What happens if thermal paste goes in the cpu socket and a little goes on the bottom of the cpu?

[FoosaKing]

I cleaned most of it, but will it affect my pc? I also used Arctic Silver 5.

 

[MakoRuu]

You're going to have to be extremely careful.

When you apply Thermal paste, it usually comes in a little tube.

The biggest mistake that people make is using the whole friggen thing. lol

The best usage is only a tiny drop on the CPU lid about the size of a grain of rice. The pressure from applying the heatsink will spread it evenly over the lid itself. But you can do this manually with a plastic card or a piece of cardboard.

Thermal paste is non-conductive, meaning that it won't carry an electric current.

However, leaving it there is a very bad idea, and you want to clean as much as humanly possible without damaging the socket or the pins.

For an Intel CPU, the pins are on the motherboard, and cleaning them can be very difficult. On the bottom of an Intel CPU is a flat surface with little gold contacts, you can simply wipe this down with a non-abrasive cloth and some isopropyl alcohol.

AMD CPU's still have the pins on the deck of the CPU, and are harder to clean.

The only right way to clean off thermal paste is to be careful as hell...

Here is a short video that might help you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfjTjpIDnOg

 

[FoosaKing]

Thank you so much! I cleaned as much as I could and I hope it works! One more question, will the remaining parts of pasting hurt the performance of the computer? Im still new to building PCs and hope to play GTA and other CPU intensive games. )

 

[MakoRuu]

I couldn't tell you for sure, but it's never happened to me. If your motherboard is under warranty you could try to send it back. Some warranties cover accidents, but I don't know how many.

The CPU works by sending and receiving electrical signals between the points of contact on the pins and the surface. As long as there's nothing there to interrupt the contacts it should work in theory.

Again, I can't tell you for certain. You are doing it at your own risk. I wouldn't set the CPU unless it was absolutely clear and free of thermal paste.

 

[FoosaKing]

Thanks for helping me out!

 

[MakoRuu]

Of course, man!

That's why we're here. And good luck with your new build.