Yes, you must remove any traces of old TIM (thermal interface material). How you remove it depends on what it is. Typical thermal grease can be removed simply by wiping most of it off with dust free material like coffee filter paper or lens paper (most typical ones found in a home). And follow that up to clean off the rest with alcohol. High percentage alcohol is good for that - you can get 95% (or better) isopropyl or denatured alcohol (ethanol) at most drug stores or departments (e.g. WalMart, etc.). Phase change TIM (often called pads) are rubbery or plasticy and require initial scraping with a plastic tool like a credit card. I use the knife one gets with breakfast at Mickey-D's - it works very well. IAC, use something that is unlikely to scratch the surface of the heatsink or CPU. I use naphtha (lighter fluid like Ronsonol, Zippo or store brand) to get the remainder off and follow up with an alcohol rinse.
FYI: There are other TIMs out there now that are just as effective and easier to use than AS5, so if you haven't bought yet, I'd suggest checking around some more. There have been several TIM comparison reviews recently. Even AS's own Ceramique works nearly as well as AS5 and is a lot easier to apply and remove, IMO.
I don't mess with my components as often as many here, so I recently got some Arctic Cooling MX2 but haven't had a chance to use it yet. I'm actually using whatever it was that came on my C-M Hyper TX2 :shocked: and it seems to be just fine. Of course, I'm not using a furnace-like CPU and just a minor OC.
.bh.
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)
