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Thermal Paste Cleaning

A

abovegod

n00b
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
Messages
9
I do a lot of Xbox 360 repairs which almost always leads me to cleaning the thermal compounds off of the cores and the heatsinks but I only use isopropyl alcohol and qtips and this can be very time intensive. I saw that there was a cleaning solution called Artic Clean which is a 2 part system and wanted to ask you guys if there was a cheaper route I could take. I heard that a xylene based cleaning product like goo gone works but I wanted to get some input from you guys first before I started to use any other methods. Thanks in advance
 
Isopropyl alcohol works perfectly fine. If you want to speed up the process, use a lint-free cloth to wipe off the paste instead of doing it with q-tips. That will make it a lot easier and faster.
 
Sometimes it can take up to 10-15 minutes to get a nice clean surface using the qtip method. Its a real pain. So I could use coffee filters and be done much quicker? I will have to give it a go.
 
Yes, coffee filters work very well. I generally just use paper towels, and it rarely takes me more than a minute to completely clean off a CPU.
 
The few times I've had to clean thermal paste, I used rubbing alcohol and a sock turned inside out.
 
I use the ArctiClean kit, it works GREAT, and goes a very long way, after using it I would not go back to Isopropyl alcohol, the kit works much better at taking off old or stuck on TIM, had a friends PC that was overheating, checked it and the thermal pad on the HS was rock hard, I tried some Isopropyl alcohol on it and got no where, so I headed back to my house and got my ArctiClean, put it on and within a few minutes the pad was nothing but a soft gooey puddle that just wiped off. I also use paper towels like Zero said.
 
I bet its a pain in the ass to clean those things off! I rember seeing the dissasembly pics when [H] watercooled a 360 and there was way too much thermal paste! I'd say stick with the alcohol, but try and find the highest percentage possible I usually go for the 91% it cuts through CPU paste the best. Also if you need to really clean off a messy thermal job, regular Acetone will do the trick. Just make sure your in a well ventillated area, thats some strong shit there!

Paper towels work nicely, I use "Viva" brand specificlly. They are very soft and do not leave much lint behind. And then finish cleaning with the cotton swabs. If your using the acetone you may be better off with a cotton ball to 'dab' it on, let it set for a minute and then wipe off with a paper towel. The acetone is a great starter but you will want to finish with alcohol just to make sure theres no acetone residue.

Then as long as you don't re-apply thermal compound like microsoft does you should be good! :D
 
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