I'll tell you what. I just finished rebuilding my PC. And I decided to pick up the ArctiClean - Thermal Remover and Surface Purifier. If you have a few extra bucks, do your self a favor and pick it up.
The Thermal Remover works incredibly well. It's a Citrus and soy based solvent. 1 Drop of this stuff breaks up the old thermal paste so well, it is extremely easy to remove it. It just wipes off clean. No scraping or fooling around with it. Awesome product.
The Surface purifier works well too. After you've used the remover, there is a slight residue left on the CPU die and the heatsink. So you use the purifier and remove all of the residue. I had the CPU DIE and the HS so clean, it was shinny enough to see my face in.
Then reapplying new thermal grease is made easier... It spreads on so well.
Thermaltake Shark Case
Intel P4 3.4Ghz Prescott
Zalman 7000AuCu blue led
ASUS P4P800e Deluxe s478
AS5 of course
Built 24 hours ago.
MBM 5 reports - At desktop - CPU 35C
After some heavier usage it's been around 42-44C
These temps should stablize more in may-be 60 more hours, the thermal grease needs some time to set.