I think I screwed up my heatsink

[Grimlock]

I was reinstalling my heatsink and used a degreaser as recommended to remove the old thermal compound. I folloed this with isopropyl alcohol and reinstalled the heasink. After this my processor temps are about 10 to 20 degrees higher than before. I checked to make sure there was enough paste, made sure that heatsink was seated properly and couldn't tell what was wrong. Then I read on a website that if you use a petroleum or citrus based degeaser it will fill up the micro spaces in the heatsink and lower its heat conductivity. Sure enough, checked and the degreaser was petroleum-based, and the article also mentioned that these aren't designed to evaporate. Before I do anything else is there anyting I can use to remove the degreaser residue? I have an Alpha PAL6035. I was thinking about just soaking the base with alcohol overnight to see if it would disolve the residue but I don't think it will work.

[g13]

I bet soaking it in acetone would do the trick. Worked on everything in Organic labs back in the day.

[ST:TNG]

Ah, yes. The good ol' days of Organic Chem lab.

Actually, after a while, I preferred the ajax, scrub brush and water method. On all those little glass tubes and stuff. Not on HSFs or CPUs.

Acetone will dissolve any organic substance -- something that contains carbon -- as is petroleum.

A conveniently available form of acetone is nail polish remover.

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If you can't be a good example,
then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.
- - - Catherine Aird - - -