removing ancient thermal paste/pad

[ohGrFreak]

I have a pc that i'm resurecting and it needs a video card, I have a very very old Ti that was missing it's fan and overheats. I looked at the heatsink and popped it off, it was not held on by any screws or clips, it looks like it may have used the thermal pad/paste that is also an adhesive.

Now I bought a new coolerwith some good thermal paste but cannot get the old thermal whatever off no matter what I do. usually i just dab some alcohol on the area and use either a microbier cloth, or some sort of cotton ball, but to no avail.

It's hard and brittle, but I don't want to do damage to the chip by trying to pry it off or chip it off.

Any suggestions?

 

[KurrentEweser]

It's more likely adhesive than thermal paste. You'll have to glue the heatsink back on. Smooth both the heatsink and chip with fine sandpaper. I've had no problems using super glue.

 

[ohGrFreak]

So I can't sand it down and use thermal paste on top of it? It has mounting points, it's an Nvidia card and the new heatsink and fan line right up. I'm just doubtful of super glue's heat dissipation properties.

But if it did come down to sanding, I should be able to get enough off to use the silver paste I bought, right?

 

[KurrentEweser]

If the new heatsink can be mounted and held in place then by all means use paste. Just try to get as much adhesive off as you can.

 

[ohGrFreak]

But other than hacking away at it with a knife, are there any solvents they may get this garbage off? I'm trying to be gentle and peel at it on the sides hoping to get it all in one chunk, but it's just not coming off.

 

[KurrentEweser]

If it's high temp epoxy then heat may soften it enough to peel off.

 

[objecterror]

there are solivents you can use to remove it i.e clean it, don't use water probably rubbing alcohol. the tin cover is really ontop of your processor, so don't worry about it, and keep your contacts clean.

 

[CrazeD]

there are solivents you can use to remove it i.e clean it, don't use water probably rubbing alcohol. the tin cover is really ontop of your processor, so don't worry about it, and keep your contacts clean.

He said he tried alcohol, and it's on a GPU not a CPU, where the core is exposed.

Try the Arctic cleaning stuff, not sure if that would work.

 

[objecterror]

He said he tried alcohol, and it's on a GPU not a CPU, where the core is exposed.

Try the Arctic cleaning stuff, not sure if that would work.

Ohs, I wasn't paying attention