anyone lapped a 120-ultra or 120-ultra extreme?

[graysky]

Has anyone lapped a 120-ultra or 120-ultra extreme? Before/after temps, pics or tips on the process would be great. I'm thinking about doing it to mine and to my Q6600.

Thanks!

 

[JAG87]

I had a lapped ultra 120 a long time ago. now I dont have it anymore otherwise id take pics for you.

all I have to say is the base of that heatsink, as flat as it looks, its mighty concave. copper comes out on the corners first and a big circle of nickel stays int he middle throughout a good 10 minutes of lapping. not flat at all. I dropped about 3-4C in temps. Then I also lapped my QX6700 thinking it was gonna be concave. to tell you the truth, while lapping it seemed quite concave, but this time it was the nickel was staying in the corners while it scraped right off in the middle. so we can say it was convex, while the ultra 120 was concave. the lapped QX6700 gave me no drop at all. i mean nothing, no difference.

now I cant say for sure you have a convex Q6600, like I did, but your the ultra 120, I would bet most of them are concave. my personal suggestion is try both at stock, the way they are. if you are not satisfied, work on your airflow. try to lower temps by improving airflow. if you are still not satisfied, then lap both things (no sense in lapping one, if only one piece is concave thats enough to ruin temps). but yea, lapping would be my last resort to fix temps.

hope this helped!

 

[graysky]

Thanks for the advice. My current temps from running @ 9x333 under 2x orthos are (from TAT: 65,65,59,60) and (from speedfan: 51,51,45,46). I have a pretty well ventilated case (p182). I won't be doing the CPU but am thinking about doing the HS. Can you briefly describe the process you followed? I'm assuming you used a lower grit paper like 200 or 400 then 600 then 800 then 1000? Did you tape the paper down to a flat surface or what? Figure 8 or up and down? How long did the whole process take? I will say that these HS's are very rough from the factory; Have a look for yourself here.

 

[eternitykh]

i have also lapped my u120 not too long ago, i used upto 600grit, and like JAG87 said, the u120 comes quite concaved. i just did it up and down then rotate 90 degrees after 20~30 strokes or so and repeat until i get it to bare copper, this might take a while for the center depending on how concaved your hs comes. for me, it took over an hour because of how concaved it was. i also did my cpu which was also concaved, but that only took 30min total.

results? Picture here

 

[graysky]

Wow man, can you describe how you did the CPU? Just kept it in the little black plastic tray as you did it? Also, did you use any liquid?

 

[eternitykh]

i did the cpu by dry sanding, from 200grit > 400grit > 600grit. i just held the cpu with my hands with nothing else on it, since there is no pins on the LGA cpus, u dont have to worry about bending any. but ya i just went back and forth 20~30 times then rotate 90 degrees. i did put about a spoonful of water in between the flat piece of glass and the sandpaper tho. but ya it was pretty much dry sanding. i find the cpu a lot ezier to do than the HS simply because it's easier to hold to give a more balanced/even motion. the HS was a little top heavy making it hard to make a smooth motion without it vibrating/jumping/tip-topping around. but i did the HS wet sanding with some water and minimal amount of dish soap.

 

[graysky]

I have a Q6600 and I thought it did have pins?

 

[eternitykh]

OH =X sorry i have a e4300 c2d, i failed to catch that u have a q6600, hahaha, but ya in which case im not familiar of how that chip looks, i haven't seen one in person. but it has pins? i thought all LGAs are pinless? as in all the pins are all on the mobo's socket instead.

mm... but then again like i said, i haven't seen a quadcore chip in person, so maybe it's different, someone give insight?

 

[renozi]

@eternitykh

Are those Silenx fans really that quiet? And are they the new shiny silvery ones?

And to OP, I'm waiting on my Extreme to see how the temps are before I lap it. I have my proc lapped already though. 😛

 

[Zardnok]

An easy way to tell if you need to lap your stuff is to get a straight blade razor and hold it up to the bottom of the HS. Run it back and forth along while looking underneath to see if any light shines through. If you see light, you might need to lap it.

I was not planning on lapping my CPU before I used it, but once I held the razor up to it and saw just how bad it was, I figured no sense even putting it in if I knew the performance would suck.

Perhaps I lap my stuff differently, but I "wet sand" mostly. This consists of a small bowl of warm water and a couple drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid. I dab my finger into the water and dab it against the sandpaper leaving one healthy drop. Then I place the HS or CPU on top of it and do smallish circles spreading the liquid out. Once I get the liquid spread over an area, I go back and forth, up and down, circles clockwise and counter-clockwise. I usually start out with a 220-grit and move to 400-grit after 15ish minutes. Whenever one area of the sandpaper is "soiled", dab a drop of water in another area, clean off the bottom of the Heatsink with a paper towel and soapy water, and start with small circles again.

One thing to remember about lapping is that the heavy removal needs to be handled with the lower grit or you will go nuts with the finer stuff. If you still see a lot of the nickel plating on top, you probably need to keep going with the lower grit. If you can just barely see some nickel, then it is time to move up to the 400. Same process with each increase in grit. Clean the bottom of the HS and put a small dab of water/dawn mixture in the center and go nuts.

I usually do 220 (15 minutes) > 400 (15 minutes) > 600 (10 minutes) > 800 (10 minutes) > 1000 (10 minutes) > 2000 (10 minutes) > plain paper (however long it takes for mirror finish). I highly recommend masterbating before beginning the lapping process, because after an hour plus of back and forth action on a heavy Heatsink, your forearm and bicep are pretty tired!!

Remember to clean off the bottom of the HS or CPU often. When you are done, use a Q-tip and some 91% isopropyl alcohol to clean the surface really well. Alternate wet Q-tip with dry Q-tip to get any foreign particles off.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: ZardnokI highly recommend masterbating before beginning the lapping process, because after an hour plus of back and forth action on a heavy Heatsink, your forearm and bicep are pretty tired!!

😀

No need to spend time on the higher grits - that's what the thermal compound is for.

 

[eternitykh]

Originally posted by: renozi
@eternitykh

Are those Silenx fans really that quiet? And are they the new shiny silvery ones?

And to OP, I'm waiting on my Extreme to see how the temps are before I lap it. I have my proc lapped already though. 😛

ya those silenx are pretty darn quiet! and yes they have the silvery metal look to it. not sure if it's the new? or old ones? i just got them a bit over a month ago

 

[Zardnok]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: ZardnokI highly recommend masterbating before beginning the lapping process, because after an hour plus of back and forth action on a heavy Heatsink, your forearm and bicep are pretty tired!!

😀

No need to spend time on the higher grits - that's what the thermal compound is for.

Yeah I know... My daughter called me obsessive compulsive for wanting a mirror finish on all my HS and my GF is convinced I am going to set something on fire! I keep trying to convince her that all this extra work is to keep things much cooler, not hotter, but she bought me a new fire extinguisher just in case! LOL

I guess perhaps for me, building a new machine is as much about the process and fun in selecting the components and then doing whatever you can to insure maximum performance for the money spent. I get a feeling of accomplishment from taking a rough HS and being able to see myself in it, just as I get a feeling of accomplishment from taking a CPU stock at 2.0 and running it up to 3.2 or 3.4 or even 3.6. Each extra step is increased value to me and I am generally willing to do whatever extra work is required to maximize the value.