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I plan to remove thermal paste from my CPU and GPU on my Acer Nitro 5 AN5155-53.

I'm going to use paper towels to wipe off the thermal paste, and then dip cotton swabs in 99% isopropyl alcohol to finish the job on the CPU & GPU as well as the leftover paste on the heatsink.

If I ever noticed there was too much thermal paste and it was spreading onto the PCB or outer edge of the CPU, will that cause any damage to the CPU/GPU or PCB?

Is there any chance of the alcohol damaging either one as well? Do laptop GPU or CPU have IHS?

Here's what it looks like on a video: Heatsink

I'm also curious what this person means by not putting alcohol on a "raw" CPU, does this not apply for a laptop? How do I clean my computer using isopropyl alcohol?

"It can be used freely on the motherboard, fan and thermal paste, but not on the raw CPU, RAM, add-on cards, CMOS battery and of course disks."

ShangWang
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    Is the thermal paste spreading onto the PCB an actual issue you have faced? Without the brand of thermal paste we can't comment if it's thermal conductive. Please [edit] your question instead of submitting a comment. Your image is inaccessible to me. You should use the Image button to upload it instead. – Ramhound Nov 08 '21 at 20:52
  • Sorry about that, light shot has always been my go to and usually always works, the link worked me though. Just curious what happened when you clicked it?

    No, I haven't actually faced an issue with it but I don't know because I haven't seen what mark my heatsink has made from my last repaste months ago so I wanted to make sure in case it happens.

    Do you know if laptop CPU and GPU have IHS? I'm confused about what a laptop would use to spread heat.

     – ShangWang Nov 08 '21 at 21:22
  • Thank you, my CPU is Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8300H so I'm assuming it has IHS, although I did a quick google search and it says laptop CPU's usually don't have IHS so I'm a bit confused. What about a GPU? It's the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 on the left of the CPU. – ShangWang Nov 08 '21 at 21:28
  • Sorry for the confusion, I have a bit of an issue with anxiety and knowing things in general so I wanted to get informed so I don't have to think about it in the future. I don't know much about PC's in general because I've only used a laptop. As you said my laptop does use a heatsink and fan like all do, but I am not well informed on what IHS is versus bare die. I want to confirm that my CPU is likely bare die and the GPU is solder IHS? I'm not sure if I'm categorizing them correctly or what they have to do with each other for a laptop. – ShangWang Nov 08 '21 at 21:59
  • I see, sorry about that. I would just like to know if that means they are IHS or something else because I know desktops usually have IHS while laptops are bare die. – ShangWang Nov 09 '21 at 00:10
  • I am not worried about anything, I simply am curious and would like to be informed about what this means for bare die. Do bare dies technically have their own lid but it's much thinner than IHS and can't be generally removed? I was not aware IHS having it's lid removed revealed the IC so this makes sense. "all modern Intel CPU use a solder IHS." does this entail that bare die also technically have their own thinner version of an IHS that is soldered on? I apologize if I am asking for too much, if you do not want to go through the explanation you are free to ignore this message. – ShangWang Nov 09 '21 at 02:57
  • I have tried looking at some threads, they're very wordy and confusing so I would like to know if a professional or someone knowledgeable could easily answer my questions up front. – ShangWang Nov 09 '21 at 18:05
  • I would like to know if someone knowledgeable could easily answer my questions up front. .... I gave you an answer that comes with several decades of cleaning and servicing delicate electronic equipment and replacing CPUs on laptop computers - properly done with top grade thermal compound and an installation that lasted for the life of the machine – John Nov 09 '21 at 20:41

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I plan to remove thermal paste from my CPU and GPU on my Acer Nitro 5 AN5155-53.

(1) I'm going to use paper towels to wipe off the thermal paste, and then dip cotton swabs in 99% isopropyl alcohol to finish the job on the CPU & GPU as well as the leftover paste on the heatsink.

(2) If I ever noticed there was too much thermal paste and it was spreading onto the PCB or outer edge of the CPU, will that cause any damage to the CPU/GPU or PCB?

(3) Is there any chance of the alcohol damaging either one as well? Do laptop GPU or CPU have IHS?

(1) I suggest using a soft cotton cloth. Paper towels are harsh and I do not use paper towels for this. I always use soft cloth. You can pick up a box of cotton rags in Home Depot. I use the best ones in the box for this.

Also cotton swabs can leave lint, and I use cotton swabs only sparingly (spots I cannot get to with a cloth). Again use a soft cotton cloth dipped in alcohol to clean the surfaces.

Cloth and Isopropyl Alcohol work best; swabs only where necessary.

Excess thermal paste (there did not appear to be much) will not damage the surrounding area. Still, do not use excess when reapplying the thermal compound. Make sure there was not a large amount spreading. If so, clean the PCB carefully with soft cloth and Isopropyl Alcohol.

(3) Alcohol on a cotton cloth used to carefully clean parts will not damage the CPU or GPU or the board. Make sure alcohol is not flowing onto things but contained to the cloth and there will not be any damage from it.

I have used alcohol to clean circuit boards in my basement shop.

Rule of thumb: Look, check 3 times. Clean once. This has saved me many difficulties.

John
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  • Paper Towels will also leave a residue that you will have to clean up also. They are "shop towels" that are made of a slightly different material than say something you find in your grocery store but I cannot recommend a specific brand. The product I link to is an example of what I am talking about and it might not be applicable to cleaning off thermal paste. Additionally, cotton swabs, are only applicable to clean very small amounts of thermal paste off a surface like a CPU/Heatsink. It can also leave debris – Ramhound Nov 08 '21 at 21:24
  • Thank you, I would use my microfiber cloth but I don't want to get too much gunk on it, the paper towels are there for that. I plan to dampen the paper cloth with alcohol to reduce abrasiveness, would it even scratch a laptop CPU and if it does would that be a problem? I've done this using what I mentioned in my plan in the past and it has worked fine as long as I am watchful for any residue from the cotton swab and the abrasiveness of the paper towel. No leftover lint from cotton swabs if they are dampened and used carefully. – ShangWang Nov 08 '21 at 21:25
  • I agree with you about paper towels and do not use them on electronic gear. Cleaning up oil spills and such maybe. Even so I like my box of cotton rags from Home Depot, – John Nov 08 '21 at 21:26
  • @ShangWang - It does not matter if you "scratch" the CPU. The actual CPU die IC is not actually exposed. A scratch would be a cosmetic concern. Isopropyl Alcohol is virtually harmless to an IC, at 99% Isopropyl Alcohol will virtually evaporate instantly. You would have to try really hard to scratch the CPU die.... – Ramhound Nov 08 '21 at 21:32
  • @Ramhound Thank you for the info! I think I read on some article that scratches on a CPU and applying thermal paste afterward can lead to some issues but maybe I misread. – ShangWang Nov 08 '21 at 21:56
  • Are you planning on using something abrasive? You are worried about something that isn’t likely to happen – Ramhound Nov 08 '21 at 23:44
  • Just use a soft cloth and work carefully and you will not scratch anything. I have worked with thermal compound in a number of situations and have not damaged anything. – John Nov 08 '21 at 23:51