Cleaning a cpu with a paper towel

[Pcenthusiast16]

There is alot of division on this but is it okay to use a paper towel (kitchen roll) to clean a cpu? Ive used it before without a problem but i heard that it can 'scratch' the surface of a cpu, is this true?

 

[Herc08]

Not that I'm aware of. But I guess it depends on the material of the paper towel. Tissue or cotton balls should be used if you have them. Have you seen any scratches?

 

[PhysX_HW]

Seriously? I've never heard of paper scratching copper.
It should be ok to use paper towel. And a bit of acetone or alcohol could also help removing the thermal compound.

 

[Pcenthusiast16]

I use this akasa tim removal kit, ive noticed marks but inwont call them scratches and it was after using cotton swaps that are quite hard but i hihly doubt they would scratch copper

 

[SkyNetRising]

i heard that it can 'scratch' the surface of a cpu, is this true?

Scratching i not the issue there. Small specks of paper dust go flying around, when you clean with paper towel.
But if you do everything carefully and blow paper dust away, then that's not really a problem either.

 

[Kunra Zether]

Microfiber cloths are pretty cheap... I thin it's $3 for a roll of them at Walmart just saying

 

[kaptainkuftic]

Another cheap option is coffee filters. Used them for years with no issues

 

[scout_03]

use the coffee filter it is lint free so if there is any little paper dust you might run in cooling issue and have to repaste .