Lapped HS with thermal comp. or Non-lapped with arctic sliver ?

[Will Maltby]

With respect to the P3 retail heatsinks (i.e. that level of finish to the HS contact surface);


Is a lapped heat sink with normal thermal paste better than a non lapped heatsink using arctic silver ?


I asked this because I've heard that arctic silver corrodes lapped aluminium heatsinks so you can't lap with arctic silver it seems.

[Shadow ÒÓ]

IMHO I'd say anyone who thinks artic silver corrodes alum hsf's is wrong.

No question a lapped hs is better than a stock, and a bonus would be to add a better compound.

example..........A stock HSF on my 933 ran about 135 f while playing UT. Lapped it dropped down to 115 or 120 ish. Now using an FOP32 lapped (sorry I didnt' test in between) with artic silver, during UT I never get above 95. Yea I upgraded to a better HSF and paste, but considering a 40 degree drop, it wouldn't matter to me if it were the paste or the HSF or the luck of the draw. I lapped the HS with 600 till all visiable "scratches" were gone.........lapped that with 800 till it looked nice........then 1000 till it had a sort of shine.....then 1500 till it was beautiful. (not as nice as the mirror finish I saw posted here! hehe) The whole process took maybe 20 mins....but then again.......for 40 degrees, it was WELL worth it.

[Treker]

I gotta agree with Shads on this one, I have yet to see any hard data that AS eats away at bare aluminium.

As far as lapping a hs goes, that will always improve performance as long as it is done properly, if one is brave they can lap their cpu to mate the hs perfectly, but be warry I just crushed a chip trying that because for one moment I took my mind off the task, its a very delicate operation and not to be taken lightly.. HOWEVER if one where to have a perfectly laped cpu, hs, and mate them with AS.. it would perform superiorly to any non laped combo..

If you are looking for some lapping directions for your hs I'd be willing to help, though I suddenly dont feel I'm qualified to direct you on lapping your cpu.. though there are many others who are.

Laters,

-Trek

[DocClock aka MadClocker]

I'm no metalurgist but I would think any dissimillar metals would corode each other eventualy and the weaker of the two metals would be first to go.
Having only one Alpha P3-125 in my stable, when I got my 700E, I emediately removed the 600E and used the 700, and I noticed a significant difference in color from when I first aplied the A.S. to when I made the change....but I didn't have the A.S. on the 600 too long, maybe two months, and it was almost black.
A freind of mine had his cpu start to go south in performance, after a few weeks, and couldn't think of anything else, so he reaplied the A.S. and his system was back to normal....now I can't say for sure that it was the A.S. that soured, it could also have been the cpu creaping out of the slot. but it's something to think about.
Something else, is that it is very easy to make a battery with dissimilar metals and some common salt water. It would be interesting to test out that potential of A.S. by placing it between copper, and steel, and let it sit for two days, and using a very sensitive voltmeter, measure the potential across it.
I for one will inspect my setup every so often.

[Shadow ÒÓ]

true, dissimilar metals cause electrolysis but I'd guess since the AS is 99% silver.....that would leave 1% other. probably lubrication or oil based compound.

Considering the silver is covered in 1% microscopic "film" of something, it would prevent the reaction of merging 2 metals as they are not actually touching.

I've been using AS for a few months now, and constantly changing cooling designs, I'd say I wouldn't notice a difference. However after changing my mother's hsf from stock and after almost 3 months, I saw no discoloration nor performance loss.

[Fear O. Carpet]

I am very new to overclocking, but chemistry is old hat... While it is true that dissimilar metals can react, generally they won't and if they do only the first few angstroms of metal before coulombic (charge-charge) interactions stop it. They also would have to reside in different groups (columns) on the periodic table, but Copper (Cu) and Silver (Ag) are in the same group so they cannot react with each other. Aluminum is inert because the exterior is coated by a few microns of Aluminum Oxides that are fairly unreactive. Metal based batteries are generally transition metal salts (high oxidation states) and fully reduced metals. Electrons can be coaxed into flowing from the reduced metal to the oxidized metal through a circuit. While a battery can be constructed with two dissimilar metals and wet rags, you'd probably never measure a current especially not using steel, because it isn't an element its an amalgam. Long story short the black stuff is probably silver salts and carbon residue from the long term heating of the grease and after sanding aluminum you can simply let the exposed metal chill out in the sun for a day and it should build up a thick enough oxide layer to protect it from any chemical reactions. Actually the same exact thing holds true for silicon, which I imagine you could expose by sanding off the polymer coating on a CPU??

[Fro]

now otehr than the scientifical junk >( i've lapped aluminum heatsinks before, and had arctic silver one 'em for 3 months and not seen any sort of corrosion or discoloration at all cept near the edges, but that's just dust

[Will Maltby]

righty, well I guess arctic silver is totally safe then.

oh yeah, no one answered my question as I had intended, I guess I didn't explain myself very well;

If you could only have one OR the other:

lapped heat sink with normal thermal, or
non lapped heatsink using arctic silver ?

[Shadow ÒÓ]

I'd say the as.......buy why could you only have one?

I saw an improvement changing from shack stuff to as, and saw another improvement from lapping the hs. The shack stuff is really bad, and the stock stuff that comes on the hs is actually worse yet.

[Fro]

exactly, lap that mofo and then use as on it. if you were gonna take the time to lap it with white goop. hwy not just use as also? it isnt as if it's gonna take you any more time. and lapping is virtually free if you already got the sandpaper

[Will Maltby]

dammit ! It's just a semi-serious interesting question !

now answer properly damn you !

EXCLAMATION MARK !

[It_The_Cow]

Hey, no need to get profane. I think the best way to go is to lap your heatink and processor. Temperatures usually go down a bit more than just Arctic Silver alone. If you really want to bring it down, though, I've read that using Arctic Silver as a lubricant during the final phase of lapping drops it a couple more degrees

[Will Maltby]

i was just kidding. hehe. It's just amusing that no-one wants to just answer the question straight, they have to go the full 9 yards and give the full run down on it all.

[Fro]

no one wants to anser your question the way ya want 'em too because were all a buncha stubborn ******** that like to go all or nothing, heh heh :)

[Will Maltby]

hehe,

so my next q;

overclocked p3 500 at 700 or p3 650 that you're not allowed to overclock ?

BLWAWAWAWA !!

[Fro]

simple choice, overclocked p3 500@800