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Lapping heatsink and/or IHS?

Bottle

Bottle

Bottle

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Joined
6 Dec 2004
Posts
121
I have a Gigabyte Z77 UD5H and Antec Khuler 620 watercooler sitting in the cupboard waiting for an Ivy Bridge chip (I was one of the lucky ones to get the mobo/cooler bundle).

I understand the Antec cooler comes with thermal paste already applied to it.

My questions are;

i) What is the Antec thermal paste like? Is it up to scratch or would it be better to remove it and apply something better?

ii) If I don't replace the Antec thermal paste, do you think there would be any benefit in lapping the IHS on the CPU?

(As an aside, one of my other hobbies is woodworking using only hand tools. That involves lots of sharpening and I have a number of different sharpening systems. One of those is 3M lapping film on floatglass. These were developed for polishing fibre optic cables. I can therefore easily polish the CPU using down to 0.3 micron film that will put a completely flat mirror finish to it).

Any thoughts on the benefits of lapping?

Thanks in advance.
 
I would say it's not worth doing. Any small gain in temps or overclocking would not be worth the risk that damage occurs to the processor.
 
Lapping does make a difference if the IHS or the base of the heatsink aren't flat.

Try measuring it with a razor blade and a bright led torch held behind it to get an idea. The less flat it is the better results you will get with lapping.

I might suggest you lap the heatsink as well and replace the paste with your favourite. I would suggest 1000 grit is as far as you need to go.

I bet it voids your warranty though.
 
It made a difference of about 5c when I did it, but that was on a processor I didn't mind killing and already out of warranty. Having it too smooth can actually make it warmer as there needs to be microholes for the TIM to fit into between the surfaces to provide a tighter fit.

1000/1500 grit is as far as you need to go but I'd seriously consider if it's worth voiding the warranty and if it is it would probably be a better idea (and crazier at the same time) to remove the IHS completely on Ivy chips seeing as the heat problem may be down to Intel using TIM instead of solder between the IHS and actual chip.
 
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