What to use to remove the thermal?

[LoStZ]

I just have a question on what to use to effectively remove the thermal that I had on? Say I used the thermal that came with the Alpha 6035 heatsink, and now I wanna use Arctic Silver instead. What should I use to remove it? Alcohol and a rag?

 

[Jeff7]

I'm not sure what kind of thermal transfer material is already present; if it's sort of a thin paste, then alcohol, tissue, and a Q-tip will do the trick fine. If it's sort of gummy, and more solid, like bubble gum, then a knife could be used to scrape it off. Just be careful not to make any indentations in the heatsink, as they will impact thermal transfer. Alcohol can then be used to get rid of any remnants of the gummy thermal material.

 

[spamboy]

Use a razor blade to scrape most of it off and the Q-tip to get off that last little bit of residue.