Thermal Compound in Socket

[michaelvvmm]

Hi, I have a little bit of thermal compound in two of the holes in the socket. There is only a little bit of thermal compound in the holes, but enough it is barley visible. Would it be fine if I just put the CPU in the socket and it will run fine or will I have to remove the thermal compound? If I have to remove the compound, how do I?

 

[patonb]

What brand of compound?

But you should really try to clean with some alchol and coffee filter.

 

[michaelvvmm]

What brand of compound?

But you should really try to clean with some alchol and coffee filter.

I am not sure what type of compound, can you explain a bit better how to do it , or can you find a video showing how to. Do I have to remove all of it?

 

[patonb]

See, some compounds are non conductive, so it won't short things out, alot arn't.

Just use some rubbing alchol, and a coffee filter (it leaves no lint) and just clean. You can fold up the filter, and use it to clean between the pins.

You really should get it all out.

 

[michaelvvmm]

could i use a thin brush and dip it in rubbing alcohol?

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Methylated spirits and Turpentine will work fine as well, just slosh it on there. Feel free to be as liberal as you want.

And yeah, a brush would probably help too. Just be very careful, nothing worse than a tiny bent pin

 

[aliasaid]

I don't think the thermal paste is on the pins, i believe he means its in the holes where the pins go in.

What brand or type of thermal paste is it exactly? Is it arctic silver 5? arctic silver ceramique? Like patonb said, some thermal compound is conductive and may cause problems; HOWEVER, even if it is conductive, and its not blocking access of the pins, it shouldn't be a problem unless its outflowing and possibly connecting two of the pin-holes together....

So yea, just clean as best you can, i don't recommend you drench the pin-holes with anything, as it won't have enough air circulating to evaporate the alcohol or w/e solution you're using. Perhaps use a needle or something to help you clean (make sure your motherboard is disconnected of course), and hope for the best!

 

[michaelvvmm]

I don't think the thermal paste is on the pins, i believe he means its in the holes where the pins go in.

What brand or type of thermal paste is it exactly? Is it arctic silver 5? arctic silver ceramique? Like patonb said, some thermal compound is conductive and may cause problems; HOWEVER, even if it is conductive, and its not blocking access of the pins, it shouldn't be a problem unless its outflowing and possibly connecting two of the pin-holes together....

So yea, just clean as best you can, i don't recommend you drench the pin-holes with anything, as it won't have enough air circulating to evaporate the alcohol or w/e solution you're using. Perhaps use a needle or something to help you clean (make sure your motherboard is disconnected of course), and hope for the best!

It is a dell so I dont know what type of thermal compound it is. Its is a very little amount of thermal compound that is in it. So I just clean it out the best I can with a brush with alcohol on it?

 

[philbar71]

It's most likely non conductive if it's from dell. You could throw your mobo in a pool and as long as it dried off properly it would still be fine. So rubbing alcohol is not going to hurt it.