Safe to reuse HS w/ thermal sticker?

[shyguy74]

I'm using the stock HS/Fan that came with my Athlon XP, the one with the pink sticker on the bottom. I had to remove the HS, but now some of the tape came off the HS and stuck onto the CPU core. Is it okay to put the fan back on the CPU? If not, I have another heatsink w/o the sticker that I could use. How easy would it be to take off the sticky stuff from my CPU core?

 

[chizow]

hehe don't reuse that goop. Its bad enough fresh, but its downright scary to use it after its been mutilated. Scrape it off with a razor blade wipe it with acetone (nailpolish remover) or isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and get yourself some thermal paste or Arctic Silver 2. Apply a fresh coat and put it back on. Your asking for trouble if you reuse that goop or if you use the heat sink with no thermal compound at all.

Chiz

 

[Slogun]

Thermal tape/pads are not meant to be reused.

Get arctic silver II and use that after removing as much of the old material as possible.
You can search the web for instructions on applying the thermal compound, correct application is necessary to avoid burning out your cpu. The short story about it however is to apply a VERY thin layer (almost transparent) to the cpu CORE, then put the HSF on it without twisting or wobbling it.

And avoid touching the core or bottom of hsf with your bare hands to avoid skn oils from getting on there.