Reinstall Retail Intel Heatsink

[KeyBored]

I installed a retail Intel Conroe E6600 using retail heatsink - no
thermal paste added, just the thermal "wax" that was already on the
heatsink. Motherboard was defective, so I had to remove components
and RMA the board.

After removing heatsink and CPU, it looks like the wax had spread
evenly on both. When I get new board, will it be ok to reinstall
original retail heatsink without cleaning and adding thermal paste?

Thanks,

Steve U.

 

[JAD]

I installed a retail Intel Conroe E6600 using retail heatsink - no
thermal paste added, just the thermal "wax" that was already on the
heatsink. Motherboard was defective, so I had to remove components
and RMA the board.

After removing heatsink and CPU, it looks like the wax had spread
evenly on both. When I get new board, will it be ok to reinstall
original retail heatsink without cleaning and adding thermal paste?

Thanks,

Steve U.

no, your going to end up with air bubbles, clean it and put on new paste

 

[Frank]

Carefully scrape off the gunk with an old credit card. Clean the two
surfaces with a cloth and some real isopropyl alcohol (not the 70%
kind).

 

[DaveW]

No. That is not safe for the thermal benefit to the CPU. Play it safe and
put something like Arctic Silver 5 on the CPU after cleaning off the old
wax.

 

[KeyBored]

Thanks all for advice. I'll clean CPU/heatsink and apply Arctic
Silver.

Steve U.

 

[Pipboy]

and some real isopropyl alcohol (not the 70%
kind).

Why don't you just say 99% isopropyl alcohol? He might not know what you
mean by "real".

 

[KeyBored]

I thought I'd add this for the group: The wax came off very easily
using a cloth made to clean eyeglasses. It just wiped off in
seconds. I then cleaned further with a Q-tip and 70% rubbing
alcohol (the strongest we had). The rubbing alcohol left a residue
on the heatsink! Looked like a water stain on a coffee table. Also,
the Q-tip left some fibers. I started calling around for 99%
isopropyl alcohol, but the strongest I could find was 91%. I bought
the 91% alcohol at a Walgreens and it removed the residue with just a
quick wipe (using eyeglass cloth instead of Q-tip).

Steve U.