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?
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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