[Solved] [SOLVED!] Arctic Alumina on the CPU

The story:

I asked a friend to bag some thermal grease while he was at the electronics shop. I hadn't any experience applying thermal grease before, so I assumed Arctic Silver's Arcitc Alumina was alright. After reading the provided instructions, I mixed it up and applied it to the CPU. The heat sink was loose, so the temperatures were sky high. Upon removing the heat sink I discovered that the Alumina wasn't eager to be cleaned off the CPU.

Now, I've applied Arctic Silver 5 on top of the Alumina that is still on the CPU and heat sink. In so far, this hasn't provided any problems, but I'm certainly considerate, and therefore wary, of the situation.


The questions:

1. I've accidentally applied Arctic Silver Arctic Alumina to my CPU. I'm now using Arctic Silver 5 on top of that. Temperatures are approximately 10°C higher. Should I be concerned?
2. What should (can) I do? Is there any way to non-destructively clean the Alumina from the CPU?

Any and all suggestions and ideas welcome!

I use Ceramique and theres no mixing. It comes in a litle syringe looking applicator and you just push it out. Also I'm sure it came with instructions that tell you how to remove it, if not (mine did) go to their website.

If the heatsink was loose, why didnt you just tighten it, why did you remove it and attempt to remove the ceramique??

^ +1, Use something like Isopropyl Alcohol to clean off the remaining thermal compound, I use the one with 99% alcohol in it.

Which one? I hope the first one.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_alumina.htm

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic [...] hesive.htm

Ah, well that's... bad.

The second is usually for things you want to stuck togather for ever.. for example if you have a heatsink for some old GPU that didn't have any "clip" to hold them off they use simular products as this(cheaper though). The way that the company says to remove this(if I remember well which I'm pretty sure that I'm)..if it's stuck(CPU+Heatsink).. put it in the fridge leave it for some minutes and try to remove it..

P.S. watch the pins if we are talking for a cpu with pins, btw in the past.. more than hmm 8+ years I had the same issue with my brothers gpu heatsink, we want to remove it after we put that thermal compound but the freeze way that the company recommanded didn't work very well so I took my brain and did the exacly opposite. I put some heat to the heatsink and when it reached some serious temperature I remove it with force(and a towel so my hand didn't burn).. this way I can guarantee that it will work(it worked for me) BUT if you try that you need to be EXTRA carefull you can damage the cpu if you melt it ..it needs some experience heh

More than likely he will have to lap it off since its a permanent adhesive.

Goole Lapping. Its simple and effective.

rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab works well.

Good news!

I lapped the heat spread only until some copper was visible. Although I couldn't evenly sand the heat sink, I wanted to test it with the cleaned CPU. Temperatures fell from 60°C to 40°C.

After replacing that stock Intel heat sink with Xigmatek's S1284, temperatures fell to ~30°C.


Many thanks to all those who provided helpful suggestions and those who attempted to help.

BIG, BIG thanks to B-Unit, for saving myself the cost of a new processor, and randomizer for his patience! THANK YOU!