Removal of Thermal Compound on Stock Core 2 Duo Heatsink

Prozac is right....

The CPU is keyed.... Just look at it and look at the socket it should be pretty easy to tell... Look at the corners....

Also,

I would keep the razor blade away from the new Heatsink..... credit card is ok but the razor blade could score the HS and that would not help things...


The Rubbing Alcohol is a good idea 70% is a bit weak but should work..

Make sure the surface of both are clean and free of debree and do not DO NOT put a cold proc (canned air can get very cold and can make things cold.... Allow things to go back to room temp or spray it from a larger than normal distance) or HS together with your AS5 (assumption) or or other compound. Possiblity for condensation on one side or the other could affect curing...

Just like the military saying "Clean, Dry and Servicable"..

not sure but I think it is the pad style... Should remove the same/similar though..

you know the same company that makes AS% does make emoulent and surface purifier. its called acticlean and it takes off any kind of thermal compounds. though i think the base of the emoulent is just citric acid which is whats in orange clean (can tell by smell) so you could probably use something like orange clean then just use the alchohol to make sure all of the cleaner is off.

It is not for me it is for the OP... But thanks for the info....

He gave me the tools he had available and I tried to help him (maybe I did).

First off, why would you want to remove the thermal compound that's pre-applied to the heatsink if the heatsink has never been used? Arctic Silver 5 is a good thermal compound, but unless you are going to OC the snot out of your CPU, you'll never know the difference between AS5 and the stock thermal compound. And that difference is only about 1-3 C anyway. And if you are going to OC your CPU, you'd need a new HSF as Intel's standard Socket 478/LGA 775 HSF is about the worst that I have seen shipped with any CPU in the last few years.

Nonetheless, to remove thermal compound from a CPU heatsink, use a volatile solvent such as pure acetone, 2-propanol, xylene, mineral spirits, or Goof-Off. Do NOT use stuff like Orange Clean because the orange oil is thick and not very volatile. Thus it will stick in the very microscopic pits of the heatsink that you are trying to fill with thermal compound. Use a credit card or other CLEAN flat, thin piece of plastic and your solvent to remove the compound. Cleaning the plastic scraper in the solvent is a good idea if the plastic won't melt in it. When you have most of the material off, then take a soft, lint-less cloth with solvent in it and try to get most of the rest of the compound off. Not all of it will come off, BTW. Now take another soft, lint-free cloth and rubbing alcohol and wipe down the bottom of the heatsink. Put the CPU in the motherboard and then wipe its heat spreader with the alcohol too. Now DO NOT TOUCH THE CLEANED SURFACES.

Now squeeze a drop of thermal compound roughly the size of a grain of rice onto the CPU heat spreader. Don't spread it if it's AS5. Mount the HS over the CPU and you're done. The force of the HS squishing the CPU will spread the thermal compound to where it's supposed to go. Now note that the no-spreading method will only work for processors with the metal heat spreader cap, like Pentium 4s, Athlon 64s, and Core 2s. Pentium IIIs and all mobile chips don't have the heat spreaders and you must apply the thermal grease to the top of the bare die in a thin layer. I had to do this when I removed my laptop's HSF assembly to clean out dust bunnies. Whenever you remove a HS from over top of a processor, you will need to remove the thermal compound and apply new as I have explained or you will not have a good thermal interface anymore.

I hope this helps, otherwise there is an excellent guide at the Arctic Silver website that explains what I said but with pictures too!