Cleaning out CPU Heatsink Safe?

[Daethz]

I booted up when i got home to a error message of my cpu fan not working.
So I decided it must be too dusty to work, as in like 3-4 years of owning it now i havent really managed to clean that heatsink out.

I just took off the intel fan/heatsink, sprayed it out with air, took alot, blew out some chunks of dust as large as my finger.
Put it back on, booted it up and its fine now, sitting at 35c according to speedfan.

[Kuntantee]

You may also want to replace thermal paste. It's easy, you can find tutorials online if you don't know the procedure.

[Daethz]

is it important?
the thermal paste on there still seemed ok.

if i do that i might aswell buy a better cooler too, for all i know this one is simply breaking down.

[Deleted]

Well you don't have to buy a new one if it works but new thermal paste is needed cause there will be air bubbles now in between. As for an aftermarket one, since stock ones get crappy after some time, what cpu and case you got? If you don't overclock you can buy a good cheap-ish one that can probably carry over on next build.

[Zigrifid]

If you had your pc for 3-4 years then you will need to replace thermal paste for sure what you see might be ashes of the thermal paste (im not kidding). There are a shit load of videos on youtube on how to clean your cpu and then apply thermal paste on it , its not hard , just remember do not overflow it with paste

[Daedius]

Not much of a PC literate when it comes to building them... but if I had no issue building PCs, cleaning and reapplying the thermal paste then you should easily be able to too.

Just make sure you've 100% removed static build up on yourself by holding onto something earthed, typically a radiator would do first... zapping your chip would kill it.

[DeltrusDisc]

is it important?
the thermal paste on there still seemed ok.

if i do that i might aswell buy a better cooler too, for all i know this one is simply breaking down.

If it 'seemed ok' does that mean you took the heatsink off then put it back on with the same paste? =|

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Not much of a PC literate when it comes to building them... but if I had no issue building PCs, cleaning and reapplying the thermal paste then you should easily be able to too.

Just make sure you've 100% removed static build up on yourself by holding onto something earthed, typically a radiator would do first... zapping your chip would kill it.

Actually, the best thing to do is touch the inside of your case. It's good to ground yourself to the very thing the computer components are being grounded with, essentially, from what I've read/heard.

Still, unless you live in a seriously dry environment, this is usually not a big worry.

[Daedius]

Actually, the best thing to do is touch the inside of your case. It's good to ground yourself to the very thing the computer components are being grounded with, essentially, from what I've read/heard.

Still, unless you live in a seriously dry environment, this is usually not a big worry.

[Deleted]

@Beerwolf, what Deltrus said is true, i don't even know what your reply/video is supposed to mean. If there is a reason to worry or be carefull its when you build a new pc, and get the components out of their boxes and antistatic bags. When the pc is already built, the sec you touch the case to get the side panel off you already grounded yourself to the same thing the rest of components are as well so....

[Bifftannan]

Any time you remove the heatsink you should replace the thermal paste.