Nail polish remover to remove thermal pad ??

[thelion4ever]

I have a bottle of nail polish remover that was lying around in my house :lol:

I planning to apply Artic MX-4 to my GPU and CPU

My question is can I use nail polish remover to remove the remaining thermal pad off my GPU and CPU.

The ingredients stated on the bottle are:

Acetone,Water,Glycerine,D-panthenol,BHT,Cl 19140 and Cl 42090

or should I use thinner ????

 

[rubix_1011]

No...I'd say stick to 90% isopropyl alcohol. I'd suggest skipping acetone based cleaners, just to be safe.

You definitely DO NOT want to use thinner or anything oil/petroleum based. (I think acetone is derived from petroleum products through refining...not a chemist, so don't quote me on that.)

I've never had much of an issue getting thermal pads removed...how difficult is it without needing to resort to chemical solvents to remove?? Pic?

 

[thelion4ever]

No...I'd say stick to 90% isopropyl alcohol. I'd suggest skipping acetone based cleaners, just to be safe.

You definitely DO NOT want to use thinner or anything oil/petroleum based. (I think acetone is derived from petroleum products through refining...not a chemist, so don't quote me on that.)

I've never had much of an issue getting thermal pads removed...how difficult is it without needing to resort to chemical solvents to remove?? Pic?

 

[rubix_1011]

Had to copy/paste image URL...might check into fixing it.

Anyways...yeah, that stuff comes off fairly easy. Wipe the excess with paper towel and use a q-tip with some rubbing alcohol to clean up the rest. It is kind of a greasy consistency that is common with thermal interface material (TIM), but avoid any kind of petroleum cleaners...rubbing alcohol works fine...you might not need any at all...some paper towel attention should work just fine.

 

[thelion4ever]

Had to copy/paste image URL...might check into fixing it.

Anyways...yeah, that stuff comes off fairly easy. Wipe the excess with paper towel and use a q-tip with some rubbing alcohol to clean up the rest. It is kind of a greasy consistency that is common with thermal interface material (TIM), but avoid any kind of petroleum cleaners...rubbing alcohol works fine...you might not need any at all...some paper towel attention should work just fine.

Thats the problem, I don't have any rubbing alcohol ONLY acetone...........

Maybe I should try rubbing it with paper towel

Will update as soon as possible

 

[rubix_1011]

Even a terry cloth would work well. I really don't use rubbing alcohol much...only when applying thermal tape to RAM modules or such to clean the residue of the old pads off for good adhesion.

For the GPU, getting it 'clean' via paper towel or a washcloth (buffing, rubbing, etc) is fine. You are going to reapply TIM, anyway.

 

[thelion4ever]

Even a terry cloth would work well. I really don't use rubbing alcohol much...only when applying thermal tape to RAM modules or such to clean the residue of the old pads off for good adhesion.

For the GPU, getting it 'clean' via paper towel or a washcloth (buffing, rubbing, etc) is fine. You are going to reapply TIM, anyway.

I'll try.....................update 2moro, have to sleep

 

[thelion4ever]

It works brilliantly All temps are down by more than 10+ degrees

 

[rubix_1011]

Great, glad to hear.