How to remove gunked-up thermal compound?

[Brandon_51]

Alright, so the people who put my CPU cooler in did it backwards. Fan blowing hot air through the sink to the front of the case. Irritating, I know, not only that, they somehow managed to use an entire tube of thermal solution on the cooler. I can see thermal compound poking out of the sides of the contact area between the cooler and the processor. It is not pretty. Now, I'm planning on reseating the cooler my self with some higher quality paste. Problem is, I have an AMD Fx 6300 in an AM3+. I have read several times of people pulling their processors out with their coolers because of the poor locking mechanism quality in AM3 sockets. I know I should run a system stress test before removing the cooler to loosen up the compound, but how do I actually get this gunky mess pliable enough to come off the cooler without damaging a CPU by pulling it out of socket or leaking thermal paste on to my MoBo? Ideas?

 

[Saga Lout]

Alcohol wipes from your local PC shop should do the trick.

Preferably not the shop who did the original bulid - they might sell you a nasty acid.