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Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:27 pm
by d3v
Hi all, I've just ordered a bunch of wet & dry grit paper so I can lap my Thermalrite Ultra 120 heatsink but I'd also like to lap my Intel Core 2 Duo E8500. Is this safe to do. Who has done this?

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:23 am
by Vicotnik
Safe it is, if you do it right. I've never been much for lapping (CPUs ;)) myself but I'm sure it can make a difference if you overclock a lot.

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 2:45 am
by boost
I triedd lapping my E6600 also on a TRUE 120. Temps improved maybe 1-2° and it didn't improve oc. Too much work, too little gain, imho.

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 4:14 am
by d3v
I hand sharpen all my knives and wood working tools on a regular basis so I'm confident that I can lap my CPU and Thermalrite 120 heatsink nicely, but I do wonder if stripping that outer layer of metal from the CPU degrades the lifespan of the CPU chip inside, since the heat is now closer to the dye by a MM or so :?:

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 4:17 am
by Vicotnik
How do you mean? The heat comes from the die.

You mean to lap the heatspreader, right? Not remove the heatspreader and lap the die?

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:51 am
by ces
An alternative might be to use Thermal Interface Material.

See:
viewtopic.php?p=554129#p554129
and
viewtopic.php?p=554145#p554145

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:39 pm
by d3v
Hey guys my wet & dry paper arrived this morning and I duly went about lapping my Thermalright 120-Ultra first then the Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU after.

The first thing I noticed when I placed a straight edge steel ruler accross the 120-Ultra was that is was very obviously not flat at all with a large central "high spot" which is best case scenario as a high spot is far easier to flatten than a low spot. I worked from 400 through to 2000 grit wet & dry paper than finally polished with Autosol car polish for a mirror scratch-free shine.

The CPU was flat for the most part with a minor low spot to one side so I pretty much went through the same process as with the cooler and then VERY THOROUGHLY cleaned both using a toothbrush, white spirit and plenty of clean white cloth rag.

The results are VERY impressive as I've knocked off 6 celcius from my idle temp which means I won't be needing to fix a fan to my Thermalritght cooler after all.

Guys it is definately worth the effort!

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:33 pm
by ces
d3v wrote:The first thing I noticed when I placed a straight edge steel ruler accross the 120-Ultra was that is was very obviously not flat at all with a large central "high spot"
I thought that was intentional... to make it easier to seat the cooler. Did you lapping make it harder or easier to seat the cooler?

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:36 pm
by d3v
It's funny you should say that becuase I actually did find it a little more of a challenge to sit the cooler atop the CPU, but I wouldn't say it was difficult.

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:24 am
by Vicotnik
Great work! It's nice to improve temps without any added noise. What did you use for a flat surface for the paper?

Re: Can I safely lap my CPU?

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 12:08 pm
by d3v
Hi apoalgies for late reply. I actually used one of my japanese water stones. It wasn't perfectly flat, but it obviously did the job just fine!