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trying to lap heatsink

P

pHEnomIC

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Joined
Sep 21, 2003
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I have an amd xp 1800+ with the stock heatsink, arctic silver 5, and upgraded fan. I am planning on unlocking my processor and figured i might as well lap my heatsink so I can drop the temp a few degrees. I know i should probably just get a better heatsink but is it worth lapping my heatsink. I am having trouble finding all the sandpapers used in gideontech.com's guide.

I have some mother mags aluminum polish that will work with any metal and my dremel and i was wondering if i could skip the sandpaper steps and just use my dremel and aluminum polish to get the mirror finish my heatsink currently has a dull shine to it.
 
You can get a nice sandpaper lapping kit for pretty cheap at EasyPCKits.com I had a hard time trying to find all the individual paper grits at local B&M stores so I grabbed a few lapping kits.

EDIT: To answer your question; yes, it will probably drop the stock 'sink temperatures a few degrees C. I can remember the stock heatsinks I have worked with in the past weren't exactly the epimote of flatness.
 
wal-mart, auto parts stores, and for the fine sheets go to a telecom supply store (look for fiber optic finishing paper)

Wal mart often has the "kits" that has varying degrees of paper. Auto part stores often have the packets of varying grades. I would steer clear of the fiber optic finishing papers until You can get a consistant lap finish, as those are rather expensive and don't last long (they were designed for fiber optics, not metals). Often the micron-level finish of fiber optics paper is overkill as well.

BTW don't use a dremel, use the glass. The poijnt isnt how shiny it is, it's how close to perfect flatness it is. I've ruined a few heatsinks that way. Actually I have a volcano 7+ one of my friends messed up on a dremel that I'm touching up for him... 6 sheets of 600 grit to fix the damage alone. That's about 3 hours of work over a 10 minute dremel job. Just take your time with it, even a heatsink like the thermaltakes, while not being exactly good for the money, does have potential with proper lapping.
 
Originally posted by mustang_steve
6 sheets of 600 grit to fix the damage alone. That's about 3 hours of work over a 10 minute dremel job. Just take your time with it, even a heatsink like the thermaltakes, while not being exactly good for the money, does have potential with proper lapping.
Click to expand...

6 sheets of 600 grit? sounds like you should have started with something lower, maybe 1 or 2 sheets of 300-400 grit.
 
I would have, but alas my car blew its engine a few weeks ago, and hte auto parts store is further than I can go on my bike (I'm a wee bit out o shape if ya get me), so I just used what was on hand.
 
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