Remove thermal pad from stock HSF?

[nkarasch]

Arctic Silver suggests the removal of the thermal conducting surface on the bottom of the stock hsf. They say make sure no to scratch it though. How do you get this off without scratching the heatsink?

 

[nzxtlexa]

Most recommend using a credit card to remove it at first and then remove the last few bits with some sort of rubbing alcohol like isopropyl. Also people like arctic silver make removal liquids - I can recommend Arcticlean.

 

[Mathos]

Use a soft cloth of some sort, and isopropyl rubbing alcohol. I usually use a low lint rag, and the 91% isopropyl rubbing alcohol. I learned the lesson a long time ago about not using a card or anything hard to clean the thermal pad off of the bottom of heatsinks. Especially when it comes to the softer copper based ones.

I ended up having to find a way to smooth out the base on a $50 all copper hsf unit back when I put my old Athlon XP rig together. Back then all copper hsf units weren't all that common or as cheap as they are now.

 

[Evilonigiri]

Just wipe it off clean using rubbing alcohol. Just make sure there's no residue, and perhaps clean the heatsink off with water after you're done.