For a HSF anyway... Faster, better and a hell of alot easier.
Hand sanding is tedious and I dont care how good you are, you arent going to come anywhere close to what a machine can do.
Go to your local machine shop, slip the guy $5 or $10 and ask him to fly cut 1 thousandth at a time off the surface. Usually have a perfect base within 5 cuts or less. If done properly, you'll have a mirror finish too. Takes about 5 minutes.
I did this on a retail HSF and knocked 6c off the temp.
Hand sanding is tedious and I dont care how good you are, you arent going to come anywhere close to what a machine can do.
Go to your local machine shop, slip the guy $5 or $10 and ask him to fly cut 1 thousandth at a time off the surface. Usually have a perfect base within 5 cuts or less. If done properly, you'll have a mirror finish too. Takes about 5 minutes.
I did this on a retail HSF and knocked 6c off the temp.