Re: Correct way to remove thermal paste (aka thermal grease)
- From: "larry moe 'n curly" <larrymoencurly@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:32:03 -0800 (PST)
João Jerónimo wrote:
Hello. My AMD Phenom (3x) CPU has recently been overheating very
frequently. So, I'm going to remove the heat sink, clean the dirt from
the sink, and in the process, I also want to apply new thermal paste.
However, I have some problems:
1. First of all, the instructions that came with the CPU package (the
processor is still in warranty) say that I need to read the document
"Thermal Cooling Guideline" from AMD website, which has a list of
approved thermal interface materials (i.e. thermal paste), without which
I risk loosing the warranty. However, I haven't found any document with
that name in AMD's website. Do you know why?
2. On the other hand, I did find a document named "Instructions on how
to remove the heat sink/fan provided with a PIB processor"[1], which too
includes a table of approved thermal greases. This guide says that,
after removing the heat sink from the processor, I need to "clean the
residual thermal grease from its base using a dry wipe", and goes
further, saying that I should "avoid using wet chemicals such as acetone
or alcohol as these chemicals can cause contaminants to flow into the
socket area". However, every other article I can find on the net about
removing thermal paste says that it's correct to use alcohol. A
Wikipedia article [2] says "The preferred way to remove typical silicone
oil-based thermal grease from a component or heat sink is by using
isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol). If none is available, pure acetone
is also a valid method of removal.". What's, after all, the correct way
to remove the thermal paste from the processor?
Don't use acetone because it's nasty to many plastics. Here's a guide
about chemical compatibilitly:
http://www.coleparmer.com/techinfo/ChemComp.asp
Alcohol is actually pretty safe for cleaning electronics, and if you
don't want to spill any, apply it to a paper or cloth towel (not
tissue or toilet paper -- way too much lint) and wipe, rather than
apply it directly to the surfaces. But removing thermal paste isn't
critical unless you're going to replace it with glue.
You may want to phone AMD about the thermal material it currently
uses, and they may supply you with some more. I don't know what that
material is, but for my old retail boxed Athlon 4800+ and BE2300, it
was a clay-like material that would turn from solid to liquid (change
phase) at about 60 Celcius, such as Loctite's Powerstrate. Being
cheap, whenever I had to remove a heatsink with this kind of material
on it, I'd clean off the dust and lint and then reshape it with a
razor and hair dryer. If you can't clean it completely, get some new
stuff because you don't want a piece of lint or grit interfering with
the fit between the CPU and heatsink.
Do NOT try to lube fans with WD-40, which is mineral spirits, or
silicone lube. Use lithium grease on ball bearings (if unsealed;
otherwise you can't get to them), regular 5-10 weight machine oil on
sleeve bearings.
.
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