This heatsink is worth less

Hello,
I just bought a Thermalright SLK800-A heatsink to replace my old Coolmaster HAC-V81 heatsink. Well, after doing much reading about how good it is, I finally ordered one ($44). I must say, I've never been so disappointed at any product. One of the reasons I bought the SLK800 was that I thought it is a big heatsink so that I can use a big 80mm fan on it and have the fan run at lower speed. Well, I was wrong, the heatsink is small. Furthermore, the heatsink got really really hot when I use the low speed fan on it. At first I thought that I had put the heatsink on incorrectly. But then a thought occurred to me. If I did put it on wrong, then it would mean that the heat isn't being transferred from the CPU to the heatsink correctly, right? But the heatsink was very hot to the touch, so it was transferring heat rather well. So the problem is that this stupid heatsink needs a rather fast fan to cool it off. So now I have to put on the fast fan from my Coolmaster heatsink (it's an 80mm fan that goes all the way up to 5200 rpm, at least that's what the Asus software reads). Anyway, I put the fast fan on the SLK800, I crank it all the way up and my CPU temp is a better, but barely better then the Coolmaster heatsink, ugh!!!! So now when running SETI, my Athlon 2100+ runs at 50C instead of 52C. Big deal! What Am I doing wrong?

I would double check that the sink is on correctly.
The one I have is on an XP1700 with an old Sunon 39cfm fan- at 7 volts: with a very mild overclock of 1525 (from 1466 ) the cpu temp is normally in the 38 to 41c range under load (Seti).

check to make sure there not to much thermal compound only a scath coat is needed, about the thickness of a piece of masking tape, do not use the thermal compound it comes with it absolute garbabe try as3

Also make sure the HS is level...it might been to be lapped...take a straight edge...lay it on the HS...take a flashlight and shine it on the other side...if you can see any light between the straight edge and HS then it will need to be lapped...also make sure you have not bent fins...also make sure it does not move around...should be on tight enough not to move around...are you using the mounting feet that came with it?

I would check what direction you have the fan pointing... is the fan blowing air onto or pulling air off of the heatsink?

Like was already said, consider your thermal paste application... did you follow the www.arcticsilver.com instructions?

That doesn't sound right for a slk800. Do you really consider it small? The thing looks pretty dam big to me...

Put up a pic of the heatsink you purchased, I would never say an 800A is small, something has to be really wrong with your setup if you thinnk it isn't working right. Whta type of voltages are you running?

Shucks, and my Slk 800 u is the best dadburn heatsink I have used...oh well, just my .02 worth...

dude don't blame the heatsing for your own stupidity that is an awesome HS one of the best.

totally.ausome. 33c idle at 1.9ghz with a 2200rpm 80mm fan is totally doable in my rig. I wouldnt say thats a worthless heatsink.

Don't forget, you might have the most amazing super-duper heatsink in the world, twinned with a high-airflow Delta fan, but if the air around the heatsink is warm, then it will only do so much:

Solution- Check out your case airflow. If you only have the powersupply moving air through your case, then consider adding additional fans to supply the heatsink with cool outside air. Also, try tucking away the ribbon cables for your hard drives, and CD-ROM drives - since they really cut down the airflow.


Blueacid

What is the case temp of your case and is your wiring neatly done to allow good airflow? How many case fans do you have running?

Check out my thread here:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=208344

I was having some problems as you are with my temperatures and my SLK-800 being a lot higher than I thought it should have been. With the changes that I made to my system, it's now running around 8 degrees cooler under load than when I initially installed it.

I've had the same problems with mine, I used to have a Volcano 7+, it ran better temps (6C or so) then my SLK800 w/ a Vantec Tornado. I was extremely disappointed, but, one thing I noticed was that the base on mine was extremely ****ty. It looked like someone took a comb made of metal and scraped it across the base. It was very bad and needed lapping... Probably the reason for the crappy temps.

Thanks to everyone who replied. The last two comments was very interesting.

Steve75382 and Drinyth, I have the exact same problem as you both did. The base of my SLK800 feels like someone took a fine toothed comb and raked the bottom of it. And yes, if I run my nails across it, I can hear a zipper like sound, it is that bad. This was one of the first things I noticed, but I dismissed it. Because I bought a quality heatsink from a quality company (at least that's what I heard), I thought that this was some new design or some sort. How stupid of me!! On top of that I used the supplied heatsink compound that came with the heatsink. So I guess I will have to do some reading on this lapping stuff. I did got a good idea of how it's done with Drinyth's helpful link. I still think this is a worthless heatsink as it stands right now, and I am more disappointed with this product now. I paid $44 for the heatsink, why should I have to spend more $$ on sand paper and some Arctic Silver? Not to mention the time to sand paper it and redoing everything! I'm a busy person, I don't know if I"m actually going to get around to lapping it, I don't really have that kind of dedication to this hobby. Anyway, I know what the problem is now. If I decide to lap it, I will post my result.

By the way, would someone be so kind as to post a good place to read about lapping?

Thank you all.

katelin, can you return the heatsink? If you don't want to lap it, and you don't like it, return it. Try something else, if you're not happy.

Like maybe a Zalman CNPS-7000. It's pretty big as far as heatsinks go, and all copper. It's so big, there are a few boards it won't fit on, so you have to check that out first. Usually you don't have to lap them as they are very smooth. They come with a 92mm fan not an 80mm like you wanted, but it's adjustable to low and high settings. Very quiet on the low setting, you can barely hear it. The heatsink is great, and it does its job nicely.

i know you said you had it mounted correctly or so you thought, but i had the same trouble you're having now. If you notice the slk800 doesn't cover the entire socket. If it's an A model with the clip assembly then its easy to have the hs leaning to far forward. You want to be able to cove all of the cpu and see the front of the socket where it says "SOCKET 462" that way the hs is resting on all the pads and sitting evenly on the core. I first installed mine and got 50c idle with a 120mm fan blowing on the side my ttsf2 at full throttle and two other 80mm fans pushing 45cfm...after refitting it and turning the 120 off and turning my fan down to 3500rpm on the heatsink I'm idle at 36c and full load at 41c

The SLK 800 and 900 are some of the best heatsinks out there.

I had to lap my 900, which isn't too hard btw, and got much better temps afterwards.

Also.. The low speed fan you are runing might be too slow of a speed. If you think about it, the copper can only kick out the heat at it's maximum, but if your fan isn't taking it anywhere it won't matter HOW good the heatsink is. I would recommend at least a 30-35 cfm fan blowing DOWN on the heatsink.

katelin said:

By the way, would someone be so kind as to post a good place to read about lapping?

Click to expand...

How to lap a heatsink

I have my dad's 2100 Tbred B setup at 13X150 with the stock heatsink and fan using AS3 instead of the pad and it runs 52C so it sounds like you might have a mounting problem or incorrect AS3 application.