Remove thermal adhesive from GPU?

[LeDood]

Well, I goofed and got thermal adhesive instead of thermal compound. I went ahead with the installation on my EVGA SC 970 and goofed a 2nd time by putting too much. I've gotten the adhesive off of most of the core, but it's overflowed and stick around the core. I want to dig in there with an exacto knife or tweezers, but I'm afraid of the pins sticking out around the core. Any suggestions?

 

[coozie7]

Just clean up the GPU die fully so you can reassemble the cooler, if you go digging around in there you'll almost certainly dislodge one of those tiny surface mounted parts or sever a connecting trace, either of which is likely to be terminal.

 

[LeDood]

Just clean up the GPU die fully so you can reassemble the cooler, if you go digging around in there you'll almost certainly dislodge one of those tiny surface mounted parts or sever a connecting trace, either of which is likely to be terminal.

I've gone ahead and cleaned up the die as much as I can. I've applied Artic Silver 5 to it before, but I think it spread to the adhesive hanging over and started to insulate the heat. I've put a smidgen under the size of a pea on this application and have so far seen it stabilize at 70c whereas before it was 80c under load.

Still wanting more suggestions about what to do about the adhesive. I don't mind 70c load, but I do mind the ugliness. Might have to suck it up and learn from this mistake.

 

[blondishasp69]

Don't apply small amounts. When applying thermal paste to a gpu get as much as you can on there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAid5G30-WM

 

[NevaScurred]

I did the same thing installing my hybrid coolers, I cleaned up as best I could with a Q-Tip with rubbing alcohol. I actually trimmed the fat/round parts of the qtip so I could get into tighter spaces but you still have to be gentle because it doesn't take much to knock those resistors off.

 

[CountMike]

If it's not electrically conductive it's not going to do any damage. Actual core is much smaller and in the middle of that rectangle and that matters most. As long as you clean processor itself it should not make any difference with glue around it.