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- 28 Nov 2009
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- 881
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- Manchester
Just some thoughts on a TRUE black I purchased recently after an age looking through the different heatsink options.
a. they need lapping, I'd heard they were bad but after getting mine, I went right out and lapped something for the first time in my life. For anyone who is looking to do the same, Halfords went and dry paper assorted back had everything I needed. 240 grit is the smootherst grade that actually gets anything done, If I could go back I would have started and done the main work at a 100 (bought separately) then polished it down to 1200, (2000 is what you would need for a mirror finish, 1200 is just off but will certainly do) Took about two hours to do a decent job, have a laminate floor so coarse sandpaper on top of that and did main work (ten push back and forth then rotate ninty degrees on mildly damp paper duct taped to floor). By 800 and 1200 I ended up just ripping bits off the sheet and holding the TRUE upside down then sanding to see the finish, by that point you arent remeoving anything at all significant.
b. If you are gonna mount on AM2/2+/3make sure your mobo has a backplate. They dont come with one. I poached one off an old motherboard, it fitted but is was weak plastic and the screws supplied with the heatsink just would not reach down to the nuts, it was a no go, given the fact the base was cackhanded, you couldnt have called me an unhappy thermalright customer at that point.
c. Pressure modding. Couldnt fit it normally but given i wanted to lap it sorting a pressure mod didnt seem like a bad idea. To save people the trouble I had, nip down to b&q, grab a set of 4x40mm 8x1.5" inch Knob Screws (lol) Zinc plated. Then get 4x40mm wing nuts, they are expensive, but there should be half a bag open in one store from the one I got mine from...(Muhahaha)
Put the screws through back of the motherboard backplate and motherboard so the head of the screw is behined the mobo, put through the AMD heatsink mounting holes, remove springs from the AMD mounting screws that come with the heatsink (using pliers), and put them on top. Pop a wingnut on and then you can add as much (be careful) or as little pressure as you like.
Note I suspect washers in between wing nut and spring would help, only just installed this so cannot say right now, all wingnuts have been orientated the same way, so i will see if they are undoing at all, I suspect they wont though.
Finally it is certainly doing the job, my room is very warm and processor is idling at 30 stock (phenom 965 125 watt) and having done a 5 minute tester on everest 41 was the max.
Also orientation of north-south will help cool NB and graphics card.
As regards the fans I got with it (also swapped out the tricools in the antec 300) the noctua nf p12's are brilliant, pretty much silent even on full. the nf p14, not really, too noisy for a quiet system on full, acceptable on medium, also its not a good fit for the antec 300 top hole. It is an improvement on the 140mm tricool, but doesnt justify its price, intent to make a plastic frame to provide a better seal for it, this will help I think.
So all in all a ballache, but that heatsink will do a job on any processor right now and heatsinks dont really get old, and I can control the pressure it puts on the heatsink very precisely.
Going to get a mounting bracked from thermalright soon as and will remount it on that.
a. they need lapping, I'd heard they were bad but after getting mine, I went right out and lapped something for the first time in my life. For anyone who is looking to do the same, Halfords went and dry paper assorted back had everything I needed. 240 grit is the smootherst grade that actually gets anything done, If I could go back I would have started and done the main work at a 100 (bought separately) then polished it down to 1200, (2000 is what you would need for a mirror finish, 1200 is just off but will certainly do) Took about two hours to do a decent job, have a laminate floor so coarse sandpaper on top of that and did main work (ten push back and forth then rotate ninty degrees on mildly damp paper duct taped to floor). By 800 and 1200 I ended up just ripping bits off the sheet and holding the TRUE upside down then sanding to see the finish, by that point you arent remeoving anything at all significant.
b. If you are gonna mount on AM2/2+/3make sure your mobo has a backplate. They dont come with one. I poached one off an old motherboard, it fitted but is was weak plastic and the screws supplied with the heatsink just would not reach down to the nuts, it was a no go, given the fact the base was cackhanded, you couldnt have called me an unhappy thermalright customer at that point.
c. Pressure modding. Couldnt fit it normally but given i wanted to lap it sorting a pressure mod didnt seem like a bad idea. To save people the trouble I had, nip down to b&q, grab a set of 4x40mm 8x1.5" inch Knob Screws (lol) Zinc plated. Then get 4x40mm wing nuts, they are expensive, but there should be half a bag open in one store from the one I got mine from...(Muhahaha)
Put the screws through back of the motherboard backplate and motherboard so the head of the screw is behined the mobo, put through the AMD heatsink mounting holes, remove springs from the AMD mounting screws that come with the heatsink (using pliers), and put them on top. Pop a wingnut on and then you can add as much (be careful) or as little pressure as you like.
Note I suspect washers in between wing nut and spring would help, only just installed this so cannot say right now, all wingnuts have been orientated the same way, so i will see if they are undoing at all, I suspect they wont though.
Finally it is certainly doing the job, my room is very warm and processor is idling at 30 stock (phenom 965 125 watt) and having done a 5 minute tester on everest 41 was the max.
Also orientation of north-south will help cool NB and graphics card.
As regards the fans I got with it (also swapped out the tricools in the antec 300) the noctua nf p12's are brilliant, pretty much silent even on full. the nf p14, not really, too noisy for a quiet system on full, acceptable on medium, also its not a good fit for the antec 300 top hole. It is an improvement on the 140mm tricool, but doesnt justify its price, intent to make a plastic frame to provide a better seal for it, this will help I think.
So all in all a ballache, but that heatsink will do a job on any processor right now and heatsinks dont really get old, and I can control the pressure it puts on the heatsink very precisely.
Going to get a mounting bracked from thermalright soon as and will remount it on that.
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