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Help!! Too Much Artic Silver

H

HNNstyle

Senior member
I put too much Article Silver on my CPU and it's all over the place now including my mobo pins. Some of it even got under the CPU pins. I'm trying to clean it now with a napkin. Is there anything I could do to clean this up faster or something I should be aware of as I clean?
 
HNNstyle said:
I put too much Article Silver on my CPU and it's all over the place now including my mobo pins. Some of it even got under the CPU pins. I'm trying to clean it now with a napkin. Is there anything I could do to clean this up faster or something I should be aware of as I clean?
Click to expand...

Be careful with the napkin, if you have an LGA style mobo where the pins are actually in the CPU socket then it will snag the pins and ruin the socket.

That said, the artic silver is not electrically conductive. You could bath your cpu and motherboard in it and nothing bad would happen.

It will come up most easily with 91% IPA, a standard rubbing alcohol you can buy at any drugstore/grocery store/pharmacy.

I use to fill my CPU socket with artic silver ceramique as a precaution to prevent ice buildup on the pins when I was cooling my CPU with a vaporphase cooler (-50°C), made a mess of the socket but it worked fine even at room-temperature with air coolers afterwards.
 
I was actually using article clean material #1 on the underside of my CPU i7 3770k and the parts that I used it on is shinier than the rest. Is this a problem? I'm going to the store to get some isoprople alcohol right now.
 
I just put everything back together but there is a problem. Bios booted up for about 10 seconds then my PC shut off or rather it all went black. So I opened up my PC and none of the fans connected to my mobo are on. What do you guys think I should do to narrow down the problem or is my problem a fried motherboard?
 
I guess it's possible you damaged your MB or CPU if you didn't clean it good enough.

Not Electrically Conductive:
Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.
(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)
Click to expand...
 
It's alive!!!! I hope it stays on this time though. Lol


I love you guys! Thanks for all the help.

I think it was something I didn't plug in all the way.



Edit: I was type with my Samsung S3, so it my typing might seem way off with periods all over the place.
 
Last edited:
Idontcare said:
Be careful with the napkin, if you have an LGA style mobo where the pins are actually in the CPU socket then it will snag the pins and ruin the socket.

That said, the artic silver is not electrically conductive. You could bath your cpu and motherboard in it and nothing bad would happen.

It will come up most easily with 91% IPA, a standard rubbing alcohol you can buy at any drugstore/grocery store/pharmacy.

I use to fill my CPU socket with artic silver ceramique as a precaution to prevent ice buildup on the pins when I was cooling my CPU with a vaporphase cooler (-50°C), made a mess of the socket but it worked fine even at room-temperature with air coolers afterwards.
Click to expand...
Excellent suggestion. I think part of any computer "enthusiast's" equipment should be a bottle of 91% Isoprophyl Alcohol. I keep some Q tips and some of my wife's makeup cotton pads on hand for clean up. Decent roll of paper towel helps also.
 
Kenmitch said:
I guess it's possible you damaged your MB or CPU if you didn't clean it good enough.
Click to expand...

That is a pure CYA type disclaimer because all material, from air to water to the PCB to the CPU to the AS5, are "slightly capacitive".

There is not material in existence that is completely non-polarizable, i.e. ALL material exhibits some degree of capacitance under the influence of an externally applied electric field.
 
Ordinarily, excess AS5 can be cleaned off relatively smooth surfaces with isopropyl and a fine cloth, maybe nylon stocking or a napkin.

If there are solder pins on small parts that have become contaminated I only guess that there's still some risk of conductive-material contamination if you can't reach every nook and cranny.

I once used an Arctic conductive epoxy, and got a little on the pins of a mobo chip for custom application of a small heatsink. I thought I'd cleaned it all before the epoxy set.

The motherboard continued to function normally, but eventually "went south" -- for any number of reasons which could include some residual epoxy contamination which wasn't visible to the naked eye. And my own naked eye isn't all that better for a good set of glasses . . . .
 
Alcohol in spray form (aerosol can or much cheaper pump bottle) is convenient for cleaning this. Hold the motherboard upside down and spray. Repeat until blotting with a piece of white paper shows no stains. Follow precautions against static discharge.

Arctic Silver is conductive, despite what an ohms measurement will show.
 
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