Dr Nick

Hi Everybody!

I'v just got a new cooler for my CPU. It came with some thermal grease but the chip has some thermal crud on it from the previous cooler. It looks quite baked on.

Any suggestions how I get it off. Sharp knife and a lot of carefulness?

Black and decker sander?

Any sensible suggestions from folks who have actually faced this problem themselves?

Cheers

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Hi Dr Nick,

It should just wipe off with a little alcohol (vodka will do if you have nothing stronger ) and a cloth. Just go easy and stay away from the power tools
Windolene (the clear stuff) does the trick too.

Cheers,
Dunk

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

One recommended technique is to use a the edge of an old credit card. Do you know if the stuff is from a pad usually blue or pink) or grease (usually white or silver)?

You can scrape, but you need to be insanely careful. I've done the job with a narrow flat-bladed screwdiver in the past, but solvents are a better way to go. Windolene is essentially isopropyl alcohol (IPA)and water, so cut out the middleman and buy a refill pack for a cassette/video head cleaner - the solvent in the bottle is neat IPA. Harmless to most things, including plastics and skin.

If that fails, I've heard vodka works - it;s just 40:60 ethanol:water after all. Be wary of nail varnish remover - acetone attacks plastic and causes skin irritation.


M

Dr Nick

Hi Everybody!

Thanks for the advice!

Its now sorterd, a combination of vodka (from Yalta in Ukraine if you're interested 40% of course) and fingernail.

Job best done with chip still in socket - it was the only way to keep it still without risking touching or bending the pins.

New cooler is much quieter and processor is running more than 10C cooler (about 36C @ full load) even though its now being overclocked from 3000 to about 3350.

This was the noisiest fan in my case and it made a big difference. The next job is to get a quieter cooler for my Radeon 9800.

Cheers!

Hanslow

Nick,

What cooler did you get and what chip is it for? Might be interested in getting one if you saw a 10 deg C drop

What cooler did you have on before?

Dr Nick

Hi,
Its this one

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=62707

scraping the crud off may have helped with the lower temp but the folks who have reviewed it also think its good too.

I got it mainly for the quietness. The previous one was the stock intel part

Nick

Dr Nick
40° from Yalta? Must be tourist stuff! I think Ukraine used to use my wife's grandfather's vodka in their rocket programme....

Hanslow
The Zalman processor cooler is pretty good:
http://www.quietpc.com/uk/p4cooling.php#7000b

Nick

http://www.quietpc.com/uk/vgamb.php

Dr Nick

You know, that's exactly the solution for cooling my graphics card I was looking at.

Do you have one? was it easy to fit? which one and did you get the fan?

I worry a little bit because my mobo's sound output header is quite close to the AGP slot..

Cheers