Thermal grease is all over my video card

OhHenry

Member
Apr 13, 2004
134
0
0
I looked around the forum and people suggested 90 percent isopropyl. Can you get that anywhere? I check at home and only have 70%.
 

ElTorrente

Banned
Aug 16, 2005
483
0
0
I never measured out any specific mixture, I just grabbed what was in the medicine cabinet and used q-tips and coffee filters. I've used the 70% type on my CPU and vid card - both had thermal crap on them. Don't worry about it- it's fine.
 

GamerExpress

Banned
Aug 28, 2005
1,674
1
0
To get 90% Isopropyl take the 70% bottle you have at home and buy another bottle of it and add another 20% from that bottle to the one one you already had.
 

StrangerGuy

Diamond Member
May 9, 2004
8,443
124
106
Originally posted by: GamerExpress
To get 90% Isopropyl take the 70% bottle you have at home and buy another bottle of it and add another 20% from that bottle to the one one you already had.

:roll: Doesn't that still gives you the same concentration?
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Originally posted by: StrangerGuy
Originally posted by: GamerExpress
To get 90% Isopropyl take the 70% bottle you have at home and buy another bottle of it and add another 20% from that bottle to the one one you already had.

:roll: Doesn't that still gives you the same concentration?

I'm hoping that the first reply was sarcasm.

Although....add 91% and 91%, and you're near 200 proof.


70% should do the job, just not as efficiently, as it's 30% water - less of it is the potent solvent.
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
21,989
850
126
91 % is the highest the US will sell. And it should work fine. I use it all the time to clean of gunk.
 

Ike0069

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2003
4,276
2
76
Originally posted by: GamerExpress
To get 90% Isopropyl take the 70% bottle you have at home and buy another bottle of it and add another 20% from that bottle to the one one you already had.

I too truly hope this was meant to be funny.
 

OhHenry

Member
Apr 13, 2004
134
0
0
Ummm... so i started it up and like half the screen on my right side is messed up and the left side is fine on the desktop. During the boot, instead of seeing black, there were like weird characters. I was using plenty of qtips and isopropanol but no luck so far. Would it be ok if i soaked it in alcohol or what?
 

imported_g33k

Senior member
Aug 17, 2004
821
0
0
I read somewhere that adding table salt to 70% iso can increase the concentration to 90%. Only thing is, I don't know how much salt it would take.
 

OhHenry

Member
Apr 13, 2004
134
0
0
Originally posted by: g33k
I read somewhere that adding table salt to 70% iso can increase the concentration to 90%. Only thing is, I don't know how much salt it would take.


um... i don't see how that would work. Let's see, the structure of isopropanol is C3H8O and water is H2O. And when you add salt (NaCl), water would dissolve the salt because its a polar molecule.... but i don't want to clean my card with 65:25:10 (isopropanol:water:salt), plus it would be conductive.
 

GalvanizedYankee

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2003
6,986
0
0
Was it really grease or was it silver or aluminum based? During the*mess*did it git on the pins? Did you let the alcohol dry compleatly before reinsalling the card?
I was just reading earlyer tonight over at caig.com that alcohol when absorbed into phenolic can/will be a cunductant. Intresting site but i can't seem to find the info now.


Galvanized
 

OhHenry

Member
Apr 13, 2004
134
0
0
Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
Was it really grease or was it silver or aluminum based?

I have no idea. It came with my waterblock from koolance.

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
During the*mess*did it git on the pins?

What pins? What do they look like? Quite possibly if you were stupidly spread that stuff all over your card with a brush.

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
Did you let the alcohol dry compleatly before reinsalling the card?
I was just reading earlyer tonight over at caig.com that alcohol when absorbed into phenolic can/will be a cunductant. Intresting site but i can't seem to find the info now.

A few times I let it dry overnight or use a hairdrier.

 

aatf510

Golden Member
Nov 13, 2004
1,811
0
0
Originally posted by: OhHenry
Originally posted by: g33k
I read somewhere that adding table salt to 70% iso can increase the concentration to 90%. Only thing is, I don't know how much salt it would take.


um... i don't see how that would work. Let's see, the structure of isopropanol is C3H8O and water is H2O. And when you add salt (NaCl), water would dissolve the salt because its a polar molecule.... but i don't want to clean my card with 65:25:10 (isopropanol:water:salt), plus it would be conductive.

Right, I also think that salt is kind of erosive.
 
Sep 10, 2005
55
0
0
You could go buy a bottle of denatured alcohol and clean it without worries. Let it dry using a can of compressed air afterwards. And make sure to wear gloves. There's no water and all the electronics are safe.
 

Bozo Galora

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 1999
7,271
0
0

FWIW: I buy 99% pure Iso prop alcohol (anhydrous - no water) by MG chemicals from Fry's.
I have learned the hard way a long while back that dribbling or accidentally swiping the gpu leads with thermal paste can wreck a vidcard. I ruined 2 expensive (at the time) vidcards this way. Since the paste was supposed to be non conductive (or "semi conductive") it was quite puzzling. I am still not sure of the mechanism that causes this. It may be shorting and it may not. But what happens is the bios is fried. Sometimes booting to a PCI vga vid card with the other bad card also in and reflashing it can bring it back.
The first time I was kind of not thorough in removing the paste since I didnt think it mattered that much. The second time I was VERY careful to remove all traces of paste and it still happened.
So I have learned that if you have not really removed all paste then turning on the PC will wreck the card, so you better be damn sure.
Note that I am NOT saying it happens with all pastes - just some.
Were it to come up again, I would investigate ultrasonic cleaning, both aqueous and non aqueos.
There are even home units you can buy reasonably.
http://www.web-tronics.com/dopoulclt.html
One could even walk into a PCB manuf locally and ask for a favor or small charge to clean the card.

(Quote)
PCB Cleaning Techniques and Tips
http://www.cam.org/~burt/circuits/clen-pcb.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the things that distinguish a professional printed circuit board from an amateur made one is the final appearance. Gobs of sticky rosin flux detract greatly from an otherwise neat circuit. Cleaning the rosin off the board is one of the more misunderstood processes in making homemade boards.

Most amateur pc board instructions refer to cleaning off the rosin with "alcohol" which to the amateur means "rubbing" alcohol or the alcohol in the alcoholic beverages he drinks. The latter is too valuable to waste on pc boards and both of them are full of water, which decidedly rejects rosin. Rubbing alcohol or Isopropyl alcohol available in the drug store or supermarket is typically 40% water and in addition typically contains 1% of a "lubricant" (usually a glycol). The alcohol content could be either isopropyl alcohol or a denatured form of ethyl alcohol. Rosin itself is insoluble in water and the water in rubbing alcohol greatly reduces the solubility of rosin.

Pure isopropyl alcohol (99%) is only available as a lab or industrial solvent, so most amateurs would not be able to acquire it. Pure ethyl alcohol is a controlled substance and expensive. Pure methyl alcohol is quite poisonous and is not particularly good at dissolving rosin (it is too close to water in chemical characteristics). If you must use alcohol as a pc board cleaner, the best bet is "2B denatured" ethyl alcohol, commonly known as methylated spirits, or shellac thinner. It is 85% ethyl alcohol (for its good solvent action) and 15% methyl alcohol (so you go blind if you drink it). It should be available in the larger home centers like Home Depot and large paint stores as the proper thinner for shellac. Don't confuse it with "lacquer" thinner with is a totally different animal.

(Unquote)

Note:
The link above later mentions poly-clens, however this is for UNFILLED PCB's. Vidcards have electrolytic can type filter caps that may trap some liquid inside near the crimp at bottom.


 

OhHenry

Member
Apr 13, 2004
134
0
0
Originally posted by: Bozo Galora

FWIW: I buy 99% pure Iso prop alcohol (anhydrous - no water) by MG chemicals from Fry's.

I bought a bottle and this stuff is pretty strong. They had to check my ID and this guy next to me was like, "Don't drink it or at least not all at once."

I'm seeing these substance on my card, is it the rosin? If so, how do I clean this up since alcohol isn't effective just the quote from pcb cleaning tips.

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
One could even walk into a PCB manuf locally and ask for a favor or small charge to clean the card.

I wonder if there is one in San Diego, or I can buy ultrasonic cleaner. I can use it for other applications I guess or I could ask around to see if anyone has one, but has anyone tried this?

Lastly, you guys think it worth it to save my 9700pro, the display still works, it just kinda messed up but I just hate the idea of wasting a card.
 

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
Originally posted by: GamerExpress
To get 90% Isopropyl take the 70% bottle you have at home and buy another bottle of it and add another 20% from that bottle to the one one you already had.

LOL.....you're joking........right?
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
yup places like frys have higher then 91% but it costs much more. drug stores sell 91%/70% cheap. should be enough
 
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