[windfire]

Mr Tony Choi of Gelid has made this little guide to let people know how to properly clean the VRAM surface of a graphics card.

I take the liberty to translate the main points of his guide below:-

1) Stock thermal pads have a layer of conductive 'oil' on their surface. This oil layer can seep into the micro grooves on the surface of the VRAM chips and is not easily removed by alcohol wipes. If left unattended, new thermal pads will have a hard time to stick onto the chips.

2) To clean, run a eraser slowly up and down the surface of a chip. The pressure should be light. The key word is 'patience'.

3) As the pic shows, a cleaned chip will show the marking numbers/letters clearly.


4) Then, gently press the new thermal pad onto the chip and apply small pressure for about 15 seconds.

5) Now, move onto the next chip and repeat steps 2-4.

source:-
http://www.hkepc.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=1797834&extra=page%3D1

translation:-
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hkepc.com%2Fforum%2Fviewthread.php%3Ftid%3D1797834%26extra%3Dpage%253D1

 

[MASSKILLA]

I would use rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip.

 

[MME1122]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MASSKILLA

I would use rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip.

On a die maybe, not on the plastic vram chips.

 

[mark39]

Hi all, sorry for resurrecting an old topic - I'm hoping to add something.

I was looking on the internet for how exactly to clean those memory chips from old thermal pads residue and grease and haven't found much other than this topic, a youtube video where the guy didn't clean the chips, and people saying "I use IPA/goo-gone" and people saying "don't use IPA or goo-gone"

I gave the eraser method a try - it took a long time but gave me great results. I rubbed gently and slowly with very small pressure, up, down and in circles. The writing on the chip went white eventually (might not on yours, I think mine are laser-etched and so the text got filled with the white eraser) and after brushing off the eraser rubbings/crumbs, it went black and became more readable (I used a very big, soft, very fine-bristle brush, probably a no-no, maybe use compressed air in a can if you have that)

Here are some before, during and after photos:

Be careful with the eraser rubbings/crumbs - don't let them get in screw holes or RAM slots or anywhere.

Hopefully this is useful