How to clean off old thermal paste?

[mrcool63]

i am new at this and wanted to know if u could use normal spirit(ethanol+methanol) or u have to search for isopropyl alcohol only??

where will i find IPA in bangalore?

 

[asingh]

Re: thermal paste cleaning Q..

^^

Any general chemist. Surgeons spirit is the street name.

 

[mrcool63]

Re: thermal paste cleaning Q..

yeah but surgical spirit is ethyl and methyl alcohol not isopropyl.. trust me im a doc

 

[aman.pitbull]

Re: thermal paste cleaning Q..

If the base of your HSF is copper or nickel get a decent Iso-Propyl Alcohol/Rubbing Alcohol/PCB Cleaner with ~ 70% purity or ArcticClean if any other material just get a 200ml bottle of PCB cleaner from your local PC walla/Chemist that costs ~20-50bucks(it's a multipurpose cleaner for your PC and NOT LCD).

 

[mrcool63]

Re: thermal paste cleaning Q..

i am right now using a stock intel cooler. will upgrade later. what does pcb cleaner have?

 

[Tech_enthu]

Re: thermal paste cleaning Q..

I only use Isopropyl alcohol !! I thin you being a DOC will understand that the other concoctions in the market are 70% strength only.

 

[mrcool63]

is 70% enough. they say we need atleast 90%

 

[rajkri_11]

Go straight for 100% IPA, cause any % of water included will reduce its solubility parameter values substantially. To get pure IPA in small quantity like 500ml, buy from Laboratory Chemical dealers, almost all of them will have stock of 500ml IPA bottle of brands like sigma-aldrich, Fishers, Rankem, Loba, Nice etc... It will cost you btw 100 - 150 rupees. If you could not find any, then PM me.

 

[mrcool63]

will try tomorrow morn. thanks

 

[Audiodoc]

Rahkri is right isopropyl alcohol can be best procured from laboratory chemical dealers a few more brands, besides what he has already mentioned, available in India are BDH, Qualigens, Merck & Ranbaxy. Basically any organic solvent can remove thermal paste but isopropyl alcohol will no dissolve PCB components or leave ion rich deposits which may cause short circuit. I am both a doc, have a lab at home and a audiophile DIYer, though new on this forum.

 

[impulse1992]

where can i get it in Bombay??

 

[kishore.chander]

you could find IPA everywhere in all the computer parts dealer shop as well. You can find it in plenty.

 

[ALPHA17]

I use alcohol does the job .

 

[mrcool63]

got ipa. cleaned and replaced tp with tuniq tx-2. now the idlw has dropped 2 degrees and the gpu idling dropped from 45 degrees to 38 degrees. thanks guys