Lapping heatsink?

crazyhorsejohnny

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
133
I've decided to get a better cpu heatsink. Looking at Tuniq Tower or Thermalright ULTRA-120 Extreme and in several customer reviews at Newegg people say that they had to lap it. What exactly is that? Is it hard to do and what tools do you need? Thanks.
 
Lapping is a process of taking sandpaper to your HS or IHS on your CPU and smoothing it out. Better smoothness = better heat transfer.

This should give you an idea of what it is:

http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews/lappingguide/index.php?file=1

Excellent link. The smoother (or rather, flatter) the CPU's IHS and heatsink are, the more surface area will be contact, and better mating means better heat transfer. Google brings up tons of good results, but here's a particularly good article on it: LINK.

There's some debate about how effective lapping by hand is, particularly for beginners. Personally, I would recommend finding a local machine shop and getting your heatsink (and IHS, though this is more of a ballsy move) professionally lapped - many shops will do it for just a few bucks since it's such a small job. To get a deal, google "CNC", "machine" and your area code to find a list, then call around until you get a cheap estimate (it really helps to be polite!). This way, you're assured very high quality results, and it also saves you a few hours worth of labor.

I hope this helps, and good luck.
 
If you have an old CPU that is lying around and not being used I'd recommend trying that first just to get a feel for how much pressure to place and to get yourself oriented. I'm scared to death to lap my brand new q6600, but the temp drops I've seen elsewhere are making me jealous! :D
 
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