When putting my new rig together last night I had a problem with the stock Heatsink on my Q9450 not fitting on my board (P5K-E WIFI-AP). the legs weren't long enough to clear the transistors around the CPU and still snap fully into place without the fins resting and putting pressure on the transistors.

So, I pulled it off and used a q-tip to clean the thermal grease that had been pre-applied to the stock HS and wanted to make sure it would be OK. There is a bit of a stain where I cleaned off the TG from the CPU but I can read the text on the CPU so I belive its pretty clean. Going to get another HS today and finish my build but wanted to know if I needed to use any special cleaning product on the CPU before appling more TG and a new HS.

It's usually best to use rubbing alcohol.

nah, in real life, that is plenty clean enough if yoiu just use some isopropyl alcohol

A higher percentage is also preferred, say 90% instead of the 70% that you usually find in your medicine cabinet. But 70% should be fine for most cleaning jobs.

-mcg

I use 91-95% isopropyl alcohol and it cleans things fine. There are a couple commercial cleaners out there, but I think they're a waste of good money. Yeah, avoid the lower quality alcohols as they contain a lot of impurities, oils, and junk that are not good for computer chips.

You can get 100% at a drugstore. 70% is OK. Avoid something called "rubbing alcohol". It's usually 70% isopropyl, but it has lanolin in it - leaves a film. A piece of a clean coffee filter works well for cleaning - doesn't leave lint behind.

or you could use fresh lemon to clean it but remember to rinse it with water afterward.or vinegar if you want.

Just go ahead and throw that CPU in the dishwasher. Should be fine. What's the worst that can happen?



{jk}

you wont be able to use the CPU anymore i guess!thats the worse that can happen!LOL

I use a mixture of Heptane and Isopropyl Alcohol.

Carefully, with a Q-Tip.

Edit: AKA Contact & Circuit Board Cleaner. $3.00 a can. Available everywhere.

personally, i don't use alcohol at all... i use the thermal grease remover from artic silver.

http://articsilver.com/arcticlean.htm

works great for me and i wouldn't use a q-tip either. small cotton strands could come loose from it...i personally use a lint free cloth, such as those in eye glasses cleaning or you could pick some up from your local electronic store.

luckily since I was just putting the machine together the thermal grease had never been heated up and it came right off with the q-tip...i picked up an Arctic pro 7 today and a little tube of xigmatex grease sicne they were out of artic silver. Hopefully the system will post and boot smoothly tonight after I put in the new HS and finish connecting everything.

Artic Freezer 7 Pro and Artic Silver. What do you think came on the HSF?

lap the AC7 Pro post some very good result.