Bit of thermal paste on CPU Pins

[stokietom]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forums. Nice to meet you all!

Today I got a nice shiny i3 CPU and a motherboard.

Stupidly, I decided to install the 2 while I was half asleep, it didn't turn out as good as it could have.

As I was removing my old CPU from my motherboard, I didn't realise a smudge of thermal paste made it's way on to one of my fingers. I picked up my new i3 CPU and on the pin part of the CPU, my finger that had the thermal paste smudge on it connected to it.

I cleaned it off right away with tissue (Only lightly). It got most of the thermal paste off however I could still see a streak of it when I held it up to the light.

Worried I might have bust the CPU already, I continued with the build and turned it on.

To my surprise everything is working fine and as expected.

Will the thermal paste that made it's way on to the back of my CPU cause any long term affects?

Cheers,

Tom

 

[-RockMan-]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forums. Nice to meet you all!

Today I got a nice shiny i3 CPU and a motherboard.

Stupidly, I decided to install the 2 while I was half asleep, it didn't turn out as good as it could have.

As I was removing my old CPU from my motherboard, I didn't realise a smudge of thermal paste made it's way on to one of my fingers. I picked up my new i3 CPU and on the pin part of the CPU, my finger that had the thermal paste smudge on it connected to it.

I cleaned it off right away with tissue (Only lightly). It got most of the thermal paste off however I could still see a streak of it when I held it up to the light.

Worried I might have bust the CPU already, I continued with the build and turned it on.

To my surprise everything is working fine and as expected.

Will the thermal paste that made it's way on to the back of my CPU cause any long term affects?

Cheers,

Tom

If you let the grease settle on it and begins to dry, you may have damaged it.

But you should be fine by taking a lintless-cloth damp (NOT WET) with Isopropal Alcohol should remove the paste from the socket.
A toothbrush with the same should get it off the pins. Be sure not to get any inside the socket.

I've had that happen to me when I as using the lga 775-1156 sockets, make sure to clean it and test after 10 minutes once its dry.
If your computer gets a signal from the cpu and does all its wonderfull post noises you should be fine.
If it doesn't, call intel directly and tell them the story and be honest with them, they very rarely excuse foul ups like that, but maybe one will look pass it and help you.

Good luck.

 

[stokietom]

If you let the grease settle on it and begins to dry, you may have damaged it.

But you should be fine by taking a lintless-cloth damp (NOT WET) with Isopropal Alcohol should remove the paste from the socket.
A toothbrush with the same should get it off the pins. Be sure not to get any inside the socket.

I've had that happen to me when I as using the lga 775-1156 sockets, make sure to clean it and test after 10 minutes once its dry.
If your computer gets a signal from the cpu and does all its wonderfull post noises you should be fine.
If it doesn't, call intel directly and tell them the story and be honest with them, they very rarely excuse foul ups like that, but maybe one will look pass it and help you.

Good luck.

Hi, many thanks for getting back to me.

As said as soon as I realised what I did I got the closest thing at hand that was a piece of tissue and wiped it straight off. However when I held the CPU up to the light I could still see smears of where the compound had been.

It's been running in my PC for a few hours now and it's been absolutely fine without issue.

Is it still worth ordering some Isopropal Alcohol?

Cheers

 

[MindoverMaster]

If it is working OK, I wouldn't mess with it.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

For future reference, 99% medical grade rubbing alcohol plus a freshly opened soft bristle tooth brush do wonders at cleaning paste from the pins/pads if you brush very GENTLY. As long as ALL power is removed from the component being cleaned, you can basically bath it in medical grade 99% as it has NO impurities aside from that 1% of water, then let it dry for a few hours. You just have to be VERY GENTLE with the softest bristle tooth brush you can find.

But yea, I wouldn't worry too much, most pastes are more of an electrical insulator than it is a conductor, as long as you get most all of it out.

 

[stokietom]

Thanks for the replys so far guys.

I now have another question:

On the i3 I have a small scratch on the left 'lip'. See the pic for details:

Will this be likely to affect anything? (Image edited in paint for easier reference)

 

[MindoverMaster]

No. That is just a cover over the CPU innards. People (Slaymate) often lap their CPU.

 

[stokietom]

Great stuff. It's not so much a scratch but it has kinda scraped off a tiny bit of the silver stuff on top of it if that makes sense. I can see a tiny bit of the original surface.

The CPU really has been through the wars this morning.

So just for confirmation it isn't worth giving the back of the CPU a through clean? As said if I hold it up to the light I can still see some streaks of where the compound was before I wiped it off.

Cheers

 

[MindoverMaster]

At least it was wearing shining armor...

 

[stokietom]

At least it was wearing shining armor...

Hahaha

I just hope their is no risk of the back of my CPU burning or something because of the compound?

Thanks