Lapping

[KING_OF_SAND]

Alright, my friend is talking me into lapping my AMD 965, AND my Noctua NH-D14. I am heavily considering it because of the HUGE drops in temps my friend got on his AMD 955, also with the Noctua. he went from 35c idle down to 32c idle, and 48c load down to 45c load. I remember seeing him do it and it is most defiantly time consuming and you do have the risk of damaging your CPU, but it seems to be worth it in the long run. Just want some here say from my fellow Overclockers. I am at 4.0ghz and i want the absolute BEST temps i can get out of my NH-D14, is it worth it?

 

[thestepster]

any warranty left on the cpu? if so kiss that goodbye plus ull obviously lose that on the nh-d14 aswell

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

any warranty left on the cpu? if so kiss that goodbye plus ull obviously lose that on the nh-d14 aswell

yea i am aware of that. i generally break all warranties on all my things. if it breaks it breaks, ill get a new one or ill re-fabricate it if possible. PC parts are a cheap investment for me.

 

[yggdrasil]

I have done it on a CPU cooler but not the CPU because You just don't know how far you can lap it before you stuff it, will do it one day.

Here is a quote from the Notua website

"Why doesn't the bottom of the NH-U coolers have a polished, mirror like finish?

Bearing in mind that the majority of today's PC enthusiasts uses high-viscosity thermal compounds, the bottom-surface of the NH-U coolers is optimised for the use with this type of thermal pastes. The micro-grooves on the surface of the NH-U coolers' base ensure that high-viscosity thermal compounds are dispersed to a uniform thin layer across the whole contact area and that no air pockets remain between the cooler and the CPU. With a polished, mirror like surface, the risk of uneven dispersion is much higher. As too thick layers of thermal paste and air pockets drastically deteriorate heat transmission, the micro-grooves are is of vital importance to the overall cooling performance of the NH-U coolers when used with today's high-viscosity thermal pastes."

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

that quote that you said from noctua is an obvious classic lazy business move. i like noctua allot, but that whole thing was just an excuse on why they didnt lap it in order to drop the price, all big companies do that so it doesn't look like they tarnished there reputation. there is no such thing as thermal paste that will be equal to lapping and using a high quality thermal compound.

 

[yggdrasil]

Yeah your probably right the NH-D14 being the best CPU air cooler on the market probably isn't any thing to stand by.

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

Yeah your probably right the NH-D14 being the best CPU air cooler on the market probably isn't any thing to stand by.

that sounds like a smart ass remark. i have an NH-D14 and i love it. just because you make the best single product doesnt mean you cant cheap out on your other products. and the fact they do have the best air cooler on the market pretty much blinds people about business practices they do. Noctua is a business, and they ONLY EXIST to make money, yea they can have other priorities but there main is getting your money. so they higher people that i call "bull shiiters" to make up excuses like they did there so it doesnt look like they cut corners, and since they do have the best air cooler on the market people will be more likely to believe it. and the NH-D14 is lapped BTW. i have a degree in business, its what i do do

 

[yggdrasil]

Yeah I tend to have large sarcastic nature at times

Yeah most business do but they also work on reputation and noctua has a good thing going not to stuff it up.

But at the end of the day there is only one way to find out

If you do do it, do a review on it

with lots of before and after tests.

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

well considering i am already getting temps in the low 30s at 3.9ghz on my amd 965 i really do not see the need to lap yet. i might do it when summer comes around and it hit 120f out side.

 

[ZodiarK]

i have done it on a E2140 was impressed with the results took 3 hours though -.-

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

i have done it on a E2140 was impressed with the results took 3 hours though -.-

yea lapping can give you a up to a 10 degree drop depending on how bad you CPU/cooler came off the line. me for example got a amd 965 that is near 100% flat unfortunately the overclocking on my CPU is not that great, i have to go to 1.6v just to hit 4.0ghz.. my NH-D14 unfortunately did not come off the line 100% flat, there is a slight bend where the contact is. so maybe during the summer i will lap it.

 

[SilentTyrant]

New to these forums but having lapped MANY cpu's and heat sinks I can say i've never broken one.. and the temps are great but both have to be lapped to get the full effect, if you can spare the cash to replace just incase then go for it, I'll post a link for a guide on how to do it since this fella does it the same way I have in the past.

Part1 My link

Part2 My link

 

[SilentTyrant]

very sorry .. didnt notice the date of this thred....my bad

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

well summer hasn't come along so i wont be lapping for a while yet

 

[S_I_N]

what are ur temps like during the summer??? Just curiosu cause at 45-48c load is WELL below the upper threshold of the AMD cpu's

 

[marsey99]

i have seen the base on a d14, trust me they dont need lapping but maybe a rub with an emery cloth would give a better finish. amd ihs tend to be much flatter than an intel ones but still it cant hurt it (well if you do it too much or damage the pins but you know what i mean) to have a smoother surface.

its a more daunting thought than task tbh and once you do it you will do it again as it really is the best bang per buck you will ever do for cpu cooling, i dropped >10c of my load temps on this q9550 but it was like the grand cannon its ihs

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

IF my ac doesn't go out it is usually nearing 60c on load at 4ghz. in the winter i NEVER see it go above 50c at load. last summer my AC went out in my upper story (I have 2 AC unites) while running a stability test at 4ghz and my room reached 51c about 125f. and my CPU hit 77c and was like that for a good hour or two. i was lucky with this CPU, it can take abuse like you wouldn't believe, i have actually hit 80c before with it and there is 0 problems with it! unfortunately i can not get it passed 4.0ghz. BTW i use the Noctua NH-D14 in case you were wondering.

summers here in AZ are brutal!