Project - Nickel plating Heatkiller 3.0 base plate - polish or not?

Hi everyone-

I bought another base plate from Sidewindercomputers.com and am going to nickel plate it as a project. I know that lapping the heatkiller resulted in WORSE performance, so I will avoid that.

My question is whether I should polish the copper before I plate it, resulting in a more aesthetic end product.

What do you think? Plate it raw or polish it up?

TBH I am not sure whether lapping it will actually hurt performance on current CPUs. IIRC that was because of the bowing which was pretty common awhile ago and addressed some specific problems with IHS interfacing. I havent kept up but I dont think bowing is really used all that much anymore.

FYI I'm still using it on my X58 based Xeon X5670

I would polish it over plating it. Get those micro-groves out and I'm sure it'll perform better. Just a thought.

polishing is more of a surface prep thing IMO, and plating is a project I'd like to do when I'm visiting with my dad (who happens to have a nickel plating setup for restoring old cars!)

I was intrigued that the heatkiller 4.0 nickel plated performs better so thought I'd try it out

Wow cool!! Then what the heck, go plating! Worse case scenario you'll have to get another base plate. Heck get an xtra one since they're only $20. I gotta see how the plate looks on it afterwards. Post pics!!

Nebulous said:

Wow cool!! Then what the heck, go plating! Worse case scenario you'll have to get another base plate. Heck get an xtra one since they're only $20. I gotta see how the plate looks on it afterwards. Post pics!!

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I will post pics for sure. Also I already have one baseplate (cooling my comp) so I have a backup. I thought about ordering another but didn't want to have multiple baseplates sitting around.

I'd like to modify one into a high flow GPU waterblock, perhaps later this year when I have time to play and learn some CAD (dads company has a 3 or 4 axis CNC mill)

Dang! Your dad has all the neat toys eh? I'd also like to see that high-flow GPU block mod as well. If i knew someone who had access to CNC machines and plating services, I'd be all over that map modding all kinds of neat things!

Seriously keep us posted and best of luck!

Personally I'd avoid polishing the base. If lapping the base results in worse performance, and the odds of you maintaining whatever curvature they've milled into the base are close to nil (they are), you'll only hurt performance for the sake of the aesthetics — and for something you'll never see to boot.

Just make sure you clean the ever-loving crap out of the copper before you plate it. You can use a mild acid like vinegar to start, but I usually just use dish soap and hot water followed by lots of rinsing with hot tap water, followed by more rinsing with distilled water. Also, use as low of a voltage as your dad's setup will allow. I've had very good luck in the 3v range (20a fuse, but I didn't measure the actual draw while plating). The key really is prep though. If your part isn't clean the plating will have blemishes or flake off (looking at you EK).

Nebulous said:

Dang! Your dad has all the neat toys eh? I'd also like to see that high-flow GPU block mod as well. If i knew someone who had access to CNC machines and plating services, I'd be all over that map modding all kinds of neat things!

Seriously keep us posted and best of luck!

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of course he gets all of this stuff after I've moved away, but it makes visits fun!

Napoleon said:

polishing is more of a surface prep thing IMO, and plating is a project I'd like to do when I'm visiting with my dad (who happens to have a nickel plating setup for restoring old cars!)

I was intrigued that the heatkiller 4.0 nickel plated performs better so thought I'd try it out

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Plating it will not increase performance. I would wager that any testing showing otherwise is merely natural variance in mounting consistency and other environmental fluctuations.

Copper is a better conductor of heat than Nickel, so there is no way a layer of Nickel could improve performance. It wont really have any negative effect either because the layer of Nickel on the plating is so thin.

Enjoy the project and post pics! Nickel plated Heatkillers look bad ass. Are you planning on doing the top as well?

Erasmus354 said:

Plating it will not increase performance. I would wager that any testing showing otherwise is merely natural variance in mounting consistency and other environmental fluctuations.

Copper is a better conductor of heat than Nickel, so there is no way a layer of Nickel could improve performance. It wont really have any negative effect either because the layer of Nickel on the plating is so thin.

Enjoy the project and post pics! Nickel plated Heatkillers look bad ass. Are you planning on doing the top as well?

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http://www.xtremerigs.net/2015/04/22/watercool-heatkiller-iv-cpu-water-block-review/5/ and make your own conclusion about the heatkiller nickel phenomenon

I understand that nickel is not a better conductor of heat, and any layer delays thermal transfer, but the above article convinced me to try it out (plus, projects are fun haha)

Nah I have an acetal top, so it'll just be the base plate. I'll be sure to post pics!

They claim in the review that it could just be sampling error as I said. Their other explanations are as they said grasping at straws. For such a small difference in results I would say the blocks perform the same.

Had to mill off the corner to clear the capacitor bank on my X58-UD3R, then clean the surface, then plate for 45 minutes in the nickel electrolyte solution.

I'm very pleased with the result, although there is a little haze on one area of the bottom. Next step will be to test once I've rebuilt the water block and system