Removing Old Thermal Paste

Sentry

So, I've finally cracked my 360 down to its most basic components... getting the X-clamps off was a colossal bitch... before anyone asks, I cracked it open after the warranty expired, about 12 hours before X-Box extended all warranties... which sucks.

Anyway, I have some arctic silver to make this bad boy run cooler... but I need to get the old crap off. I have some rubbing alcohol, but it doesn't seem to be working well. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanatos

Razor-knife is the method I've always heard.

Sentry

hmm... good call. I'll try it. Thanks Than. Err... Thin.

Edgie

I wouldn't recommend using a razor knife. Scratching the metal isn't really a good thing.

91% isopropyl alcohol and a no-lint cloth is what I've always used. A coffee filter will actually work wonderfully in place of the cloth.

whuppins

You know, they sell products specifically for this purpose. 6 bucks for, like, a lifetime supply (or at least the lifetime of your hardware).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100010

Enos316

Edgie wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend using a razor knife. Scratching the metal isn't really a good thing.

91% isopropyl alcohol and a no-lint cloth is what I've always used. A coffee filter will actually work wonderfully in place of the cloth.

I've used isopropyl in the past and its worked very well for removing the gunk off the chip.

Zifnab

I'm going to second whuppins' suggestion. I've used the stuff he linked a few times in the past and it has always worked great for me.

Sentry

Thanks for the advice all. I'm very curious about the stuff from New Egg, but I want to get this done this weekend (Bioshock is out!!) so I'm going to try the alcohol solution on the chips themselves, I used a blade for the bottom of the heat sinks.

Anyway, thanks for the help everyone. We can lock this bad boy down now.

X5

I've always used 91% isopropyl and a lint free device, terry cloth what not. It's always worked great. If its bulked on there, use a razor blade, or the like to "scoop/scrap/move" it off, don't scrap low enough with the blade to touch the chip/heatspreader. You obviously don't want to hit the proc, or even if its just the heatspreader, you don't want to put gashes in there. Just use it to remove mass amounts, then switch to the Isopropyl

LondonBridge

Edgie wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend using a razor knife. Scratching the metal isn't really a good thing.

91% isopropyl alcohol and a no-lint cloth is what I've always used. A coffee filter will actually work wonderfully in place of the cloth.

Seconded. Any scraping is a very bad idea.

SeñorAmor

Edgie wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend using a razor knife. Scratching the metal isn't really a good thing.

91% isopropyl alcohol and a no-lint cloth is what I've always used. A coffee filter will actually work wonderfully in place of the cloth.

This is the correct answer.

Midshipman

Thinatos wrote: »

Razor-knife is the method I've always heard.

If you must scrape, use something that is softer than the metal you are trying to clean. Something plastic would be your safest bet, but if you know the properties of the cpu face or heat sink, you could use a softer metal scraper.