To lap or not?

[Grande Juan]

In an on going effort to cool this baby down, I've decided to get rid of the thermal pad and slap some Artic Silver II on it. At least until I can find a better HSF, they seem to be in short supply but thats another story. Anyway the instructions say! It is impossible to remove all the residue from the HS, if grease or thermal pad has been previously used with any cleaners or clothes. Does this mean I need to lap the HS before reusing? Sorry if this sounds like a silly question I'm still new.

[Spartacus51]

If you're talking about the stock HSF on an athlon, the thermal pad scraped off nicely for me, although be careful not to cut a groove into the soft aluminum. I then washed it with soap and water and scrubbed it until it looked clean, then took rubbing alcohol to it. Seemed plenty clean, but I lapped it anyway, as it wasn't extremely flat in the first place. It should come clean at any rate.

[Diggrr]

Yes, you should lap it.
And no, it's not impossible to remove. I used zippo fluid applied onto a q-tip swab to clean up the leftovers of that tape cr*p. I bought the boxed athlon when I bought the mobo, and the store applied the hsf for me. How thoughtfull of them.
Nail polish remover may work too, but clean it up afterwards with alcohol because the polish remover often isn't pure acetone.

Don't soak it (the processor), just keep rubbing with the swabs...it'll come off.

[AntmanMike]

I beleive the instructions are referring to the microscoping residuals in the microscoping pores.

[Grande Juan]

I believe you are right antman. I was just wondering if lapping removes these microscopic residues, or should I not worry about it since I'll be putting a new HSF withen two weeks.

[Diggrr]

Aha.

It shouldn't be a problem, but the temps will tell ya.

[muddocktor]

If you lap your heatsink, you will remove any previous stuff in the micropores on the heatsink. That is also why it is good to lap a heatsink when you change thermal paste types or get rid of a TIM. You will basically be making a virgin surface when you lap.

[oc jason]

yes lapp, irt will drop up to 5-8 c if done correctly on a crappy hs machinw job. Also just scrap off what u can of hte pad, and jsut let sandpaper do the rest