Replacing HSF Question

[Guest]

Hi.
I just got a new HSF for my Athlon to replace one that wasn't cooling well. The original one had the termal pad on it when it was installed. When I install the new one, should I clean off the stuff that thermal pad left on the on the cpu? If I do, how do I go about doing this and with what?
Any suggestions would be useful.
Thanks in advance.

 

[CALV]

To remove the pad, use alcohol and a lint free cloth, you MUST have some sort of heat transfer compund between the heatsink and CPU, Arctic silver2 is recommended by most people, you can find details of it at www.arctivsilver.com


Next time you wave - use all your fingers

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I just cleaned my Athlon T-bird 1.3 GHz and Silverado cooler yesterday with alcohol (not Jack D. but pure alcohol :lol: ) before I replaced the thermal compound with Artic silver and it is still working

Tressor

 

[bw37]

I second CALV's recommendations. Just take your time, be gentle, and lastly make sure everything is clean and dry before you install the new HSF.

If alcohol doesn't "cut" the old pad material, you might try a slightly stronger solvent like mineral spirits or an "elecrical contact cleaner" or similar. Use it judiciously, and do a final clean with alcohol to remove any oily residue, etc. I'd stay away from nail polish remover and acetone since they can be very destructive.

Again, just take your time and make sure there is NOTHING (oil, debris, fibers from q-tip, etc.) on the core prior to your application of the thermal paste.

BW

the more I learn, the less I'm sure I know... 😱