Thermal Grease

hello everyone. I had just 1 question thats been bugging me. upon applying thermal grease on my cpu after taking it back out of my mobo, some of the grease slipped on the pins on the bottom of the cpu. I felt like there's no harm done, but then again i don't know a lot about thermal grease other than that it transfers heat. I'm going to use the cpu in a new mobo and i would appreciate it if sumone could tell me whether this can cause damage to anything. I don't really want to take the risk of loosing another mobo becuz of a stupid mistake by me.

 

It absolutely can cause damage. Most, if not all, thermal greases are made out of metal. Therefore, it is possible to create some type of short. You could damage the motherboard and/or the CPU.

Make sure to get every little bit out of there that you can before you plug it in.

 

holy cow! im glad i asked!! well how should i go about cleaning it?? with a tissue? air compressor? i don't want to do anything that can cause damage! ty for ur help!

 

Not sure... Alcohol and Q-tips would be a good start. See how much you can get off with that.

 

i mean its very little, just on the edges. im always cautious usuing liquid around a cpu! but ill give it a try. Thank you for all ur help! u saved me a lot of trouble and a lot of money! =D

 

just one more question...exactly how much would it take to do any damage? cuz i cleaned as much as i could but there r still dots of grease on about 2-3 pins.