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Worth lapping my E6600?

Darthe

Darthe

Darthe

Associate
Joined
7 Nov 2007
Posts
79
I'm not much of an expert, but I think my processor is concave.

Currently using an E6600 with a Zalman 7700Alcu cooler on an Asus P5B-E Plus motherboard and in an Antec 900 case (plenty of airflow).

My temps have never been that great (37ish idle and 58 under load), so recently I got some of that special cleaning/polishing stuff and re-seated the heatsink. The method I used was one I found on these forums, and involved spreading a rice-grain of paste about by wrapping your finger in cleanfilm. It didn't help much however, as my idle temps dropped slightly (35) but my loading temperatures stayed up (58).

Concerned I'd screwed up somehow, I removed the heatsink and found this:

Upon removing the heatsink I found this:

As you can see there only appears to be two points of contact, and worst still both are on the aluminum rather then the copper.

I tried reapplying the paste according to the arctic silver guide (one blob in the middle; let the heatsink squish it out). This gave good contact between the hotter central part of the processor and the copper, providing slightly better temps but the grease didn't spread out over the rest of the processor giving a smaller contact area.

In the end I tried using the classic credit card method. I put on over twice the amount I'd done previously, and leveled it flat with the sharp edge of the card. This gave me a full surface contact and better temps. It idles now around 42, but under loading only goes up to 54.

I've managed to overclock it up to 3.2Ghz for 68 degrees under loading, but clearly that isn't ideal. I'm conscious that I've got quite a lot of paste between my processor and heatsink.

So heres where I need advice. Is it worth trying to lap the processor and reduce the paste requirement? I'm conscious this would involve quite a big risk.

Am I ever going to get good temps with the Zalman, or is it worth investing in something a bit more meaty?
 
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well if you want lower temps, a better cooler is the obvious first move, or that may just be me.
 
Lapping makes huge differences, even on an IHS that is not that deformed. My X2 was pretty flat but after a lap on it I dropped my temps by a good 7 Degrees.

Read a thread by someone who lapped his Q6600 and Thermalright 120 (which I plan to do also) and he saw drops in temps between 7 and 9 degrees on various cores.

Its pretty safe but I highely suggest you follow a guide. Its not simply a case of throwing some sandpaper around.
 
I think i am gonna have to do the same with my new q6600. Idle on a DS4 mobo, Scythe Ninja and MX1 paste, 2 cores are at 31 and 32 degrees, while the other 2 idle at 37.:



Will try a reseat, but not sure if that will do any good, have seen a number of posts about guys that have lapped their cpu, and wouldnt mind giving it a go anyway.
 
Must just say that not everyone finds such a great difference in temperature and remember that it will definately void your warranty. I had my E6600 on a Thermalright 120 Ultra running idle on stock at 16C and 28C under load without any lapping. OK i might get the temps down a little, but it probably wouldn't make any difference.
 
I am more worried about the fact there is such a difference between the four cores.

Will have to see though when i start overclocking and see whether it holds me back.
 
Guardsmon said:
Must just say that not everyone finds such a great difference in temperature and remember that it will definately void your warranty. I had my E6600 on a Thermalright 120 Ultra running idle on stock at 16C and 28C under load without any lapping. OK i might get the temps down a little, but it probably wouldn't make any difference.
Click to expand...

You must live in a very cold house. :confused:

Obviously, the effect of lapping is going to depend heavily on the top surface of your processor. Some are luckier then others.

Schumi, its probably worth at least one re-seat before you go down this route. Might be you had a thicker paste deposit on one side. Better to know for sure before you break out the sand paper.
 
Darthe said:
You must live in a very cold house. :confused:

Obviously, the effect of lapping is going to depend heavily on the top surface of your processor. Some are luckier then others.

Schumi, its probably worth at least one re-seat before you go down this route. Might be you had a thicker paste deposit on one side. Better to know for sure before you break out the sand paper.
Click to expand...

The weird thing is have just turned on my pc this morning and the cores now read 33 25 28 and 33, as opposed to 30 31 37 37. I am now thinking that the paste needed time to settle in.

Those temps are now with a mild overclock to 2.7GHz (300x9) on stock volts.
 
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