Heatsink & Fan Replacement

[Troy Snider]

Hello,
I'm replacing the fan & heatsink on a 600 mhz Celeron socket 370 CPU and
was unsure if I needed to clean the old thermal pad residue off of
the chip? If I should, what would be the best method?

Thanks in advance,
Troy

 

[DaveW]

Use ONLY "Isopropyl Alcohol 99%". Available from any drugstore.

 

[Navid]

Use ONLY "Isopropyl Alcohol 99%". Available from any drugstore.

The isopropyl alcohol that you can get from any drugstore is 70%.

 

[Troy Snider]

Hi Dave,
I Didn't mean to not thank you, but your post didn't show up when I posted
my follow up a few minutes ago.
I used regular 70% Isopropyl "rubbing" alcohol. Have I done something
very, very bad to the CPU?

Thanks,
Troy

 

[Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)]

on Thu January 15 2004 7:38 pm, Navid decided to enlighten us with:

..

The isopropyl alcohol that you can get from any drugstore is 70%.

Huh? I bought 91% Isopropyl Alcohol the other day at my local Walgreens. Why
can't you seem to get it? They usually carry both products.



--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
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My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...

 

[Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)]

Hi Dave,
I Didn't mean to not thank you, but your post didn't show up when I
posted
my follow up a few minutes ago.
I used regular 70% Isopropyl "rubbing" alcohol. Have I done something
very, very bad to the CPU?

No. It'll be alright.


--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
8:59pm up 39 days 5:45, 2 users, load average: 0.03, 0.18, 0.16

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...

 

[Navid]

on Thu January 15 2004 7:38 pm, Navid decided to enlighten us with:

.



Huh? I bought 91% Isopropyl Alcohol the other day at my local Walgreens. Why
can't you seem to get it? They usually carry both products.

Sorry, not everybody is a genius like you.

 

[jeffc]

Hello,
I'm replacing the fan & heatsink on a 600 mhz Celeron socket 370 CPU and
was unsure if I needed to clean the old thermal pad residue off of
the chip? If I should, what would be the best method?

Definitely. Try a safety razor blade. Alcohol can work well on leftover
goo.

 

[jeffc]

Use ONLY "Isopropyl Alcohol 99%". Available from any drugstore.

That sort of alcohol is only going to be found in chemical supply houses, I
think.

 

[jeffc]

on Thu January 15 2004 7:38 pm, Navid decided to enlighten us with:

.



Huh? I bought 91% Isopropyl Alcohol the other day at my local Walgreens. Why
can't you seem to get it? They usually carry both products.

Who can't get it right? You've got 3 products listed there, and you say
they carry them "both".

 

[Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)]

Who can't get it right? You've got 3 products listed there, and you say
they carry them "both".

I think the original poster was referring to the 91% stuff, but was
confused. The second poster claimed he could only get 70%.



--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
5:10pm up 40 days 1:55, 2 users, load average: 0.12, 0.58, 0.59

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...

 

[Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)]

Sorry, not everybody is a genius like you.

It doesn't take a genius to go to the local drugstore and get stronger
alcohol, but it sure takes an idiot to miss it and claim that it isn't
available...



--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
5:11pm up 40 days 1:56, 2 users, load average: 0.11, 0.49, 0.56

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...

 

[Ralph Wade Phillips]

Howdy!

Definitely. Try a safety razor blade. Alcohol can work well on leftover
goo.

Not no, but HELL, NO!

You use NOTHING that can possibly scratch the HS and/or the CPU.

Use a rubber spreader to burnish the pad off, and either rubbing
alcohol or acetone to remove the rest of the goop.

Bad, BAD advice ...

RwP

 

[Ralph Wade Phillips]

Howdy!

That sort of alcohol is only going to be found in chemical supply houses, I
think.

I understand you're right in the UK, but I buy mine at the local
drug store in the USA ...

RwP

 

[Clyde]

Does anyone here have any evidence that 70% rubbing alcohol leaves any
residue on anything it cleans? If so, does that residue do anything to
harm heat transfer?

I've been cleaning things with 70% for a number of decades. My doctor
father cleaned plenty of stuff with it, including wounded humans. I've
never seen any evidence of residue on anything properly cleaned with it.

OK, I haven't been doing microscopic investigations on those surfaces,
but I'm also having a hard time believing that the contact between a
heatsink and a cpu is anywhere near that critical.

Then again, I'm having a hard time understanding why good solid metal to
metal contact isn't enough. That copper heatsink that came with my P4
snaps in very hard. I can't imagine why the contact wouldn't be more
than enough. All that physics in HS and college would seem to support
this -- if I could remember that far back.

I also have a few decades of experience in other areas of life. For
example, a car engine has lots of metal to metal parts that get a heck
of a lot hotter than computers do. True, that have pretty good cooling
systems, but they aren't half as worried about the connection as this
group seems to be.

Besides, why didn't Intel say anything about the connection in my P4
boxset? Their instructions just say how to put the chip in and then snap
that heatsink in on top of it. Not a word about cleaning or goop or
anything. Gee, don't they know what they are doing?

Well, some real evidence from someone other than the goop makers would
be real nice.

Thanks,
Clyde

 

[Ralph Mowery]

Does anyone here have any evidence that 70% rubbing alcohol leaves any

residue on anything it cleans? If so, does that residue do anything to
harm heat transfer?

I've been cleaning things with 70% for a number of decades. My doctor
father cleaned plenty of stuff with it, including wounded humans. I've
never seen any evidence of residue on anything properly cleaned with it.

It is not the 70 % part. It is what the other 30 % is made of. If some
evaporating liquid , no problem . If it is 10 % of some oil (whatever the
rubbing alcohol may have) then you could have a problem.

 

[Jon Danniken]

Does anyone here have any evidence that 70% rubbing alcohol leaves any
residue on anything it cleans? If so, does that residue do anything to
harm heat transfer?

There are a couple of IDIOTS on these newsgroups who are continuing the URBAN LEGEND that 70%
isopropyl alcohol sold commonly as "rubbing alcohol" OTC has something in it besides IPA and
H2O. It doesn't.

If it did, it would be required to state so on the label.

The reason that many of us prefer the stronger concentrations of IPA is mainly due to itss
faster evaporation rate, as well as it's greater ability to dissolve that which we are trying to
remove.

I can't make it any clearer than this.

In a related story, the moon is not made of cheese.

Jon

 

[Strontium]

-
Clyde stood up at show-n-tell, in
(e-mail address removed), and said:

Does anyone here have any evidence that 70% rubbing alcohol leaves any
residue on anything it cleans? If so, does that residue do anything to
harm heat transfer?

Nope. And, I wouldn't worry about it. However, I prefer the 'elbow
grease', with a lint free paper towel method.

I've been cleaning things with 70% for a number of decades. My doctor
father cleaned plenty of stuff with it, including wounded humans. I've
never seen any evidence of residue on anything properly cleaned with
it.

OK, I haven't been doing microscopic investigations on those surfaces,
but I'm also having a hard time believing that the contact between a
heatsink and a cpu is anywhere near that critical.

Then again, I'm having a hard time understanding why good solid metal
to metal contact isn't enough. That copper heatsink that came with my
P4 snaps in very hard. I can't imagine why the contact wouldn't be
more than enough. All that physics in HS and college would seem to
support this -- if I could remember that far back.

Assuming perfectly congruent surfaces, on the atomic level.... The whole
idea is to have the thermal resistance, between the two surfaces, as close
to zero as possible. Naturally, no two 'man-made' surfaces (made by
different people, in different parts of the plant, by different machines,
etc.....) are going to be matched, perfectly. If they were, you would be
paying $50,000 for a paired set of a heatsink and processor.

I also have a few decades of experience in other areas of life. For
example, a car engine has lots of metal to metal parts that get a heck
of a lot hotter than computers do. True, that have pretty good cooling
systems, but they aren't half as worried about the connection as this
group seems to be.

Maybe because the parts that are getting hot are not millions of small
transistors that will burn up....

Besides, why didn't Intel say anything about the connection in my P4
boxset? Their instructions just say how to put the chip in and then
snap that heatsink in on top of it. Not a word about cleaning or goop
or anything. Gee, don't they know what they are doing?

Hence....Usenet, community, experimentalism.

Well, some real evidence from someone other than the goop makers would
be real nice.

Personal experience has taught me that, although not necessary, a very thin
coat of thermal interface is good. Why? For me, I used to (still,
sometimes) overclock. Every bit of efficiency, in cooling, is very
important when I want to push past 'tested specifications'. Besides, I want
my parts running as cool as possible without extreme measures. Air cooling,
with a nice thin interface seems to work for me.

 

[Guest]

That sort of alcohol is only going to be found in chemical
supply houses, I think.

It seems to be much less common than 91%, which every drugstore
carries, but I have an unopened pint of Medalist brand (by McKesson)
99% isopropyl alcohol bought 10 years ago from Drug Emporium for
$1.03.

91% alcohol is perfectly fine for virtually all electronics cleaning
purposes, but 70% sometimes causes corrosion if it remains trapped,
and it takes longer to evaporate. But I wouldn't hesitate to use 70%
for something like removing grease from a CPU and heatsink.

 

[Clyde]

Assuming perfectly congruent surfaces, on the atomic level.... The whole
idea is to have the thermal resistance, between the two surfaces, as close
to zero as possible. Naturally, no two 'man-made' surfaces (made by
different people, in different parts of the plant, by different machines,
etc.....) are going to be matched, perfectly. If they were, you would be
paying $50,000 for a paired set of a heatsink and processor.

But how much difference does it make?

Personal experience has taught me that, although not necessary, a very thin
coat of thermal interface is good. Why? For me, I used to (still,
sometimes) overclock. Every bit of efficiency, in cooling, is very
important when I want to push past 'tested specifications'. Besides, I want
my parts running as cool as possible without extreme measures. Air cooling,
with a nice thin interface seems to work for me.

Since I don't overclock, are you saying that I don't need the extra
conductivity of the goop?

Clyde