Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme; Lapped; Perfect results

[Navid]

I ordered one from jab-tech.
Installed it on a new E6600.
I was surprised when I noticed that the sink never got warm even when overclocked under load.

So, I lapped it.
After lapping for a while, I could see clearly that the surface was not flat at all!
http://i259.photobucket.com/al...d200/Thermalright1.jpg
I used a marker on the base before starting to lap and you can see that a lot more has been removed from the center than from the sides.

http://i259.photobucket.com/al...d200/Thermalright2.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/al...d200/Thermalright3.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/al...d200/Thermalright4.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/al...d200/Thermalright5.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/al...d200/Thermalright6.jpg

Now, the base gets hot. So, it is OK now. But, if I had known I had to lap it, I would not have bought it.
The flatness of the base is one of the most important aspects of a good sink. What good are all the fins if the heat never gets to them?

Anyway, I am happy now. But, I just wanted to report this. If you are not up for lapping, you may want to consider another cooler.

 

[Howard]

That's a very interesting curvature profile. Gotta admit, it seems like the Extremes are having quite a few QC problems.

 

[tylerdustin2008]

Yes they are having problems. Since this has happened i think i will stick with the tuniq for an air setup.

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: Navid
I ordered one from jab-tech.
Installed it on a new E6600.
I was surprised when I noticed that the sink never got warm even when overclocked under load.

So, I lapped it.
After lapping for a while, I could see clearly that the surface was not flat at all!
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Navid/Thermalright1.jpg
I used a marker on the base before starting to lap and you can see that a lot more has been removed from the center than from the sides.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Navid/Thermalright2.jpg

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Navid/Thermalright3.jpg

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Navid/Thermalright4.jpg

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Navid/Thermalright5.jpg

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Navid/Thermalright6.jpg

Now, the base gets hot. So, it is OK now. But, if I had known I had to lap it, I would not have bought it.
The flatness of the base is one of the most important aspects of a good sink. What good are all the fins if the heat never gets to them?

Anyway, I am happy now. But, I just wanted to report this. If you are not up for lapping, you may want to consider another cooler.

How were pre and post lapping temps

This really sucks..as I bought 2 of these and I will be pissed if that are not flat

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: nealh
How were pre and post lapping temps

This really sucks..as I bought 2 of these and I will be pissed if that are not flat

Before lapping, the load core temperature was 52 (9 x 340 = 3.06GHz).
After lapping, it is at about 47.

The fins are still cold!
I am now suspecting a good contact between the pipes and the base!
I have a lot of work to do to figure out exactly what is going on.

 

[Noubourne]

Those temps seem ok, even for a mild overclock like that.

Have you lapped your CPU? You know, bad contact between the CPU and the IHS could be the problem.

IHS isn't always perfectly flat either. Have you lapped that too?

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
Those temps seem ok, even for a mild overclock like that.

Have you lapped your CPU? You know, bad contact between the CPU and the IHS could be the problem.

IHS isn't always perfectly flat either. Have you lapped that too?

No, I will not lap the chip. The contact between the chip and the sink is good enough for me now. The base of the sink gets really warm, which means the heat gets transferred from the chip to the sink. But, I have to figure out why the pipes do not warm up!

 

[Navid]

I originally had installed the cooler rotated so that I could also install a Thermalright chipset cooler (HR-05). So, the fan blew air through the sink towards the intake fan of the PSU.
Now, I have the cooler installed the way it was meant to be installed so the fan blows air towards the case exhaust fan.
The temperatures dropped even more and I can overclock more.

I have it now at 9x386 = 3.474GHz. The idle temperature is 34 (always running at 9x386 and always at the same VCore). The load temperature is 51.
http://i259.photobucket.com/al...h302/Navid200/OC2a.jpg

 

[VinDSL]

Congratulations!

This is the first positive Ultra-120 eXtreme results I've read...

 

[Vandraad2]

So when considering the rebuild of my system, the Ultra 120 Extreme was on the short list of coolers even though there are lots of people stating how the base is quite convex. I decided the cooler was still worth it and I'd just deal with the convex base..but I was not ready for exactly HOW convex it really was. Putting a razor blade against the base to spot the curvature revealed a very large bow in the base. I scrounged around my toolshed and found an old set of engineering gapping blades. This looks like a Swiss army knife but with about 50 metal blades that vary in thickness from 0.0001" to 0.01".

So with the razor blade set across the base I began inserting blades to measure the gap and amazingly enough it was a full 0.0812" at the outer edge. 3 hours and a dozen or so cuts from the sharp fins and the base is about as flat as I can get it with the largest gap at 0.0011".

I would have supplied photos but I'm one of the few people that utterly despises cell phones and I prefer shooting film over digital (yes, I know I'm old.)

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: tylerdustin2008
Yes they are having problems. Since this has happened i think i will stick with the tuniq for an air setup.

How are the Tuniq's out of the box? Do they need lapping?

 

[Old Hippie]

I'm one of the few people that utterly despises cell phones and I prefer shooting film over digital (yes, I know I'm old.)

And I still have vinyl. :music: :laugh:

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Tullphan

Originally posted by: tylerdustin2008
Yes they are having problems. Since this has happened i think i will stick with the tuniq for an air setup.

How are the Tuniq's out of the box? Do they need lapping?

They are pretty rough (obvious milling marks), not sure about flatness though.

I just ordered my lapping kit. I have 5 Tuniqs I plan to lap next week.

Should be a decent sample size to say whether "non-flat" is common or rare with currently shipping Tuniqs.

Will post more next week when I start the project.

 

[Old Hippie]

I couldn't stand it no more. Just ordered a Ultra 120 Extreme.

This place is hazardous to my wallet.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie
I couldn't stand it no more. Just ordered a Ultra 120 Extreme.

This place is hazardous to my wallet.

why would u order an ultra 120 extreme and say u can't stand it no more.

the thing we're all writing about is the problem with the ultra 120 extreme? did u not pick that up? the bases aren't flat.

and they are not worth the price premium over the tuniq (ymmv)

 

[Old Hippie]

why would u order an ultra 120 extreme and say u can't stand it no more.

I couldn't stand everybody's bragging about their low temps, and I had to try it myself?

the thing we're all writing about is the problem with the ultra 120 extreme? did u not pick that up? the bases aren't flat.

Easy to fix Lou, just check the lapping option.

and they are not worth the price premium over the tuniq (ymmv)

I'll be the judge of that.

 

[aigomorla]

omg thread revival!

05/13/2007 10:35 PM was the first post. LOL... continuation from 8 months ago.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie
I couldn't stand it no more. Just ordered a Ultra 120 Extreme.

This place is hazardous to my wallet.

this place? Try Head-Fi... "oh this cable upgrade really brought out the mids for my K81DJ... too bad the cable was three times the price of the headphone ".

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: Aflac

Originally posted by: Old Hippie
I couldn't stand it no more. Just ordered a Ultra 120 Extreme.

This place is hazardous to my wallet.

this place? Try Head-Fi... "oh this cable upgrade really brought out the mids for my K81DJ... too bad the cable was three times the price of the headphone ".

I was into Uber Audio. Believe me, I know the game.

This computer stuff is much cheaper, but it's still hazardous!

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie
I couldn't stand it no more. Just ordered a Ultra 120 Extreme.

This place is hazardous to my wallet.

I picked up the Extreme...it's better than the Tuniq in all real testing. Many tests acknowledged the non-flat base. I bought my pre-lapped from CrazyPC.com.

I ran this by accident with the CPU fan not connected. I had about equal temps on my o/c'd opteron as I did with an XP-120.

My temps are now about 5-10C cooler. I may open the chip up with delidding. The L series opterons have been known to run hot out of the box, but likewise many have said it's due to the thermal diode being non-calibrated as well.

I was 36 hours orthos stable, going to do a couple heat and cool downs to seat in the AS5 and then just run it to see if I ever crash it.