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Necessary to buy Thermal paste remover?

S

superme1

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
147
This is my first system build, and I'm purchasing Arctic Silver 5 along with Xigmatek HDT-S1283 heatsink. Is it necessary to get Arctic Silver Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier in order to remove the paste?

It says it fills flash corrosions but I was unaware that AS5 causes corrosion in heatsinks. Thanks for the feedback

Also, any tips for a n00b for applying heatsink/thermal paste would be appreciated
 
I have never had anything I couldn't clean off with 90% Isopropyl alcohol. Nothing.
 
^^
This

While I have the arctic silver remover, 90% isopropyl will remove just about any thermal paste invented.
 
Its not necessary unless you are using extreme cooling methods and you want to do it as professionally as possible. If you don't know what I mean by extreme cooling methods, you are not using one so don't worry.
 
I haven't had rubbing alchol work as well as the cleaning remover from arctic silver... but that's me.

It only takes a couple drops and I figure it should last a while... was only $5 ;)
 
I used to use acetone but the chewing gum style TIM was a complete bitch to remove - is IPA any better with that stuff?
 
Arctic silver remover works better than alcohol for the really thick thermal paste, especially for the ones I've seen on nvidia cards. I can usually get rid of most of it with 4-5 drops, whereas with alcohol I would have needed a lot more. Then again, given the cost difference, it probably averages out to be the same :).
 
Thanks for all your responses, from the sound of it, rubbing alcohol seems to do the trick, however, what is this corrosion that some thermal pastes supposedly cause?
 
Corrosion on what, aluminum? From an aluminum or ceramic non-conducive paste? What are you doing it, cutting it with sodium? :p
 
Methadras said:
For the sake of epeen. You could get 99% alcohol too. :D
Click to expand...

I was removing a thermal pad from a northbridege one time, and realized that I didn't have any rubbing alcohol in the house. But luckily I did have some Everclear (grain alcohol) in the liquor cabinet. Worked like a charm.

I have the Arctic Silver remover, and I recently used it on some 5+ year old arctic silver. The stuff wasn't difficult to remove. I imagine it would have removed just as well with alcohol. It wasn't baked or gunked on at all.

The Arctic Silver remover smells like orange/citrus. I wonder if it isn't just one of those type of products removers...
 
Thanks everyone for the responses, looks like I'll be using alcohol and saving a few bucks ^_^
 
I've used Naphtha lighter fluid and it works much better than even 99.9% Isopropal for removing OEM TIMs like those "bubble gum" pink stuff sometimes used on chipset/gpu heatsinks.

Then once it evaporates I give it a extra wipe with ISP to make sure any possible residue is cleaned since Naphtha evaporates fairly quick the TIM wont be stuck to the surface anymore but still needs to be wiped off especially if it is thick.

The reason I use this is ISP evaporates too quickly and leaves more residue requiring multiple applications at times whereas Naphtha will lift the TIM and allow you to wipe off almost all of the TIM before it evaporates so I can avoid repeatedly cleaning the surfaces to get a good result.
 
I am going to echo what most here have said...go the alcohol route.

I do have some of the Arcticlean remover, and it is nice. It works especially well on AS5. I wouldn't go out of my way to get it though. I just picked some up when I was at Microcenter.
 
99% isopropanol and q-tips for me, also a plastic scraper/razor for the stubborn stuff.
 
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