How do you clean off the remains of thermal interface compound?

[Sporko]

This goo is like chewing gum. It came with my Taisol heatsink. Neither nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol semed to disolve this stuff.

 

[Losty]

yep that goo is really crazy on the taisol but it works great!

just try wiping it off with a cloth and than maybe scraping the hs with a credit card or pencil or something

the cpu might a fragile to scrape...
hmmm...sorry dont know

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Butane, Vegetable oil, and Goo-Gone all work well in removing PCTC and other thermal pads.


Mike

 

[jimmygates]

I had to use a Flat head screw driver and nail polish remover. Geez, it took me 1 hour to scrap that pink crap off. After, I saw the aftermath of all that scraping with the screwdriver...I had nice swirly's all over the bottom of my heatsink. I had to sandpaper the sucker smooth which took another 30 mins . After, the HSF worked like a charm with on the Duron 600 @ 900mhz!


-Jimbo

 

[LohCash]

If youre talking about the thermal pad that comes on the Taisol, Wd-40 works awesome, just spray some on it and wipe it off with a towel. No scraping necessary!

 

[ericb]

Goof-off will wipe it right off with a few rubs.

 

[BlueScreenVW]

Acetone works fine for me. Probaly also chemically pure gasoline, I think. Anything but water...

 

[Sporko]

Is it safe to use these cleaners on the chip itself? I assume I should clean the old junk off the chip before I apply a new pad.