This is a listing of recommended chemicals and cleaning products for heatsinks, processors, RAM chips and GPUs. Please note, these chemicals can potentially harm the product you are attempting to clean, damage paint, rugs, walls, your skin or eyes or other surfaces. They can potentially result in bodily harm to you and others around you. Please make sure you use all products safely. Read their instructions and use any needed personal protective equipment like protective goggles or gloves. be careful of fumes and make sure you are working in a well ventilated area.

Yuck, with that out of the way, here's the listing. :)

Listing of Recommended Chemicals

• Isopropyl alcohol: This is a standard cleaner and is widely regarded. Note, it can be flammable in higher concentrations. Concentrations lower than 90% alcohol are not recommended since they contain high levels of water.
• ArctiClean: This two step cleaner produces excellent results. A bit overpriced for what you get but the results are excellent.
• Acetone: A powerful solvent often found in products like nail polish remover. If an acetone product is used rather than the chemical itself, do a final cleaning with isopropyl alcohol to ensure any residues are removed.
• Xylene based products: Common examples are Goof Off, some carburetor cleaners or brake cleaners. These are only recommended for heatsinks and not processors or GPUs.
• Mineral Spirits: Flammable and only recommended for heatsinks and not processors or GPUs.
• Orange based cleaner: E.g., Goo Gone, this may be used first, then cleaned off using an emulsifying agent such as Lecithin. A final rinse in isopropyl finishes the job.

Tips

• Once you have applied a thermal grease or melted a thermal pad onto a heatsink, it is impossible to remove all of the grease or pad from the microscopic valleys in the heatsink using standard cleaning chemicals, paper or fabric towels. Any subsequent thermal interface material will be applied over the remnants of the original material. Using ArtiClean will remove a significant portion, but not all of the residue.
• Never use any oil or petroleum based cleaners alone(WD-40, citrus based grease removers and many automotive degreasers) on the base of a heatsink. The oil, which is engineered to not evaporate, will fill in the microscopic valleys in the metal and significantly reduce the effectiveness of any subsequently applied thermal compound.
• After Cleaning a surface using any of the above cleaners, avoid touching the surface because the oils from your fingers can interfere with heat transfer and over time the acids placed on the surface from your figures can damage the surface permanently.

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