Back in the ancient past of aircooling, when heatsinks did not weigh a kilogram and 120mm fans were a novelty item and not the standard many enthusiasts practiced the art of lapping. With a water tray and automotive grade sandpaper of increasingly fine grit you could not only flatten the base of the heatsink, something that was all too necessary for some models, you could also acheive a mirror finish which helped your heat paste spread evenly. Today you do not hear much talk of lapping either heatsinks nor the integrated heatspreader on CPUs and SPCR decided to test if it remains a good practice. Check out the difference a proper lapping job still makes, though keep in mind lapping the IHS on your CPU will void the warranty and could weaken its structure.
Not what you want to see!
"Lapping the CPU in a heatsink test platform is probably a controversial move that's bound to provoke reactions. Funny thing is, it was done a year ago, and photos of the CPU showing the copper top exposed by the lapping have been featured in many of our reviews. Yet, not a single comment. This article goes through the problems, investigations and explorations that led us to lap our Core i7-965 Extreme test CPU, and analyzes the results and implications."
Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
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- SilverStone Tundra SST-TD02 All-In-One Liquid CPU Cooler @ Benchmark Reviews
- Corsair H100i Self-Contained Liquid CPU Cooler Review @ Techgage
- Cooler Master JetFlo 120mm Case and Radiator Fan Review @HiTech Legion
- Cooler Master JetFlo 120 PWM Fan @ LanOC Reviews
- Cooler Master JetFlo Series Fans Revieww @ Modders-Inc
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- NZXT Source 530 Full Tower Case Review @HiTech Legion
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- Cooler Master HAF Stacker Mod-Tower Case Review @ Neoseeker
- Cooler Master 690 III Mid-Tower Case with Seidon 120V Cooler Review @HiTech Legion
- NZXT H230 Computer Case Review @ Modders-Inc
- In Win GRone @ techPowerUp
- Aerocool DS Dead Silence Cube Chassis @ eTeknix
- Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 Mid-Tower Case Review @HiTech Legion
- Lian Li PC-Q30 Aluminium Mini ITX @ eTeknix
- Cooler Master HAF Stacker 935 Computer Case @ Benchmark Reviews
- BitFenix Ronin Mid-Tower Case Review @ Legit Reviews
- Fractal Design DEFINE XL R2 Chassis Review @MissingRemote
I lapped my TRUE when I got
I lapped my TRUE when I got it 4-5 years ago and it did improve my temps. Still using it now with an i5 3570k OC’d to 4.6Ghz with not temperature problems whatsoever. Haven’t gotten around to lapping the CPU because it’s not a risk that I want to take and I am comfortable with the results I have now anyways.
Editing error:
Check out the
Editing error:
Check out the difference a proper lapping job still makes, though keep in ming lapping the IHS on your CPU will void the warranty and could weaken its structure.
Thanks, got it. Not sure
Thanks, got it. Not sure what the comment below is referencing though
“Lapping the CPU in a
“Lapping the CPU in a heatsink test platform is probably a controversial move that’s bound to provoke reactions…”
Dude nobody cares about anything you do. Stuff it in your butt and STFU!
I read the entire article at
I read the entire article at SPCR yesterday and the part that led them to lapping their CPU was the poor cooling results they got with some heatsinks that were contrary to the results at other websites. The cause appears to be compression of their testbed’s CPU IHS as a result of installation and removal of many heatsinks which often apply a high amount of mounting pressure. Fascinating read.