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lapping

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Short answer=NO

It will not even the core temps. A few degrees difference is nominal between cores.

Lapping will only flaten the surfaces of the heatsink and cpu IHS. Lapping to a mirror finish does more harm than good. if you want flatness, be sure to at least leave the surfaces a tiny bit dull. This will help in the bonding of the heatsink and cpu with the thermal grease, thus ensuring better heat transfer.
 
+1 As Nebulous said, mirror isn't good. The main idea is getting the two surfaces as truly flat as you can.

I remember the days when a mirror finish on a HS was the style. I wonder if anyone ever did a comparison that "proved" a flat dull finish was better than a flat mirror finish. You know, a comparison where one finish resulted in lower temps than the other. I'm sure this has been debated to death over the years. I just wonder if the debate was settled by some kind of a comparison having been done. I've used heatsinks that were lapped to a mirror finish, but the one I have now is not. I can't imagine there being much of a difference between the two though, probably less than 1C and not even measurable.
 
I asked a thread with the same question and it was never demonstrated whether a mirror finish was better or worse than going up to say 800 (I'll go to mirror for now just for the hell of it :beer:).

I'm about to lap the chip that I got in my sig, there's a weird 12ish difference in temps between the two cores that I've never seen before in my previous dual core chips that I hope will be fixed by the lapping.
 
I'm sorry guys, I was going to do this but money got kinda tight. I'll start it as soon as I get my other E8400 back and my lapping kit comes. I'll post the unofficial thread in a few weeks.
 
I was going to say almost the exact same thing 1Time. That link leads to claims of results, but no actual results, hence my skepticism. It could just be one of those things that have been said so many times some people started taking it as fact and passing it on as such. Not that I'm accusing anyone of doing that here, just pointing out that I've never personally seen anything that proves either side of the argument.
 
I'm sorry guys, I was going to do this but money got kinda tight. I'll start it as soon as I get my other E8400 back and my lapping kit comes. I'll post the unofficial thread in a few weeks.

Here's a question. What, in your opinion, is the advantage of a lapping kit?

It seems like a convenience thing, but maybe there's something I'm missing.

I spent ~$20.00 for 3 12x10" sheets of 1/4" lexan, 3 packages of wet/dry sandpaper in three dif. grits and two rolls of tape. I should be able to do 5 or 6 processors with this no problem. What is included in a lapping kit that I missed out on? I hope it wasn't anything important, since I've already lapped that puppy flat as hell. lol
 
Here's a question. What, in your opinion, is the advantage of a lapping kit?

It seems like a convenience thing, but maybe there's something I'm missing.

I spent ~$20.00 for 3 12x10" sheets of 1/4" lexan, 3 packages of wet/dry sandpaper in three dif. grits and two rolls of tape. I should be able to do 5 or 6 processors with this no problem. What is included in a lapping kit that I missed out on? I hope it wasn't anything important, since I've already lapped that puppy flat as hell. lol

Well, in this case, in order to answer the ultimate question of how far to lap for effectiveness you need to be able to lap to 2000 grit mirror finish. There is no place near me that carries this grit. Plus, yes, the convenience is great: easypckits.com also offers a deal to OCF people ;)
 
They do??? I wish I'd known, I just placed an order a few days ago. For future reference, what's the deal with the deal?
 
Nice, thanks! I've always had a pleasant experience with the guy who runs easypckits, he always includes these little gifts that prove handy (zip ties, cleaning cloth). This just raises him to another level of awesomeness.
 
I was going to say almost the exact same thing 1Time. That link leads to claims of results, but no actual results, hence my skepticism. It could just be one of those things that have been said so many times some people started taking it as fact and passing it on as such. Not that I'm accusing anyone of doing that here, just pointing out that I've never personally seen anything that proves either side of the argument.

Right. My memory on this is not good enough to recall for sure whether a comparison was done. However, I suspect it was done years ago, which is why it seems most now assert a flat dull finish is better than a flat mirror finish. I also suspect lapping the processor makes more of a difference than how the HS is lapped.

My guess is a comparison would show the following from best cooling to worst:
1. Flat dull heatsink and processor
2. Flat mirror heatsink and processor
3. Flat dull heatsink
4. Flat mirror heatsink

Still guessing... there probably would be little difference between 1 and 2, little difference between 3 and 4, and these differences may not be easy to notice or measure. However, I think the difference between 1 and/or 2 versus 3 and/or 4 would be much more appreciable and measurable.
 
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I find it interesting that "easypckits.com" has sold for years and continues to sell lapping kits specifically designed for lapping heatsinks flat and to a mirror finish. Of course such kits alternatively may be used to lap a heatsink flat and to a dull finish. I'm in the middle of lapping a stock A64 heatsink flat and to a dull finish with an assortment pack of wet/dry sandpaper I bought locally.
 
Thanks for looking up that thread, but no results were posted there that indicate a dull flat finish works better than a mirror finish. Although, it does provide some convincing posts about such results having been produced.

I think that thread makes a good case for also lapping the processor.

Well you're welcome, but as I stated it was just one example. I'm not going to do the searching for you, thus is why I also stated " The search function works wonders"

;)
 
Well you're welcome, but as I stated it was just one example. I'm not going to do the searching for you, thus is why I also stated " The search function works wonders"

;)

Well since you put it that way, it now seems a shame I hadn't asked you to search this for me in the first place.

And I'm now guessing no one reading this thread will have enough interest in using the wondrous search function to find out... lol.
 
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