Noctua upgrade, i7 960 ocing

[wand3r3r]

Just cover the surface with a paste, use toothpaste if you don't want to waste your TIM, and scrape it off with one straight-direction swipe of your ruler.

The low lying spots will still be covered with paste.

You need to do this twice (paste, swipe, inspect, repeat), at least, going up-to-down and then rotating 90 degrees and doing it again to ensure you capture the valley.

Excellent idea, thanks!

 

[wand3r3r]

I sanded the CPU down until the ridge in the center was a bit gold colored. The spread of the thermal paste is not spread enough but I'm not sure how deep I dare go.

The temperatures already dropped to a max of 77C but mostly hovering about 74-75 with the coolest core 70C. I'm sure if I can sand it until it is even across the CPU it would drop, perhaps even considerably.

 

[Idontcare]

The copper cap is at least 1/16" thick. You can sand and sand and sand before you'd ever remove so much material that the CPU itself was in jeopardy.

 

[wand3r3r]

Sounds good.. The outer gray coating sure went in a hurry so I wasn't too sure.

 

[wand3r3r]

edit* I'll start a new thread in the cases section debating which case to get.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=32127569#post32127569

My 2 options atm are the
Antec 300 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042)
Fractal Design Core 3000 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811352010)