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lapping..must we do it ?

L

lolabunny087

Junior Member
Hi.. i posted a question earlier about types of cooling preferred... I was looking through other posts and found this interesting topic about lapping.. i never heard of it until today ... what exeactly does it do?.. u sand paper the surface of the base to get it as flat as possible so (phisics) u get almost 100% of the surface is in contact with each other , thus facilitates more heat exchange , i suppose (i'm a doctor.. so i dont really know much about physics or engineering that much)..anyways.. my question is ...

Do all of us have to lap the base ?.. i mean ... we all do have to apply thermal paste when we install the HSF onto the cpu right ?.. when u lap the base .. do u apply thermal paste ? or no ? .. i'm confused .. ( i did mention i was a noob .. heheh..)
 
On a microscopic level, even lapped surfaces still have peaks and valleys. Thermal paste fills the gaps to replace air. Air is a very poor thermal conductor (conduction, not convection).
Thermal paste is a much better thermal conductor compared to air.
However, thermal paste is much worse thermal conductor compared to Aluminum or copper.

If you do not overclock, you should not have to lap.

If you do overclock, if you have a good cooler, you should not need to lap.

If you have a cooler with a non-flat base, you will need too much thermal paste to fill the gaps. Then, you could benefit if you lap.


If you want to get the last MHz of overclock, you do everything that could help you. Lapping could help.
However, lapping done wrong could make things worse!
The worst thing you can do is to lap a flat base, just because it is not shiny, and make it convex (remove more from the sides than from the center) because you do not have a steady hand or the required patience or proper tools!
 
If both surfaces are perfectly flat, you need not lap or even use HS compound...
"perfectly flat" :laugh:
 
thank u billb2... for the link to the guide... it was interesting ... but was a little confusing because it had no pictures to actually show how exactly it is done ...( by the way .. how do u post pictures in this forum ? i tried to copy and paste but couldnt paste the pic ) ...i had to read the guide a few times to actually try and picture it in my head .. but i think i managed to get a rough idea of the process ...

on another note ... i'm sure there is a right way and the very wrong way of using and applying thermal grease ... is there anywhere where it is shown in video or slide show how to properly apply thermal grease ?...

thank you guys ... very much appreciated ..
 
You can't post pictures on this forum. Link to them instead.

Arctic Silver's site has good instructions for applying thermal compound.
 
i've never lapped a hs or cpu, i've been doing fine. but i've heard benefits of up to 5C after lapping both the CPU/HS
 
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