We went around and look for CPU cooler guides from heatsink manufacturers themselves. Some brands have guides available on their website, some don’t. Hence, we made an inquiry to some of the popular PC cooling brands for their guide and recommendation. Read on to see their responses.
Noctua
Noctua is one of the popular brands when it comes to aftermarket CPU coolers and cooling fans. Deemed as one of the experts in premium PC cooling, Noctua does have a CPU cooler cleaning guide which you can find at the Noctua website. Read Noctua’s cleaning guide below.
Dust:
Fans and heatsinks inside computer cases tend to accumulate dust over longer periods of usage. In order to maintain maximum performance, please clean your fan and heatsink regularly. For cleaning, please first remove the fan from the heatsink and clean it using a duster, slightly moist tissue or canned air. Please be careful not to use too much force in order to prevent any damage to the fan. Please do not use a vacuum cleaner as this may apply excessive force to the fan and do not put the fan under running water as water residues inside the motor may lead to short circuits. Please also note that the fan is not designed to be taken apart by the user. Removing the impeller from the frame will break the sealing of the bearing and results in a loss of warranty. Before reinstalling the fan, clean the heatsink itself with a duster or vacuum cleaner. Do not use water to clean the cooler. Finally, put the fan back on and connect it to your motherboard fan header or fan controller.
Thermal paste residues:
Whenever you take off the heatsink from the CPU, we recommend to clean the CPU as well as the base of the cooler before re-applying thermal paste and re-installing the cooler. You can either just wipe the base and the CPU clean with a dry, lint-free tissue or, for more thorough cleaning, use a lint-free tissue moistened with either a mild solution of washing-up liquid or isopropyl alcohol. Do not put the cooler or CPU under running water. Note that both the base of the heatsink and the CPU should be dry, free from residues of thermal compound and free from grease before re-applying thermal paste and re-installing the cooler.
Fans and heatsinks inside computer cases tend to accumulate dust over longer periods of usage. In order to maintain maximum performance, please clean your fan and heatsink regularly. For cleaning, please first remove the fan from the heatsink and clean it using a duster, slightly moist tissue or canned air. Please be careful not to use too much force in order to prevent any damage to the fan. Please do not use a vacuum cleaner as this may apply excessive force to the fan and do not put the fan under running water as water residues inside the motor may lead to short circuits. Please also note that the fan is not designed to be taken apart by the user. Removing the impeller from the frame will break the sealing of the bearing and results in a loss of warranty. Before reinstalling the fan, clean the heatsink itself with a duster or vacuum cleaner. Do not use water to clean the cooler. Finally, put the fan back on and connect it to your motherboard fan header or fan controller.
Thermal paste residues:
Whenever you take off the heatsink from the CPU, we recommend to clean the CPU as well as the base of the cooler before re-applying thermal paste and re-installing the cooler. You can either just wipe the base and the CPU clean with a dry, lint-free tissue or, for more thorough cleaning, use a lint-free tissue moistened with either a mild solution of washing-up liquid or isopropyl alcohol. Do not put the cooler or CPU under running water. Note that both the base of the heatsink and the CPU should be dry, free from residues of thermal compound and free from grease before re-applying thermal paste and re-installing the cooler.
Cooler Master
Cooler Master doesn’t have a CPU cooler cleaning guide available on their website. However, their social media manager(s) recommended a general PC cleaning guide from ifixit.com.
Arctic
Arctic’s reply was in German translated to English
Arctic did not give us a specific cleaning guide to follow but recommends using compressed air for cleaning CPU cooler heatsinks. We also asked if metal polish can be used to clean and shine CPU coolers which Arctic approves.
