cpu/video card installation

i got my new arctic silver 5 and my nv silencer 5 video card hsf...do i have to use alcahol to clean other stuff off? and if i dont what could happen?

 

Well I have never put a hs on a video card before so I ain't sure how to clean them.

If you don't the artic silver won't work right and could make it overheat from having to much thermal paste on.

Rick

 

Mixing thermal pastes can reduce their effectiveness. I don't know what to use for a chemical cleaner, but I usually just use q-tips to wipe the old stuff off. It can take a while sometimes, but at least you don't have to worry about what chemicals are doing to your hardware.

 

For the best results you must remove the old thermal paste. Use a q-tip and rubbing alcohol in small quantities, just wet the tip and rub off the old stuff. Change q-tips often. I just put an nv5 cooler on to my vidcard over the holidays and went thru about 15 q-tips cleaning the processor and ram. Be thorough and be patient. The nv5 I bought came with good instructions on how to apply the thermal paste and how thick it should be. Thin on the gpu and thicker on the ram. When in doubt, RTFM.

 

The Best cleaner I've found is Isopropyl Alcohol, use 91% or higher.
You should always clean off the old Junk.
For removal of old thermal paste I also use credit card or similar to scrape then wipe with Isopropyl, avoid touching surfaces with fingers cause it leaves greese/oils/contaminits ( old paste too), that will degrade thermal performance.

 

i wiped the old stuff totally off...but w/ no alcahol or anything...and mine didnt come w/ good instructions to put stuff on

 

do you guys spread it around after you put it on or let it do that itself?

 

First I clean as I suggested with Isoprpoyl, must clean good.
Then I take a small bit if thermal paste and kinda of rub it in to fill in the little inperfection's mcro size pit's & scratches ( dont touch with fingers use piece of plactic wrap or something ) then I wipe the bulk off, then I apply, I'm spreading kinda guy, I spread paper thin amount.

Link's:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm
http://www.subzeropc.com/article/thermalinterface.htm