Lapping GPU heatsink

Tony359 · 17 Jan 2023 at 11:43

Hi all,

I've recently got a 2060 and when I re-pasted it I found that the cooler is really poorly machined. See picture below. I thought I could lap it a bit. In order to do so I am sourcing a piece of glass and 2000 grit sandpaper.
Now, to lay the heatsink flat on the sandpaper I will have to remove the 4 stands. Being aluminium I am a bit concerned the whole thing might fail on me when removing them.

Does anybody have any experience in removing those stands? I will use a proper spanner of course.

(I've replaced the paste and also the pads of course, particularly the one which was never fitted properly at the factory! Gigabyte...)

Thanks!

Tony359 · 17 Jan 2023 at 12:21

Yes, that's why I am a bit concerned. Aluminium is soft so my concern is that it'll just crumble on me and goodbye cooler.

I hope there is enough material left on the heatpipes for me to lap a bit without making an opening on them!

Tony359 · 17 Jan 2023 at 15:56

@ALD, I'm going to do that anyways

What I am looking for is for previous experience in removing those stands from the aluminium base.

@PieEater
I agree but I'd like to give it a go - at least to smooth out the roughest parts. Indeed I cannot remove the gap between heatpipes - that will be thermal paste of course.

Tony359 · 17 Jan 2023 at 17:09

Well the pipes will take away the heat to the rest of the heatsink. The block is only dissipating it locally.

Say I damage the heatsinks (the stands strip or whatever) what are my options then? Can I buy an aftermarket block or something? I'm just anticipating options.

Tony359 · 18 Jan 2023 at 12:08

Ok - not worth but let's say there is an option!

I'll let you know how it goes!

Tony359 · 18 Jan 2023 at 17:10

I'm sure those are proper heatsinks and they'll surely drop the temps a lot on my 2060. However I hope I won't need them!

But thanks for mentioning. It's nice to know there is a "plan B" is things go pear shaped. (to be honest finding a broken similar card might work as well...)

Tony359 · 19 Jan 2023 at 08:38

3-4 degrees would be great to be honest. When I got it, Furmark would reach 86 degrees in 4:40, after re-pasting it (MX-4) I had 79.4 after the same time. Sustained use won't change much between before and after (but I am also addressing the case as I don't think I have enough ventilation). The reason I'd like to give it a go is that I can feel a step between the pipes and the block. I don't intend to lap away a lot, just trying to help a bit. I'll have a look at the clearance on the stands before beginning but again I won't lap a huge amount away. I am very conscious that I won't get 10 degrees drop - but I appreciate your heads up

Tony359 · 19 Jan 2023 at 18:49

Ok, I've lapped the heatsink and all went well. The stands came off nicely. BTW - because I removed the stands, there was no risk to lap too much so that the die would not touch anymore as the stands were untouched.

I've used 600/1200 and 2000 on a piece of glass. With 600 I noticed the whole block was helpless! The alluminium is convex so no way to make it flat - not without removing too much material I reckon. But the pipes are protruding so I started seeing fresh copper coming out. Interestingly there were two small dips on the pipes exactly where the die is! I managed to remove them.

In the end the copper came out pretty nice. Since I noticed there was too much thermal paste on the die when I removed the cooler - which IMHO means that the heatsink did not apply enough pressure (that was before I touched the cooler) - I mildly sanded the stands a bit to make them shorter. In fact the whole cooler was a bit wobbly when standing on the 6 stands so I made it flat!

I then replaced the VRM pads - I was waiting for a 1mm delivery. (Obviously forgot to remove the plastic so had to take the GPU out of the PC twice!)

The outcome is probably not worth but I like it. I got 2 degrees with furmark (fan fixed at 75% and case open). The most important number though is comparing BEFORE I touched the board to AFTER I re-pasted it and lapped it: 10 degrees improvement after 4.5 minutes!! That is a shock!

Since I was there I took a look at the fans. One of them was making a weird noise when starting which was getting on my nerves. Surprisingly I discovered those fans can be opened. I opened them, cleaned and re-lubricated. They are definitely quieter, whether they stopped making that noise time will tell as it used to happen after a while.

All in all, I am happy with the outcome, particularly if compare to how I got the card - it was second hand.

Thanks for all your help and inputs!

Tony359 · 19 Jan 2023 at 19:58

Oh yes I read about them. Maybe a good solution when larger gaps are present! Thank you, I am impressed my GPU (and the fans!) are still working LOL!

Tony359 · 23 Jan 2023 at 23:41

I am also happy to report that the fan cleaning has got rid of that weird noise I could hear when the fans where starting up! All in all I am very happy of the outcome!