If you do not have AS5, then some vinegar or something that can remove metalic oxide.
Have you used vinegar as a final cleaning agent before putting on the thermal grease? Vinegar contains a reasonably high concentration of polar impurities, some that are non-volatile. So I'd expect it to leave residuals. Who knows, maybe a thin film of polar gunk is a good surface prep for a HS grease?
No I haven't actually, I suggest it because acetic acid is good at removing oxidation from metal surfaces. Better than that is ascorbic acid, but I would not recommend orange juice on your CPU
....
For sure, unless your CPU has put in an order for a screwdriver. Regardless, an acid like acetic will react with an oxidized metal surface and in fact will cause some oxidation itself. But again it's possible that the residuals in vinegar could form a sort of passivating layer on the IHS. There are many different kinds/grades of vinegar that are made from various processes so one would expect different levels and chemistries of residuals. Grocery store vinegar is about 95% water. Check
this out, particularly this:
"WHAT IS VINEGAR?
Vinegar comes from the bacterial oxidation of alcoholic drinks such as wine and cider, and the formation of ethanoic (acetic) acid gives vinegar its characteristic smell. However, ethanoic acid is by no means the only acid in vinegar. It is not even the most predominant acid - it is simply the one, which, owing to its volatility, makes its presence known! Many other acids are also present, such as tartaric, malic, lactic, citric and succinic acids. There are probably many more besides, but since these latter acids are non-volatile they have no smell, yet they still contribute to the overall acidity of the vinegar. You will need to look up the structures of these non-volatile acids."
Since vinegar is distilled, many of these other compounds are reduced or removed entirely but like most commodity natural products, it's far from pure.
[AS5 works well becuase it is a colloidal suspension of silver oxide particles, which has a good thermal conductivity but poor electrical conductivity. However, most metal oxides (paricularly CuO or CuO2) are bad thermal conductors so it is best to have a well polished, oxide free surface.
I agree completely with that logic and have long thought that lapping the IHS can help lower CPU temps because of this. My last step before applying the bead of AS5 is to take a small amount of AS5 on a lint-free cloth, dilute it with ethanol and polish the IHS and HS surfaces. I might have to try a vinegar step right before the alcohol/AS5 step next time.
Edit: typo and grammar
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram