I just pick up the cpu from the mobo, hold it in my hand and use an old shirt filled with rubbing alcohol to rub it with? Is that it?

Also I'm receiving a new heatsink soon, should I remove the preapplied paste from there like this too?

Going by memory... your getting the Acrtic cooling freezer pro?

The stuff thats already on there should be good stuff. I'd just clean off the CPU, and pop the new HSF on.

Edit:

Also, try to make sure the black pins are turned opposite of the arrow. And try to figure out which would be the hardest to push down on. For example the pin nearest to the northbridge HS. Click that one on 1st, then using your thumb, press on the center of the HS while you use your other hand to secure the other pins.

Yeah I am. But...arctic silver 5 couldn't hurt, right? It can only help.

But yeah...I can just hold the chip in my hands and clean? Or can it stay inside the mobo locked in?

You can hold the CPU by it's edges, and clean it.

But if your going to use AS5, you should put it back in the socket, then apply it, according to it's instructions.

But the stuff thats on the HS is just as good or maybe better then AS5.

Oh really? Can I get a source for that please?

Seems the review that "DaSickNinga" did was deleted.

Basically the HS your getting uses MX-1:

Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Cooling Mx-1?

MX-1 Thermal Compound

It's really up to you to decided. To me, its just a waste of material. I'd just save AS5 for later use.

Alright, thanks, I'll use AS5 later on if needed.

Quick question: There is a review here http://www.driverheaven.net/review [...] esting.htm that gives me the chills a bit, due to this quote:

"The only negative parts of the cooler probably are the somewhat large size (although the size shouldn’t be a problem inside any normal ATX case), and that the cooler cannot perform with the motherboard placed vertically. This makes the cooler useless for mounting inside HTPC cases,"

This worries me, because while my case is not an HTPC (I have a centurion 5) is the motherboard not placed vertically? Would this be an issue or am I just analyzing this wrong?

There shouldn't be any problems running it vertically. It's just the instructions stating for it to work optimally. It will still work fine in a vertical postion, with the air being blown back to the rear exhaust fan. My dad has basically a clone HS like that, and it has no problems with his E4300 OC at 2.7ghz.

The only reason why that perhaps state that, in what makes the heat pipes work better in a horizontal position, that the mechanism for it to work, has to do with the chemical in the heat pipes. So, it would work better when chemical is a liquid at the bottom of the heat pipe, then turns to vapor, which rises up, then cools back into a liquid to come back down the heat pipe.