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Here's my scenario

R

Riddleofsteel

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 4, 2007
Messages
1,983
I have a Q9550 in a Gigabyte P45-UD3P which is housed in an Antec Twelve Hundred. The heatsink is a Xigmatek S1283 with MX-2 paste and the heatsink has two scythe fans on it. What I am asking is, when I overclock (need to get new memory first) is it best to see what temps I end up with and THEN worry about lapping something, or is lapping a good idea no matter what? I am very hesitant to lap because I am paranoid of breaking something but if I had the right equipment then maybe it wouldn't be so hard. Not sure how flat my Xigmatek is but I could lap that too. Any thoughts?
 
Normally, I don't suggest lapping anything, heatsink or CPU, unless there is a major problem with either one. In my case, the TRUE 120 was making terrible contact with the heatspreader on my Q6600 so I ended up lapping the TRUE. I had no problems doing that and it's very difficult to harm the heatsink with lapping. It's true I lapped my CPU at the same time but that is not something you normally need to do and it will void your warranty instantly.

To answer your question, it's always best to see what your temps are like first before lapping unless you want every little degree drop you can get. Except for extreme cases, lapping probably isn't going to get you a higher stable overclock or anything. If you're not seeing suspiciously high temps with your setup right now, it's not likely lapping would help you at all.

My professional opinion for you is to forget about lapping.

 
The overwhelming rule of Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad overclocking is that temperature is not the limiting factor. Lapping is useless the vast majority of the time simply because although it may result in lower temperatures, those lower temps don't actually provide any benefit. I second SmokeRngs' suggestion to see how things are without lapping at first, and only give it a shot if it's really necessary (and with your components, it most likely isn't).
 
I've never understood why people are worried about ruining their CPU when lapping.... Sure the first couple of times kinda get you worried.. but nothing compared to removing the IHS from an Athlon X2.


Now when I lap a CPU or heatsink I use my orbital sander... so much quicker than doing it by hand and it comes out just as good if not better.

As for deciding to lap or not to lap definitely check temps first. If the cores are more than
2c difference under full load on all 4 cores, you can definitely benefit from lapping.

True, you may not see any hug overclocking benifit from lapping.. but it should allow you to run slightly lower temps and possibly lower volts to get the same overclock.... this is with an Intel chip of course.

With my old Athlon X2 setup lapping netted me a nice bit, but then delidding the CPU netted about 15c cooler temps over just lapping. About a 20c temp drop under full load when all was said and done.
 
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