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Is it safe to sand a CPU?

CK61938

CK61938

CK61938

Soldato
Joined
31 Jan 2009
Posts
3,219
Location
Newcastle Upon Tyne
I think there maybe a problem with the Core i7 920 I have. When I had it in the machine, I was running Prime and the temps were going very high at like 100. Altho one of the cores was about 10-20 degrees less than the others...

I read a review about where they had the problem that the CPU was not as flat as it should be, therefore all the cores were not of the same temps. When I took my CPU cooler off, I looked at the thermal pasting and could see the evidence (wish I took pics). Anyway, the review mentioned sanding the CPU to make it flat. But I dont buy this and dont think its a very good idea.

Can anyone offer any other suggestions? Maybe I might need to apply more thermal pasting. lol.

Thanks all :D

PS. I am not using the i7 right now cos the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 I have is being RMA'd for being faulty.
 
its called lapping and you use wet and dry to smooth the heatspreader and the heatsink. applying more thermal compound will make your temps worse

google cpu lapping

MW
 
Are you referring to lapping? Because unless youre confident in doing it its been shown to help lower temperatures by making the cpu surface flatter increasing contact between the heatsink and cpu surface.

Mind you it 'might' void your warranty :P

Theres threads floating around about lapping somewhere, some quite in depth.

But have you tried re-applying thermal paste and re seating the heatink/fan and seeing if that helps?
 
Last edited:
Id try cleaning the CPU and heat sink base and reapplying a SMALL amount of thermal paste - too much can give you temp probs.

As for "sanding" it - you can lap the CPU but you need to get down to fine grit / wet and dry to get a smooth flat finish


Try removing, cleaning, correct amount of paste and see how you go ;)


GL

edit that;ll teach me for opening multiple windows and slowly reading through them :P
 
Ah right...lapping...(sounds like something the CPUs do on a sat night when we're not using them lol dirty CPUs hehe...). I will look into it...

I did place the CPU and cooler together without paste and noticed the CPU was sliding about and there were gaps too around the edges...when I get the mobo replaced I will try adding a little more paste first...might just give the CPU a good clean so to speak...

Thanks all :D
 
you never know what could happen these days.
i fixed a friends 'why are my temps higher than before' pc, took the heatsink off and it look like hed melted a bar of soap onto the cpu. so much for thin layer :)
 
satriani1412 said:
you never know what could happen these days.
i fixed a friends 'why are my temps higher than before' pc, took the heatsink off and it look like hed melted a bar of soap onto the cpu. so much for thin layer :)
Click to expand...

lol...crazy stuff man...ok will make sure I put enough paste on cooler and CPU if possible lol.

JonJ678 said:
Lapping is pretty good, but over 100 on stock sounds like a bad mount
Click to expand...

its not the stock cooler I am using...its the Noctua SE1366...lol...
 
by 'enough' i dont mean empty a whole 3.5g tube on:P all you need to do is put a bit on the cpu at a time and spread it with a piece of card or an old credit card or somethin until theres a nice even but thin layer on, theres no need to add any to the heatsink too, thatl just make the overall amount of paste too much
 
satriani1412 said:
by 'enough' i dont mean empty a whole 3.5g tube on:P all you need to do is put a bit on the cpu at a time and spread it with a piece of card or an old credit card or somethin until theres a nice even but thin layer on, theres no need to add any to the heatsink too, thatl just make the overall amount of paste too much
Click to expand...

yeah I got ya man :) thanks :D
 
CK61938 said:
Ah right...lapping...(sounds like something the CPUs do on a sat night when we're not using them lol dirty CPUs hehe...). I will look into it...

I did place the CPU and cooler together without paste and noticed the CPU was sliding about and there were gaps too around the edges...when I get the mobo replaced I will try adding a little more paste first...might just give the CPU a good clean so to speak...

Thanks all :D
Click to expand...

you have added paste haven't you?
or did you only do this to see where the gaps were?
 
Sounds to me like a bad mount dude. My w/c is about as good as the Noctua in terms of cooling, and @ 3.8ghz it doesn't get any warmer than 78c under load.

As far as I was aware, it was more the old Core 2s that needed lapping as they often had uneven heatspreaders; I haven't heard those problems with the i7s.
 
I wish I could remember the site where I read the review where they spoke about lapping the Core i7...damn...lol...
 
Hmmm, interesting.

Anyways, I lapped my Xeon X3350 and got some copper dust or something in the socket, didn't boot until I cleaned it all out, so if you're gonna lap, be careful :)
 
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