A client of mine brought in a computer he wanted to get cleaned up, OS reinstall, and had a video card in hand he wanted me to install... no big deal.
So I open up the case and see this...
Wow, right?
I've got most of it cleaned up, its looking great. The only problem area is inside the pin holes on the CPU socket.
I have a risky theory that this thermal paste is non-conductive, which would explain how he went all this time without an incident. Assuming this is true, it shouldn't necessarily matter that a little bit is still in the socket right?
Also, the thermal paste was in fact inside the socket when I first removed the processor.
Thanks for your time!!