Lapping an Athlon

[oliton]

Anybody ever tried to lap an Athlon ThunderChicken?

I'm looking for some insight.:)

[WillysNut]

I can tell you I haven't seen too many posts on lapping cores. Heatsinks..yes...cores...no! Why? Because the die on current cores, both from Intel, and AMD are very thin now. The actual guts of the core are not far from that flat square that you see.

Even fewer posts come up when it involves AMD cores because they're just so dang fragile already (knock on wood, haven't cracked any of three yet).

So..I'd be interested to hear from someone who has. I'm sure you could proabably get a few layers of silicon off of there but...ya gotta ask yourself..."Do ya feel lucky? Huh? Well do ya?" Pardon the Dirty Harry reference!

[Hugo 59]

First off Welcome to the forums!

For better answers you might ask a mod to move this to the cooling forum as I have seen this mentioned over there before.

From what I have gathered in other posts is that some have done it successfully while many others have ruined there cpu. I for one wouldn't be caught dead trying to lap mine but that's just me.

[FRANK]

Welcome to the forums!

I agree with the above post by WillysNut and Hugo 59.

I've seen several posts of people that have tried unsuccessfully to lap the T-BIRD / DURON cores, I don't recall any that had succesful results although I've seen a few that have had success with the Intel counterparts.

[Thelemac]

The core is flat enough as it is. Take it from me. :)

*Moved to "Cooling"*

[outhouse]

I lapped my Intel p3 1g but i only had one half to 1C cooler temps, I would not recommend lapping an Intel even though ive done mine and i would not ever recommend a AMD as there cores are much thinner giving a person even higher chances to ruin a perfectly good CPU. Like the rest said its best not to do it.

[Mr.Lansing]

Why lap the core???
it'z very likely that u'll break it!

[Colin]

I have lapped a couple of Athlon cores with success. I used 2000 grit and checked my progress every 20 seconds with a 20 power loop. I lapped them until the etched information was gone. When you are done, the core looks like a polished mirror. If you see copper, you loose. Not for the faint at heart. In my case, it was worth about 2C.

[Luie]

The core?
wow!
risky...

[-=UR=- Ranger]

Much to risky for me, I wouldn´t bother with this, the 1-2 Degrees are not worth the effort and Risk...Lap you Heatsink to a good finish, use some AS II and you are done:cool:

[oliton]

Thanks a lot guys. You just stopped me the athlon over the 2000 grit sandpaper.

I asked that because I've got the lettering of my proc embedded in the copper of my heatsink [!].

I can't get temp lower than 50C full load with a PAL6035 w/YSTech 26CFM. I don't wanna buy yet another heatsink...

:confused:

[Colin]

oliton - Hope my post did not encourage you to lap your chip. IMHO it's better to use a new HSF, watercool or go to pelts if you are not satisfied with your current cooling. I only have one Athlon I would consider lapping. It's so convex only the center portion of the core contacts the HS. Because of this it runs very hot and won't overclock worth beans.

The fact that you are getting an imprint of the etching on the core in the copper base of your HS indicates you are making good contact. It appears you have just reached the limits of the PAL.

[Warlord2]

I have a chip that came with a little little dint right in the middle of it=/

I had to take some 1000 grit and clean up the sides but I wouldnt realy call the lapping