70% Isopropyl when cleaning cpu?

[Perpetual]

99% isopropyl is the best way to clean greases and other residues with out leaving any residues. 70% works good but 99% dries faster. I Use Safeway brand 99% isopropyl with Q-TIPS. The Q-tips are soft and residue free. I find that the Q-tips are nice for cleaning around the base of the heat spreader also. Try it you will like it.

 

[Powermoloch]

Q-tips !!!

 

[Perpetual]

Yep, Q-tips work great! Its basically a soft cotton lint free swab with a handle. you don?t have to worry about getting any finger grease on the CPU or heatsink. Been using them for years. Check it out.

 

[slagment]

Is cleaning the thermal compound off that important?

 

[l Xes l]

i use pickle juice..

 

[mindwreck]

I used 70% alcohol to keep entire boards, never had anything fail before
q-tips work best for me, or something cotton

 

[sapiens74]

I used 70% cause that is all I could find.

Pickle Juice? lol

 

[ZL1]

70% swabs, convenient and no probs as long as you let it dry (which doesnt take long)


D

 

[jiffylube1024]

70% Isopropyl is fine. You're just cleaning the core of the CPU anyways, and you can blow it with compressed air to help it dry faster.

Personally, I use 99% Isopropyl, but in a pinch I've used 70% dozens of times - never any problems including cleaning CPU's, GPU's, RAM chips, etc. It's not like you're giving the item in question a bath in 70% isopropyl, you're just cleaning the surface that will be in contact with a heatsink, etc.

 

[HostofFun]

Originally posted by: slagment
Is cleaning the thermal compound off that important?

Yes, it is. If you do not, you will basically be mixing thermal compounds, and the heat will not travel from the CPU to the heatsink properly or as well. This will cause a noticable temperature increase, and sometimes may cause it to rise enough that your CPU will lock up from being too hot (if your computer is running hot already or is a silent pc with minimal fans or cooling).



I have used 70% almost always over the years and never had a problem. You just have to give it a few extra minutes of drying time and off you go !