Arctic Silver II and Alumina question

[suspectbanana]

My motherboard recently died on me and had to disassemble my system. I've got a new motherboard now and am now in the process of putting the system back together but I have a dilemma:

I used Arctic Silver II compound when I put the CPU and the HSF together. The two have been seperated from each other and have been sitting around for about two weeks now. My question then is can I simply put the HSF and CPU back together and use it again or will the exposure to the air and dust and general sitting around affect the performance of the compound?

I bought a tube of Arctic Alumina as a safety precaution and can clean off the HSF and the CPU but I'm sorta lazy and would love to find the easiest answer, one that won't require me to try and clean off the CPU die. Can I clean off the HSF of the AS II and apply Alumina to that, leaving the original AS II on the CPU core or should I just break down, clean off both the HSF and the CPU die with a solvent and start over from scratch with the Alumina?

I'm looking for the easiest solution here. Thanks.

 

[OulOat]

Straight from the instructions, "It is important to keep the surfaces free of foreign materials and NOT to touch the surfaces (a hair, piece of lint, and even dead skin cells can significantly affect the thermal interfaces performance, especially on modern small core CPUs as the surface area is already severely limited)." So yes, clean everything off.

 

[corkyg]

Just been through that - the Arctic Silver instructions are pretty clear. Use denatured alchohol and wipe it all off of both unites with a lint-free cloth, and then reapply per instructions. A/S takes about 72 hours to cure.

 

[godmare]

Arctic Alumina is an epoxy for gpu's or memory, and is not supposed to be used on a cpu, as it is an unbreakable bond.

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: godmare
Arctic Alumina is an epoxy for gpu's or memory, and is not supposed to be used on a cpu, as it is an unbreakable bond.

You are thinking about AAA, Artic Alumina Adhesive.

 

[godmare]

Originally posted by: OulOat
You are thinking about AAA, Artic Alumina Adhesive.

Yes, are we talking about something else?

 

[godmare]

Oh, I see
I didn't know they made a compound by the same name...

 

[Feisters]

Originally posted by: suspectbanana
. . .and can clean off the HSF and the CPU but I'm sorta lazy and would love to find the easiest answer, one that won't require me to try and clean off the CPU die.

Jeez, it only takes a minute to clean off the old compound with a paper towel. Sorta lazy?