more water in it, of course, and takes longer to dry.