Thermal stuff remover

[Amidamaru]

I live in UK.

This is the situation, i didnt do a one-contact with my AMD athlon x2 4800+ so i decided to buy some Arctic silver 5 and forgot to buy some cleaning solution and because I live in UK their are only bob shops around.

so, i want to buy some remover for the silver thermal compound on the heatsink and solution before applying the arctic silver 5.

I only want to buy locally not from US.

These are the products i was considering (Maplin because its only 5 minute walk from me):

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=34493&criteria=CPU and heatsink cleaner&doy=31m3

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=28994&criteria=Iso alchohol&doy=31m3

Although both seem to be for cleaning which would would you recommend.

Please note: I cannot get Arctic Clean stuff easily so please dont say -->"Buy Arctic Clean"<--

Thanks.

 

[HAVOC]

Yeah. that first stuff you linked, "The Citrus Based Solvent" should work nicely. That's basically what arcticlean is.

 

[Amidamaru]

cool - i thought fragrance stuff was bad thats all thanks for advice.

 

[jeremy]

i'd go for the Isopropyl Alcohol , might wanna read this article on cleanning thermal paste
http://www.neoseeker.com/Hardware/faqs/kb/2,31.html , i really cant recommend using artic silver 5 you can read at this page why http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm
"Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.
(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)"

better use arctic silver ceramique instead its 100% non-conductive and theres barlely any temperature diffrences between various thermal pastes

 

[Amidamaru]

Well i already got AC5 so too late now

"Never use any oil or petroleum based cleaners (WD-40, citrus oil based cleaners and many automotive degreasers) on the base of a heatsink. The oil, which is engineered to not evaporate, will fill in the microscopic valleys in the metal and significantly reduce the effectiveness of any subsequently applied thermal compound."

Im a bit concerned about the citurs oil based stuff

 

[Amidamaru]

*bump*

 

[Green Radience]

ON a side note, AMD Support confirmed that AS5 will not conduct electricity. DO NOT use Ceramique, it can often glue your Processor to your heatsink. Don't want that now do you?

 

[Amidamaru]

Guys more to the removal of the thermal grease stuff.. which product is best for AMD Athlon 4800+ out of the above and no Arcticlean suggestions please

 

[bryan64]

I personally would use flux remover which is static free and designed to remove the flux left over from soldering. It is made to be used for cleaning that gunk off circuit boards so it should have no probs cleaning AS5. I have used it and it works nicely. It is also designed to evaporate so it won't cause any problems with the heastsink.

The problem I have with Isopropyl Alcohol is the water content. When everything else evaporates, you are left with whatever minerals and such are in the WATER in the isopropyl.

If I use any alcohol it is only denatured (all the water removed).

This comes from 7 years as a electronic repair person.

 

[Amidamaru]

Why isn't there one answer to these things