Will Alcohol Remover Work for Thermal Paste?

[yutubemedia]

People say use "Isopropyl alcohol" but I dont have that, will just regular Alcohol remover work to remove old thermal paste? Im cleaning my GPU. If not what do you recommend to use besides buying some special wipes or liquid online.

thanks

 

[dallasjoh]

90% Isopropyl alcohol, you can pick it up at your local drug store.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

just use a tissue.... no real need to get every last spec of it off with alcohol.

 

[nativeson8803]

rubbing alcohol

 

[jgabriel]

Isopropyl Alcohol 90%, which you can get at a drug store for about 3 dollars, and paper coffee filters for wiping.

Yes, coffee filters. You can buy special lint free paper, but coffee filters work just as well because they essentially ARE lint free paper (no one wants paper lint in their coffee).

What you need is a solvent that dries quickly and won't muck up your electronics (the way water will). 90% Isopropyl Alcohol fits the bill and is largely free of impurities. Since none of us know what impurities are in whatever remover you're asking about, no one is going to recommend it or tell you it's okay. It might be, but none of us can know that.

Your best bet is to suck it up and get some Isopropyl Alcohol.

.

 

[1965ohio]

If you don't want to buy rubbing alcohol cause you don't use it often, just get some Bacardi 151 or some 180 vodka. After you clean your CPU, you can still mix it with your coke to get your use out of it. I used to live in Kentucky and kept some 190 proof moonshine around for cleaning situations just like this!

 

[king smp]

Dont Hard Drive Drunk!

 

[1965ohio]

just use a tissue.... no real need to get every last spec of it off with alcohol.

Actually you should get every last speck off... because a small piece or lump of dried thermal paste can cause a problem and leave a very small gap. I just swapped a Core 2 chip a few weeks ago, and didn't clean it perfectly... the computer started shutting off and running hot, but the stock Intel heatsink was flush against the CPU and all the clips were firmly mounted. I took it back off and noticed some of the original grey paste from Intel was hard and keeping it from making a smooth contact. I cleaned it off completely then re-apply new thermal paste. No problems now.

 

[Dougie Fresh]

I picked up this: http://www.amazon.com/ArctiClean-3-5grams-Arctic-Silver-Compound/dp/B001LMY3MM/ which came highly recommended.

 

[ace700]

I picked up this: http://www.amazon.com/ArctiClean-3-5grams-Arctic-Silver-Compound/dp/B001LMY3MM/ which came highly recommended.

That is good cleaning compent. I have been using for few weeks and most of the time you only needs 2 drops from both to clean and make the gpu chip look brand new but you have to watch what you are using for thermal paste.