Odd oil/residue around VRAM on PCB of older graphics card

[Chicken-Select]

Hey everyone! I passed down my old AMD XFX 7950 to my cousin when I upgraded my GPU. Every year or so I like to take my cousins PC and clean it out. (Re-install windows, de-dust everything, etc) He's been having some issues with frame rates and stuttering lately when playing modern demanding games such as The Forest and GTA 5. He's got a 6 core AMD and a 7950 so I didn't think he should really be having much trouble if he's got it on reletively low settings. So this time around I decided to take the cpu cooler off and re apply thermal paste and remove any dust built up. I noticed this odd oily looking residue on the PCB of the graphics card seemingly around the VRAM. Almost looks like an effect of the thermal pads that connected the vram to the cooler but I'm not sure. There's no vents in the top of his PC case so I don't think spilling anything on it is possible and even if he did the VRAM faces down so it wouldn't be able to get there. I was thinking of just pouring a little alcohol on it to remove/clean it the best I can but I figured I'd check here before I messed it up or something. I'll post some pictures of it below. Thanks everyone!

Pictures:

http://puu.sh/hLaVa/2189a3aac4.jpg

http://puu.sh/hLaW6/773a26a71b.jpg

http://puu.sh/hLaWs/e6474a7bdf.jpg

Bonus picture of the laughably old-looking thermal paste lel:

http://puu.sh/hLaUd/d757530ec1.jpg

Good thing I decided to replace thermal paste when I did! Thanks again!

 

[SinxarKnights]

Actually I think it is the stuff off the thermal pads. I opened up my old HD 4870 to clean it out and it had oily stuff on the VRAM as well where the thermal pads were. No idea what it is or what it came from. Guessing it is the stuff they use to ensure it has good contact, just a guess though.

 

[skit75]

Could be a couple things. Most likely it is just leftover chemical cleaner that was "sweat out" during normal use of the GPU. Before a PCB gets stuffed with components, it gets dipped and washed in a chemical bath. There is very likely another cleaning stage after components have been stuffed. This probably cakes under edges and drys. It may re-liquefy under GPU temperatures and spread out only to dry again leaving the puddle shadows.

Alcohol should work unless the puddles are in between the PCB layers.

It could also just be some sort of gel that liquefies from the petroleum based thermal pads, over time.