You can wash the card with water and soap, the heat sink aswell but not the fan.

Make sure you put the card at a dry and preferably warm place afterwards so it dosn't corrode. It can take a while before the water under the GPU evaporates so don't use the card for a few days.

If you live somewhere where the water isn't very clean then it's probably a good idea to invest in some isopropanol. (I guess the tap water is drinkable in the UK?)

Keep in mind that most labels, stickers and graphics will probably not survive getting submerged in water and soap, let alone being scrubbed.

Skyscraper wrote:

isopropanol

That's a good idea. And it's better than water, because it removes grease (of course water with soap also does that), it also has the ability to remove some types of glue (and that's harder to do with water, some kinds of glue are just totally waterproof and you can only remove them mechanically or use proper chemicals, using water won't do anything). It evaporates quickly, you don't need to wait too long for it to dry.

Once I got a really dirty motherboard, which was stored in bad conditions; it was full ATX size and I didn't want to waste entire bottle of IPA alcohol (also remember to have proper ventillation /open a window/ when using lots of alcohol), so first I bought a tank of distilled water and washed the mainboard with it (i also used a toothbrush, but I don't have idea if it was ESD safe), then I poured some isopropyl onto it and waited for it to dry. Pouring alcohol onto wet electronic board causes it to dry a bit quicker, it will also help removing the water from underneath of the chips.

Short version: using cotton buds dipped in IPA alcohol should do the job. Disinfectant pads (small ones, used for cleaning the wounds) should also be good, they contain 70% isopropyl alcohol.

Bit of dust never hurt anything, its a "protective layer"
I use an old toothbrush for extra dirty bits or to remove sticky paste or whatever, maybe with a touch of washing up liquid in water to help.
Hopefully an old toothbrush is soft enough not to scrub off any components.

anything sensitive I'll go over with IPA, the water is drinkable, but the lime scale where I live is crazy

Skyscraper wrote:

isopropanol

It is also known as isopropyl alcohol (2-propanol, or isoprop for short). 😉

adalbert wrote:

Once I got a really dirty motherboard, which was stored in bad conditions; it was full ATX size and I didn't want to waste enti […]
Show full quote

Once I got a really dirty motherboard, which was stored in bad conditions; it was full ATX size and I didn't want to waste
entire bottle of IPA alcohol (also remember to have proper ventillation /open a window/ when using lots of alcohol), so first I
bought a tank of distilled water and washed the mainboard with it (i also used a toothbrush, but I don't have idea if it was
ESD safe), then I poured some isopropyl onto it and waited for it to dry. Pouring alcohol onto wet electronic board causes it
to dry a bit quicker, it will also help removing the water from underneath of the chips.

Short version: using cotton buds dipped in IPA alcohol should do the job. Disinfectant pads (small ones, used for cleaning
the wounds) should also be good, they contain 70% isopropyl alcohol.

Same here. I use that isopropyl alcohol from time to time to clean floppy drive heads and other sensible parts.
I often buy it at the local apothecary for about 3€, sometimes when I have to clean bigger parts,
I also ask there for distilled/purified water. They bottle it then for me.

Please everyone do not get me wrong, I believe normal water is just fine most of the time (I use warm soapy water myself) and
in the place where I live, the drinking water from the water tap is also clean (very drinkable), but..
Unlike limy water (calcareous water), purified water has the advantage of drying without leaving residues.

This comes in handy if you want to clean parts of a PCB where something like alcohol *might* damage the coating
or if you a have piece of metal (like the cover of a floppy drive) you want to clean.

I use canned spray brake cleaner, for my electronics cleaning, but only because i have amassed some suplies form my previous previous work, exit taxes you know, because that shit is expensive. 🤣