Has anyone on here ever lapped their cpu?

By this i mean sanding down the top of it in order to achieve a flat and smooth surface for the heatsink to make good contact with.

Apparantly the intel IHS' (Integrated Heat Sink) are pretty bad for being un-even.

It can greatly inprove temperatures from what ive read around.

Just worried about sanding away at my Q6600 and wondered if anyone on here had done it succesfully?!

phil

I was always under the impression that you lapped the bottom of the heatsink rather than the top of the cpu??

After just having a quick google.. it would seem i am wrong and you can actually lap the cpu.. :eek:

still dont think i would fancy it, who is to say your lapping is going to be entirely level?

You can do both for best results!!!

Few pics on a thread here:

Complete: Lapping Q6600 & TRUE - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

EDIT:

This one really shows up how un-level the cpu IHS is:

lapped my q6600 (pics and temp results) - [H]ard|Forum

Gonna give it a bash at some point, I just don't know when. I've been meaning to do it for a while

Was thinking of getting something like this:

16 piece advanced lapping kit for CPU heat sinks on eBay, also Heatsinks, Fans Heatsinks, Desktop PC Components, Computing (end time 08-Mar-08 13:23:48 GMT)

Comes with all the papers you need right down to 2000 grit!

I will also need to find a small mirror or something to use as my totally flat surface!

:eek::eek::eek:

What do you think the thermal paste if for !!!!!!

Yes but its not as good as having a totally flat surface on both the cpu and heatsink.

The thermal paste is generally there becuase neither surfaces have totally flat and "smooth" surfaces and is to "fill" in the gaps but doesn't do as good a job as the surfaces actually making complete contact! so there! lol

ok, have fun destroying your cpu

My thoughts exactly Mr auroran... Surely a bit of silver compound and bingo, no issues. Sanding the cpu seems a bit of an extreme mod for negligibile gain imho.

Dunno about CPU's (!) but a plate of glass and extremely fine grit sandpaper can bring up a mirror finish on metals.....

There's no way on this earth I'd go anywhere near a nice Q6600 with anything abrasive at all, but to each their own

Steve

Im thinking that i may be best to wait till the warrantly has passed at least... knowing my luck i'd get it all sanded down then a few days later it goes bang for un-related reasons!!!

At least i got you're general consensus on this process!! lol

Phil

Glass/very flats sanding block and some 2500/3000 grit paper.

Bit of extremely mild polish with nothing else in it and you can have yourself a very mirror finish on the CPU.

Practise on the base of an old heat sink first and realise you only have maybe a 1mm thick metal heat spreader to play with not loads.

Both the processors and the heatsinks have a pretty good finish as standard. I've been in electronics for years and we always use thermal paste as an intermediate level. Thermal conduction is measured in degrees C per Watt, and with the sort of surface area you have between a CPU and heatsink, some well-applied thermal paste will only add a fraction of a tenth of a degC/W, which means meaybe 5 degrees worst case compared to 'perfection'. ON the other hand, all the lapping in the world won't guarantee a perfect fit if the CPU bends slightly after you clamp the heatsink to it.

Both the processors and the heatsinks have a pretty good finish as standard. I've been in electronics for years and we always use thermal paste as an intermediate level. Thermal conduction is measured in degrees C per Watt, and with the sort of surface area you have between a CPU and heatsink, some well-applied thermal paste will only add a fraction of a tenth of a degC/W, which means meaybe 5 degrees worst case compared to 'perfection'. ON the other hand, all the lapping in the world won't guarantee a perfect fit if the CPU bends slightly after you clamp the heatsink to it.

:iagree:

with modern CPU's with heatspreaders, the interface between the spreader and the core itself would be worse than spreader-heatsink.

If you were *really* serious about cooling, then you should be thinking about taking the heatspreader off all-together. even then you would be lucky if it made a 1'C difference.

If you still want to do it.. i will save you the job, send me your Q6600 and then go buy yourself a new one.

I've seen our thermal guy do it before to get chips cool enough to work in a hurry when there is no time for a redesign.

It's a risk and a good thermal compound will certainly help, however a lapped surface on the heatsink and CPU plus an extremely thin layer of a suitable heatsink compound will make a difference.

Saying all of that however, swapping white gunk for a more advance interface material can drop the temp a couple of degrees.

Think i will leave it for a while... like i say at least till my warranty has run out.

Already got some good silver paste on there... but just thought it might help things...

Ive just changed my fans over to some quieter ones and then running them at 7v so obviously not as much air flow and my temps have risen by a few degrees.... its oh so quiet though! lol

I'm running my q6600 overclocked to 3.2ghz with the uprated Artic freezer7 heatsink/fan the only upgrade. Runs fine and temps are good too. Not sure what extra benefit lapping would be??

Out of curiosity... what temps are you getting on yours?

Phil

Someone Please Explain This For Non Car Knowing People Like Me What Is The Cpu In Layman Terms!?!?!?!

What Will Making It Smooth Do??

Thanks

Someone Please Explain This For Non Car Knowing People Like Me What Is The Cpu In Layman Terms!?!?!?!

lol, for a start it's in a computer! It's the processor. As for lapping, I haven't the foggiest what that is!

lol, for a start it's in a computer! It's the processor. As for lapping, I haven't the foggiest what that is!

i thought that why would you want to sand a cpu flat?

The CPU is the processor in a computer and we're talking about smoothing the surface off in order to reduce temperatures.

lol

would that really help?

Imagine two surfaces that are rough trying to join up, then imagine two which are smooth, which pair are gonna sit together better. Then imagine trying to transfer heat between the two. Does this help ???