Desktop Temperature Cooling Help

I use contact cleaner which disolves the old thermal grease like sugar in water.
I have been on the road with no tools and or grease and simply dissolved the old paste and spread it around nicely, reattached and solved the overheating problem 100%.
I even used white lithium grease once when nothing else was available (we don't have BestBuy's on every corner down here) and told the fellow to advise me if the temps started to rise with time, but a year and a half has passed and it's still working fine.
As someone mentioned, the purpose of the thermal grease is to fill up the microscopic holes in the metal in order to have more surface to surface contact and I find that thinning the grease with contact cleaner does a better job than leaving it as is, and I have dissolved old grease and reused it, several times with excellent results. In many overheating cases, I found that there was too much grease and that it was not spread around to 100% of the surface.

To be clear, If I'm at home repairing machines, I always clean off the old stuff with contact cleaner and reapply new grease, but I don't carry it around in my pocket and have often been at someone's house out in the boonies, and had to fix the overheating machine by the methods mentioned above.
One thing for SURE, I never dreamed of using a razor blade to scrape old grease off. That seems way too risky to me. It may work fine for others, but I wouldn't do it.

Quote from teetee1 : Except razor blade can easily cause scratches on the machined surface of the heatsink. I cut the old credit card into a smaller piece and use the straight edge for the paste.

I suppose if you push with it rather than pull across....

but who would do that?

Anyway, the paste fills in any scratch -- that's its job.

The only thing you need to clean off old thermal compound is 91% rubbing Alcohol and Coffee filters. The purpose of the coffee filters is to be lint free, and not scratch anything. The alcohol does a great job disolving old compound, even if its hardened, It's also cheap and if it spilled on the motherboard, it evaporates and is not a problem.

Quote from LiquidRetro : The only thing you need to clean off old thermal compound is 91% rubbing Alcohol and Coffee filters. The purpose of the coffee filters is to be lint free, and not scratch anything. The alcohol does a great job disolving old compound, even if its hardened, It's also cheap and if it spilled on the motherboard, it evaporates and is not a problem.

Is that true?

I always use Goo Gone.

Quote from LiquidRetro : The only thing you need to clean off old thermal compound is 91% rubbing Alcohol and Coffee filters. The purpose of the coffee filters is to be lint free, and not scratch anything. The alcohol does a great job disolving old compound, even if its hardened, It's also cheap and if it spilled on the motherboard, it evaporates and is not a problem.

Quote from prozac4312 : Is that true? I always use Goo Gone.

I've never seen alcohol not evaporate quickly and completely at room temperature.

Goo Gone is fine for removing heatsink grease but isn't necessary. Even special wipers aren't necessary, and paper towels work fine; just avoid anything that's really linty, like cotton balls and Kleenex.

It seems that there are several ways to remove old thermal paste, and who am I to say which is best.
I don't have a video that shows how to scrape it off, as it's a method I don't use, but I do have one clip showing the removal with alcohol, using a Q tip for demonstration purposes, followed up with the same, only with contact cleaner.
The video clips may help folks decide what works best for them.
ALCOHOL. [youtube.com]
CONTACT CLEANER. [youtube.com]

OP: If you're in a pinch for thermal paste...you can use peanut butter or toothpaste as an alternative...but they'll need to be replaced frequently as they dry out quickly under head.

Quote from prozac4312 : If you're in a pinch for thermal paste...you can use peanut butter .

Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter?

Quote from RockySosua : Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter?

Not sure if you thought I was using...but you actually can use peanut butter as a thermal conductor.

Quote from prozac4312 : Is that true? I always use Goo Gone.

The problem I have with goo gone is its greasy and leaves behind a film. You then have to clean the goo gone off with something.

Quote from larrymoencurly : I've never seen alcohol not evaporate quickly and completely at room temperature. Goo Gone is fine for removing heatsink grease but isn't necessary. Even special wipers aren't necessary, and paper towels work fine; just avoid anything that's really linty, like cotton balls and Kleenex.

Try it, it does work. It's not instant but it evaporates much quicker than water. Especially the 91% rubbing alcohol. You can even try wiping a bit on you skin. That cool sensation is the alcohol quickly evaporating. It's the basic principal of evaporative cooling.

Coffee filters are a little bit abrasive so they pick up the paste, but they also dont have any lint, are very cheap, and even if your not a coffee drinker, many people have them in the house already. Many paper towels contain wetting agents to help improve the caplilary action and water holding properties of the paper towels. This can leave residue behind on things (this is why many people clean their windows with newsprint).

Reality is there is several ways to do this, and people debate what is the best. Most of the principals here are similar and should all accomplish the same thing. Some may just need more steps after to have both surfaces as clean as possible.

Quote from prozac4312 : Not sure if you thought I was using...but you actually can use peanut butter as a thermal conductor.

Hey, I've had to innovate a few times myself, when I had no thermal paste on hand.
I've used white lithium grease on a machine, 2 or 3 years ago, and am still waiting for the client to tell me that it's overheating and that I need to do it over with proper thermal paste.
I think your peanut butter idea is quite innovative and resourceful.
The crunchy thing was just my warped sense of humour at work.