Removing melted thermal pad from AMD core

[SouthernBred]

I searched and found similar questions on the forum, but most talked about cleaning the hs. I have a 1600XP, and I've got a new hs/fan and some Articl Silver II
. My CPU still has lots of melted thermal pad around the core left over from my last hs/fan. What is the best way to clean this off? Most of is on the "side" of the core
, if that makes any sense. I'll be installing a new hs/fan, so there isn't any on that - just on my cpu.

Thanks.

 

[whitelight]

i gently scraped it off with a flat head screwdriver.

 

[SuperPickle]

A popsicle stick works well--guard against scratching and damaging the CPU.

 

[mydangpleeze]

best way i've found to remove most thermal pads is with good ole fashion nail polish remover. use a qtip and nail polish remover....you may have use a fair amount and it should come off no prob. REMEMBER to do a final cleaning with isopropyl alcohol tho...preferably the 99% one so it gets rid of any residue. gl

 

[MrThompson]

The best way to remove a thermal pad is with Goof Off followed by isopropyl alcohol. An old credit card makes a good scraper. If the pad has been melted, you may want to lap your heatsink to remove the residue from the microscopic pores. For more on why, read Thermal Interface Basics.

 

[SouthernBred]

I understand about the heatsink, but luckily, this is a brand new heatsink, and I'll be using ASII.

The melted pad is just on the CPU core.

Thanks for the info. I was mainly concerned with how "rough" I could be with the cpu in cleaning it. An alcohol wipe all by itself wasn't getting the portion of the melted pad that had gotten "beside" the core. I'm on my first modding project - adding a side window with a 120mm fan (Sunon Quiet), blue cold cathode, rounded ide cables, split loom power cables, slot fan on my soon-to-be-bought Ti4200, etc...

I'll try to get some pictures up after I'm done.

 

[Sundog]

<< i gently scraped it off with a flat head screwdriver. >>


I would be very leary of doing it with anything metal. Wood (popsicle stick) sounds like a good option to me.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

isopropyl or nail polish

 

[clumsum]

Scrape off as much as possible with something plastic ..... (I use a plastic dinnerware knife) ..... after that, the best thing I have found is that "GOOF OFF" on a Q-Tip ......... as mentioned in an earlier thread by MrThompson ......
Avoid getting anything on/around the rubber cpu pads as they will come off ..... !

 

[Confused]

I scraped all the goop off the side of my Duron with my fingernail! Then cleaned it up with some nail polish remover

Confused

 

[HowDoesItWork]

The artic silver site recommends using a blunt plastic object of some sort to scrape off a melted thermal pad. So a plastic butterknife or credit card would be good. The popiscle stick sounds reasonable too.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

toothpicks are great for nooks and crannies.

 

[klein297]

Lighter Fluid

 

[Shaorinor]

Arctic Silver has a pretty detailed instruction page on their site.

 

[FrozenAthlon]

i have a general question when it comes to removing the pad from the die. BTW i use a credit card then clean up using a Q-tip with Rubbing Alcohol. When I do this, is it necessary to be perfect? It never fails, I can only get about 90% of that darn pad off my CPU.