Alpha PAL8045 Swirl marks: normal?

[dakata24]

i just got my order from 2cooltek that included a Alpha PAL8045 heatsink. noticed that their are swirl marks on the bottom of the heatsink.. running my fingers across the copper area (dont worry, ill be cleaning it with some solvent before installing), it seems smooth.. is this a normal characteristic of the PAL8045? or do i need to worry about lapping?

 

[MrDudeMan]

i think those were on mine when i took it out. i dont really remember, but it sounds familiar. i always take extremely fine sandpaper and sand off the bottom of my heatsinks...i looked at it under a microscope after i did that and it had been running for a few hours...the ASIII go all in the grooves and stuff, so i assume it helps by giving the ASIII more area to transmit to the heatsink. that had nothing to do with your post, but i thought id throw it out there for someone to read and maybe reply to

 

[Grendel99]

Mine had the same thing, but I didn't worry about it. I couldn't feel anything like you said. I think (and hope ) it's normal.

 

[Lorne]

My thermaltake Volc 6+ had the same circular cutting lines in it s copper base and though fairly smooth I thought I would lap it just for sake of saving some time and trouble to have to remove it again and do it, After the first few moments across the sandpaper visual inspection shows the the center of the copper to to be e bit low and that was not good, But with a little more work it was done, flat and shiney.

This is not a knock on Thermaltake but maybe one that got past the inspections, It was a return at the store and aslong as the fan worked I could make the rest.
I also got a Thermaltake Chipset Blue Orb for my GFX card, Had to mod it fit ( nonstandard HSF on gfx card )< lapped it and it was very uneven, Good part out of it though is the lable claims 4600rpm fan and the MB reads 6500rpm.

 

[kyoshozx]

So far I've had 3 alpha heatsinks and all of them had those swirl marks. So I'm pretty sure it's normal.

 

[BuckNaked]

I've had two Alpha's and both have had the swirl marks also... Don't worry about it...

Dave

 

[Wind]

It's normal...u can lap a bit smoothen it.

 

[johndoe52]

Was on the two alpha's that I've had too.